ABSTRACT
Background: Face masks have become a crucial part of everyday life across the globe since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Objectives: To study the impact of prolonged use of facemasks on the health of the population of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Method: This was a cross sectional study;the non-probability convenient sampling method was used to collect data on 248 subjects via online-Google form questionnaire. The questionnaire provided information on the personal, sociodemographic characteristics, and clinical aspects of the studied subjects. Statistical analysis: data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. The Chi square test of significance was used. The level of significance was 0.05. Results: Respiratory tract infection (RTI) is common in Saudi Arabia. About 25% of the subjects did not use facemasks. Almost all the subjects who used facemasks knew how to wear them and the reason for their use, and were worried about catching RTI. A minority of the studied subjects didn't know the association between chronic diseases and RTI. Males significantly felt more than females that wearing facemasks would make them embarrassed, and would affect critically their social communication. The majority of the studied subjects did not want to wear a mask when they had flu, and they thought that others should protect themselves. Facemasks interfere with smoking habits and practicing exercise. Wearing masks was associated with a feeling of difficulty of breathing when walking, causing headache, skin problems and sore throat. Also the majority could not handle wearing masks for 3 hours straight. About 60% of the subjects felt uncomfortable when they sit with people who do not wear masks. The females significantly felt that the surgical mask is better than the cloth mask, compared to males. The majority prefer to wear one mask only, and use it several times. Conclusion: Respiratory tract infection is common in Jeddah city. A great proportion of the subjects do not wear facemasks in public places, particularly when they have flu. Wearing of facemasks is associated with several clinical adverse effects. The knowledge about types and use of the facemasks is deficient in a great proportion of the population. These points will help the health care planners when they design health education programs to educate the public about use of facemasks and the ways to avoid physical side effects
ABSTRACT
The aim: of this study is to investigate the prevalence of anosmia and its impact on quality of life among COVID-19 positive patients. Objective(s): To confirm tthe high prevalence and severity of smell disorders among laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 patients.To assess the impact of anosmia on quality of life among covid patients. To evaluate anosmia features and duration. Materials and Methods Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Study population: Patients diagnosed with covid-19 in Hail city constitute the population of the study. Sample collection: pre-validated self-administered questionnaire. Sample collection and processing: pre-validated and translated self-administered electronic questionnaire. The sample size was calculated by using the Rao soft sample size calculator. We will be collecting a sample size of 137, with a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5%. Rationale: The sudden onset of smell loss has been reported as a symptom related to COVID-19, the rationale of this study is to provide an insight into the prevalence of the olfactory disorder. Result(s): A total of 213 covid-19 patients complained of anosmia Between the ages of 18 and 60, with a mean age of 36.2 + 11.9 years. Covid-19 patients' anosmia and quality of life in Hail, Saudi Arabia.74.4 percent of patients who were not concerned about future changes in their sense of smell had an excellent quality of life, compared to 23.7 percent of those who were. This difference was statistically significant (P=.001). Copyright © 2022 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The surge of covid 19 pandemic has affected everyone in almost all parts of life. Medical/dental education is no exception. Teaching as well as student learning has been compromised with norms like social distancing, personal protective wear and lockdowns. Reduced school times, absence of group discussions and clinical demonstrations have prompted teachers to convey course information in different ways. The fear of contracting coronavirus and then infecting respective families adds to the always stressed medical students and staff. Prior to covid 19, studies have shown students to be less attentive which leads to their poor retention of case based information taught in the clinical sessions. During the pandemic, theory classes could be managed through online portals, but clinical learning in patients cannot be compensated by such means. With a contextual background of such factors, this two part case series is an attempt to fulfill the void in teaching that has occurred during a pandemic. 87 students (47 female, 40 male) who were enrolled for the course (Clinical Fixed Prosthodontics) (SDS 543 and SDS 544) for academic year December 2020 – June 2021 were asked to submit their clinical cases on a template along with the grades obtained. Cases of fixed partial denture in Kennedy class 3 partial edentulous situation were selected on the basis of complexity in history, clinical examination, diagnosis and prosthesis design. All cases were analysed under two main heading (psychosocial learning, applied basic sciences). In this the first part of the article, multiple selected cases are presented in a four tier series. Major or minor learning skills that students lacked have been highlighted and discussed. Since many students were not able to see each others cases, the authors predict that publishing the cases will achieve two objectives. Firstly, all students will be able to see each others work and what they were taught and secondly, students are expected to take critical evaluation of authors seriously and use this platform as a means to improve those deficiencies.
ABSTRACT
Social media has emerged as an effective platform to investigate people's opinion and feeling towards crisis situations. Along with Coronavirus crisis, range of different emotions reveal, including anger, sadness, fear, trust, and anticipation. In this paper, we investigate public's emotional responses associated with this pandemic using Twitter as platform to perform our analysis. We investigate how emotional perspective vary regarding lockdown ending in Saudi Arabia. We develop an emotion detection method to classify tweets into standard eight emotions. Furthermore, we present insights into the changes in the intensity of the emotions over time. Our finding shows that joy and anticipation are the most dominant among all emotions. While people express positive emotions, there are tones of fear, anger, and sadness revealed. Moreover, this research might help to better understand public behaviors to gain insight and make the proper decisions.