ABSTRACT
Background: Nursing staff are in direct contact with the consequences of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Design and Methods: Descriptive questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of a sample of nursing staff working across Saudi Arabia. Results: The study included (n = 431) nursing professionals. Coronaphobia prevalence among the nursing staff was 80.3% [95% confidence interval (CI): 76.5-84%]. There were (36.7%) who had severe cornaphobia. Working in a clinical department and being Saudi national were associated with increased COVID-19 fear (estimate = 0.109, P = 0.0153 and P = 0.010, respectively). Conclusion: Hospital management in Saudi Arabia needs to acknowledge the high prevalence of coronaphobia during the current COVID-19 crisis among nursing staff.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Since the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic, most countries started treating their patients with various therapies. However, the data regarding their safety and effectiveness is still lacking. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) incidence and their predisposing factors among COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A retrospective observational study that was conducted at a tertiary academic hospital from March - June 2020. Patients were included if they were ≥ 18 years old, inpatient, had a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive for COVID-19, and were treated with; (lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, favipiravir, ribavirin, or interferon-ß) either as monotherapy or combination therapy for three days or longer. The data of eligible patients were retrieved from the electronic medical records. A standardized data collection form was designed to collect patient demographics, COVID-19 severity based on the Saudi Ministry of Health management protocols, antiviral therapies, duration of therapy, and length of stay (LOS). The ADRs were identified via conducting a comprehensive review using predefined triggers and were evaluated using Naranjo Score. RESULTS: A total of 155 patients were included of which 123 (79.4%) were males. In our sample, the incidence proportion of ADRs per patient was 72.3%. A total of 287 ADRs were identified most of them were hepatic (n = 101, 35.2%), gastrointestinal (n = 59, 20.6%), hematological (n = 47, 16%), and endocrine (n = 45, 15%). Hydroxychloroquine was the most common drug associated with ADRs (n = 155). The length of stay (10 - 20 days) was the only statistically significant with the ADR incidence (p-value = 0.008; 95 %CI 1.216:3.568). CONCLUSIONS: The ADRs are prevalent among COVID-19 patients, which assure the importance of implementing active hospital-based pharmacovigilance systems.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress and fear throughout the world. AIMS: To evaluate the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Saudi public, and to examine the performance of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) scale. METHOD: We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of a sample of the Saudi public. RESULTS: The study included 347 participants, who reported significantly higher levels of distress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and somatisation compared with a normative sample. Females scored higher in terms of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Obtaining COVID-19 information from friends and relatives was associated with higher levels of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 for the distress scale, 0.88 for the depression scale, 0.88 for the anxiety scale and 0.86 for the somatisation scale. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of psychological distress were high among the Saudi public during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found high reliability for the Arabic version of the 4DSQ scale. However, three items did not conform to the four-factor structure, namely, item 1: 'During the past week, did you suffer from dizziness or feeling light-headed?', item 20: 'During the past week, did you suffer from disturbed sleep?' and item 46: 'During the past week did you ever think I wish I was dead?'.