The prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among first-year and fifth-year medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Medical students have higher risk of psychological disorders due to the relatively stressful environment. Educators are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of stresses on the students general well-being. The objective of the current study was to examine the prevalence of and risk factors for depressive and anxiety symptoms among first-year and fifth-year medical students. Additionally, we aimed to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected students' mental well-being. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed at the College of Medicine at King Saud University between September 2020 and January 2021. The target population was first-year and fifth-year medical students. Depressive symptoms were screened using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), while anxiety symptoms were screened using the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder assessment (GAD-7). Students were also directly asked about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental well-being. Outcomes were compared between groups using the chi-squared test and Student's t test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 182 medical students were included. Depressive symptoms (52.9% versus 35.8%, p = 0.020) and anxiety symptoms (35.6% versus 26.3%, p = 0.176) were higher in the first-year students than in the fifth-year students. Approximately 19.2% of the students were worried about acquiring COVID-19, 49.4% were worried about academic performance, and 30.8% were feeling sad, depressed or anxious during the COVID-19 pandemic. Independent risk factors for depressive symptoms included having concomitant anxiety, being worried about acquiring COVID-19, being worried about academic performance, and feeling sad, depressed or anxious. Independent risk factors for anxiety included having a lower grade point average and having concomitant depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Medical students have an alarmingly high prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, which might have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for a special mental health program targeting new and current medical students.

Pattern of self-reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines in Saudi Arabia: A nationwide study

Background Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the most effective way to end the pandemic. Any development of adverse events (AEs) from various vaccines should be reported. We therefore aimed to explore major and minor AEs among vaccinated individuals in Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a nationwide report based on the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) registry. It included those who received COVID-19 vaccines from 17th December 2020 to 31st December 2021. The study included spontaneous self-reported adverse effects to COVID-19 vaccines where the study participants used a governmental mobile app (Sehhaty) to report their AEs following vaccination using a checklist option that included a selection of side-effects. The primary outcome was to determine AEs reported within 14 days of vaccination which included injection site itching, pain, reaction, redness, swelling, anxiety, dizziness, fever, headache, hoarseness, itchiness, loss of consciousness, nausea, heartburn, sleep disruption, fatigue, seizures, anaphylaxis, shortness of breath, wheezing, swelling of lips, face, and throat, loss of consciousness, and admissions into the intensive care unit (ICU). Results The study included a total number of 28,031 individuals who reported 71,480 adverse events (AEs);which were further classified into minor and major adverse events including ICU admissions post vaccination. Of the reported AEs, 38,309 (53. 6%) side-effects were reported following Pfizer-BioNTech, 32,223 (45%) following Oxford-AstraZeneca, and 948 (1.3%) following Moderna. The following reported AEs were statistically significant between the different vaccine types: shortness of breath\difficulty of breathing, dizziness, fever above 39°C, headache, hoarseness, injection site reactions, itchiness, nausea, sleep disruption, fatigue, wheezing, swelling of lips/face and\or throat, and loss of consciousness (p-value < 0.05). Fever and seizure were the only statistically significant AEs amongst the number of vaccine doses received (p-value < 0.05). Ten ICU admissions were reported in the 14 days observation period post-COVID-19 vaccination with the following diagnoses: acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, atherosclerosis, acute respiratory failure, intracranial hemorrhage, grand mal seizure, Guillain-Barré syndrome, abnormal blood gas levels, and septic shock. Conclusion This study demonstrated that the most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine side-effects among adults in Saudi Arabia were mild in nature. This information will help reduce vaccine hesitancy and encourage further mass vaccination to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as booster doses are now available. Further studies are warranted to obtain a better understanding of the association between risk factors and the experiencing of side-effects post vaccination.

Pattern of self-reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines in Saudi Arabia: A nationwide study.

Background: Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the most effective way to end the pandemic. Any development of adverse events (AEs) from various vaccines should be reported. We therefore aimed to explore major and minor AEs among vaccinated individuals in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a nationwide report based on the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) registry. It included those who received COVID-19 vaccines from 17th December 2020 to 31st December 2021. The study included spontaneous self-reported adverse effects to COVID-19 vaccines where the study participants used a governmental mobile app (Sehhaty) to report their AEs following vaccination using a checklist option that included a selection of side-effects. The primary outcome was to determine AEs reported within 14 days of vaccination which included injection site itching, pain, reaction, redness, swelling, anxiety, dizziness, fever, headache, hoarseness, itchiness, loss of consciousness, nausea, heartburn, sleep disruption, fatigue, seizures, anaphylaxis, shortness of breath, wheezing, swelling of lips, face, and throat, loss of consciousness, and admissions into the intensive care unit (ICU). Results: The study included a total number of 28,031 individuals who reported 71,480 adverse events (AEs); which were further classified into minor and major adverse events including ICU admissions post vaccination. Of the reported AEs, 38,309 (53. 6%) side-effects were reported following Pfizer-BioNTech, 32,223 (45%) following Oxford-AstraZeneca, and 948 (1.3%) following Moderna. The following reported AEs were statistically significant between the different vaccine types: shortness of breath\difficulty of breathing, dizziness, fever above 39°C, headache, hoarseness, injection site reactions, itchiness, nausea, sleep disruption, fatigue, wheezing, swelling of lips/face and\or throat, and loss of consciousness (p-value < 0.05). Fever and seizure were the only statistically significant AEs amongst the number of vaccine doses received (p-value < 0.05). Ten ICU admissions were reported in the 14 days observation period post-COVID-19 vaccination with the following diagnoses: acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, atherosclerosis, acute respiratory failure, intracranial hemorrhage, grand mal seizure, Guillain-Barré syndrome, abnormal blood gas levels, and septic shock. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine side-effects among adults in Saudi Arabia were mild in nature. This information will help reduce vaccine hesitancy and encourage further mass vaccination to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as booster doses are now available. Further studies are warranted to obtain a better understanding of the association between risk factors and the experiencing of side-effects post vaccination.

The role of the COVID-19 pandemic in expediting digital health-care transformation: Saudi Arabia's experience.

A comprehensive literature review of Research engines was conducted up to March 2022 to retrieve the articles. We considered all published data, press briefings, and announcements by the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia (MOH). The search included both sources in English and Arabic. Thus, this paper aims to give a comprehensive overview of the evolution and role of telemedicine and E-health represented in multiple informatics mobile applications during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. As a component of its subjective drives, the MOH has launched and developed a total of 12 mobile applications from 2012 to 2019, three apps of which were developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. My health "Sehhaty" was the cornerstone of telemedicine services provided by the MOH in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtually booked physician appointments exceeded 3.8 million. Appointment "Mawid" app number of users sprinted from 4 million to 25 million users and the number of appointments booked in the same app went from 8 million to 100 million appointments in pre-COVID-19 compared to the post-COVID-19 period. Furthermore, the Health 937 hotline numbers grew to 24.6 million calls. The Health "Seha" app provided 2 million remote medical consultations with an almost 8-fold increase compared to pre-COVID-19 times.