ABSTRACT
Background: In Saudi Arabia, approximately 70,000 deaths yearly occur from diseases caused by smoking. Assessing patients' smoking behavior in primary care has apparent benefits. Assisting patients with smoking cessation is one of the essential roles of primary care. This study evaluated the quality of smoking cessation clinic counseling in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, based on customer opinions of such services. Methods: This research employed a cross-sectional approach involving individuals attending smoking cessation clinics located within primary health care centers in Riyadh city. The participants were chosen through random selection. They were informed about the study's objectives, and those who consented to take part were contacted and provided with an online questionnaire to complete. Results: A total of 340 subjects participated (95.6%) of them were males, and 41.2% were in the age group of 25 to 35 years old. The common modality of tobacco use was cigarettes (82.6%), and 87.9% reported consuming tobacco daily. The mean (±SD) total score of the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence was 5.03 (±2.36), and the highest percentage (44.4%) of the participants had a moderate level of nicotine dependence. The vast majority (93.8%) of the participants had former quitting experiences. Half (50.9%) of the participants showed complete satisfaction with the cessation clinics, while 13.2% and 9.1% of them were not satisfied or slightly satisfied, respectively. Conclusion: The majority of smoking cessation clinic visitors were satisfied with the services provided, exceeding three-quarters of them, with half totally satisfied.
ABSTRACT
According to previous research, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have lower levels of physical activity than their typically developed (TD) counterparts. There have been conflicting reports about physical activity (PA) levels in people with ASD. Given the conflicting evidence, further investigation is required. We believe that evaluating PA in individuals with ASD is critical in order to offer PA intervention plans aiming at increasing their health-related physical fitness on a daily, systematic, and individualized basis. In the current study, an ActiGraph monitor (GT3X+) was used to accurately measure PA and sedentary activity in 21 children with autism aged 6.43 ± 2.29 years and 30 TD children aged 7.2 ± 3.14 years. Our data indicated that while the light and moderate activity counts were not significantly different between the two groups, the vigorous activity was significantly higher in ASD compared to TD. This finding was attributed to ASD characteristic stereotypy and self-stimulating behaviors. The significantly higher vigorous PA is discussed in relation to altered neurochemistry, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation as etiological mechanisms in ASD. This research provides a better understanding of the status of PA participation in individuals with ASD.
