Frequency and risk factors for headache disability: A population-based cross-sectional study in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: A headache is a very common condition that can have a significant impact on one's quality of life. It is one of the leading causes of years lived with disability worldwide. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of primary headache disability, its characteristics, risk factors and its impact on daily life. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Fayoum governorate. The sample size was 1909 participants. A multistage random sample technique was used to select adults aged above 18 years. A self-structured questionnaire solicited information on sociodemographic characteristics, headache characteristics, and the headache disability index. SPSS v 22.0 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Headaches caused complete disability in 19.5% of the study group, and 76.8% developed severe disability. Participants who reported that they had a headache more than once a week were; 44.5% had moderate pain and 40.2% had more intense pain. About 55% complained of attacks rather than continuous headache and were more likely to have a degree of complete disability, (P = 0.001). A statistically significant association was found between living in urban areas, working in professional occupations, complaining of severe headache in the form of an attack and seeking medical advice, with high scores of headache disability. CONCLUSION: Headache is a condition that affects the entire population in a way that causes high levels of disability. Good management is necessary for the reduction of the adverse effects of headaches on the health of the population. This should focus on raising public awareness by means of education and on the provision of basic healthcare.

The impact of stress-coping strategies on perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students an interventional study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency. During the outbreak, a broad range of psychological disorders affected people at the individual, community, and international levels. This study aimed to assess the role of stress-coping strategies in relieving perceived stress among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This interventional study was nested on a cross-sectional design and involved students at Faiyum University in 2022. RESULTS: Out of a sample of 2640 students, 2176 (82.4%) experienced moderate perceived stress, while 56 (2.1%) had more severe levels. Being female, nonmedical students, and rural inhabitants having a low socioeconomic status were associated with scores for severe and moderate levels of perceived stress. Among the interventional group, Modified Perceived Stress Scale scores significantly decreased after the implementation of the stress-coping program, with a p value < 0.001. Improvements in perceived stress levels were observed among male, medical, and high-socioeconomic-status students. CONCLUSION: Perceived stress levels were associated with being female, engaging in nonmedical study, and having low socioeconomic status and decreased after a stress-coping program was implemented. These findings assert the need to develop regular campaigns to provide psychological support and stress-coping strategies that may help students overcome different stressors.

Smoking and nicotine dependence in relation to depression, anxiety, and stress in Egyptian adults: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Much research has found that smoking is one of the major risk factors for a variety of physical diseases and mental disorders; however, few studies have been conducted on smoking in Egypt. Furthermore, to the researcher's best knowledge, no study in Egypt has compiled data on smoking prevalence, motives, and levels of nicotine dependency. In order to fill in this gap, the current study has attempted to summarize the situation and construct an accurate picture of smoking in Egypt. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 2000 Egyptian adults in Fayoum through a multistage cluster sampling technique. For data collection, the Socioeconomic Status Scale was deployed. In addition, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS), the Modified Reasons for Smoking Scale (MRSS), and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) were used. Data analysis performed using SPSS version 22.0. For qualitative data, Chi-square test was used to determine statistical significance. Bivariate Pearson correlation was used to test for the association between quantitative variables. RESULTS: Of the total sample of 2000 adults, 40.4% had anxiety and 24.3% had stress, and 19.5% showed severe to extremely severe level of depression. For MRSS, tension reduction or relaxation was found in 46.5% adults while 9.8% had high level of nicotine dependence. There was a statistically significant association between psychometric disorders, on one hand, and both smoking motivation and nicotine dependence, on the other (P < 0.001). The DASS score had a statistically significant correlation with age, smoking duration, nicotine dependence level, and MRSS subscales. CONCLUSION: Smoking is linked to psychological symptoms and shows a moderate to high level of nicotine dependence, with a higher level of dependency, smoking pleasure, stress reduction/ relaxation, and hand-mouth movement as motives for smoking. Furthermore, there was a correlation between nicotine dependence, on one hand, and depression and stress on the other.

Assessment of patient safety culture among paramedical personnel at general and district hospitals, Fayoum Governorate, Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare is a high-risk industry that requires regular assessment of patient safety climate within healthcare organizations. This addresses the organizational cultural issues and explores the association between organizational climate and patient outcomes. This study aimed to assess patient safety culture among paramedical health employees at Fayoum general and district hospitals and to determine factors affecting their perception of patient safety. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the general hospital and four district hospitals in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt, among 479 paramedical healthcare workers. The standardized Hospital Patient Safety scale (HSOPSC) that composed of 12 safety culture dimensions was used. RESULTS: The mean total safety score varies according to the participant's position and work area. The total patient safety score was 46.56%. No dimension reported score above 75%. The highest mean composite scores were for organizational learning and continuous improvement (65.36%) and teamwork within hospital units (63.09%). The lowest reported score was for communication openness (17.9%). More perception of safety dimensions was seen in females than males, participants in direct contact with patients, and those with work experience less than 10 years. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Overall, the degree of patient safety is low at Fayoum public hospitals. No dimension scored above 75%, and 7 out of 12 dimensions scored less than 50%. Hence, continuous monitoring and updating of the ways of incident reporting is highly recommended. This may be done through setting up a web-based incident reporting system accessible for 24 h.

Development and validation of an Arabic-language headache questionnaire for population-based surveys.

BACKGROUND: The reported prevalence of headache disorders in Arab regions varies considerably between countries. This may be due to a lack of standardized survey instruments that capture the prevalence. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Our goal was to construct and validate a structured headache questionnaire for Arabic-speaking headache patients to be used as an epidemiological survey instrument. METHODS: We developed a culturally adapted interviewer-administered questionnaire in Arabic language comprising two sets of questions. The first set included personal and sociodemographic data together with a screening question regarding the presence of headaches over the last year. The second set was designed to define the type and pattern of headaches according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders criteria (for subjects with "yes" answers on the screening question). Validation process took place in two phases through probability random sampling selected from 1,221 headache subjects collected in an epidemiological survey 3 (n=70) and 6 months (n=232) later. A detailed assessment of patients' headaches was performed by neurologists (blinded from the questionnaire diagnosis) who clinically assessed the patients' headache. RESULTS: The validity of the questionnaire was tested in 232 subjects with a mean age of 41.2±10.9 years, 72.8% of whom were females. The mean time to complete the questionnaire was 8.4±1.7 minutes. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.903 (95% confidence interval: 0.875-0.925), the Cronbach κ coefficient was 0.775 (95% confidence interval: 0.682-0.837), and the percentage of agreement was 84.5%. CONCLUSION: Our results support the use of this comprehensive questionnaire as a valid tool for headache assessment among Arabic-speaking patients.

Changing in the Epidemiology of Tinea Capitis among School Children in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: Tinea capitis remains a prevalent health problem among school-aged children. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of tinea capitis among primary school students, in Fayoum, Egypt with identification of etiological agents in both public and private primary schools. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in twelve primary schools. The students were selected from different grades with a total number of 12,128 students. Hair and scalp were clinically examined for any lesions that may suspect tinea capitis and mycological samples were collected for direct microscopy and culture. RESULTS: The prevalence of tinea capitis in the study group was 0.4% and higher in public than private schools (73.5% versus 26.5% respectively). Boys were more affected than girls with boy to girls' ratio 5:1. Intrafamily history of infection was present in 40.8% of tested group while 51% showed low social standard profile. Mycological culture revealed that Microsporum canis was the predominant isolated organism followed by M. audouinii (52% and 36% respectively). CONCLUSION: M. canis is replacing Trichophyton violaceum as an etiology for tinea capitis in Egypt with lower prevalence rate than reported previously.

A comprehensive assessment of the physical, nutritional, and psychological health status of the elderly populace in the Fayoum Governorate (Egypt).

BACKGROUND: Elderly in Egypt is approximately 7.2% of the population. The main physical health problems affecting old age is Non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Depression is the commonest geriatric psychiatric disorder related to various life events. Malnutrition is associated with poor health, and cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases; malnutrition and depression with identification of related risk factors among Fayoum elderly population. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive community based survey was conducted among elderly population 2219 in Fayoum governorate. The sample was multistage stratified cluster random. An interview structured questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, history of chronic NCDs, evaluation of nutritional and psychological status by MNASF and GDSLF tools respectively. RESULTS: More than ninety percent of the studied population was suffering from more than one disease either physiological or pathological. The prevalence of malnutrition and depression was 10.9% and 74.5% respectively. Logistic regression analysis revealed that female gender, with increased age, and disease burden were common risk factor for both malnutrition and depression. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION: Non-communicable disease, malnutrition and depression were prevalent in our older population. These findings indicated the need for comprehensive integrated medical, psychological and nutritional health care at the level of the primary health care units.

Prevalence of primary headache disorders in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt.

BACKGROUND: There is abundance of epidemiological studies of headache in developed and western countries; however, data in developing countries and in Egypt are still lacking. This study aims to detect the prevalence of primary headache disorders in both urban and rural sectors in Fayoum governorate, Egypt. METHODS: A total of 2600 subjects were included using multi-stage stratified systematic random sampling, with respondent rate of 91.3 %. A pre-designed Arabic version, interviewer-administered, pilot tested structured questionnaire was developed according to The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (beta version), and this questionnaire was validated and the strength of agreement in headache diagnosis was good. RESULTS: The 1-year headache prevalence was 51.4 %, which was more prevalent in urban dwellers. The most common primary headache type was episodic tension type headache (prevalence; 24.5 %), followed by episodic migraine (prevalence; 17.3 %), both types peaked in midlife. Headache disorders were more common in females with exception of cluster headache that showed the expected male dominance. The risk of chronic headache increased more than one fold and half when the participants were females, married, and in those with high education. More than 60 % of our participants did not seek medical advice for their headaches problem; this percentage was higher in rural areas. CONCLUSIONS: Primary headache disorders are common in Egypt; prevalence rate was comparable with western countries with exception of episodic tension headache. Still headache is under-estimated and under-recognized in Egypt and this problem should be targeted by health care providers.

Epidemiological comparative study of pediculosis capitis among primary school children in Fayoum and Minofiya governorates, Egypt.

Pediculosis is a frequent public health problem. The pattern and prevalence of Pediculosis is dependent on many socio-demographic and economic factors. It is common in schoolchildren especially primary level; it may affect their learning performance. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of head louse among primary students, in Fayoum and Bagor districts, and explore the predisposing factors of head louse infestation in both public and private schools. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted in two governorates: Fayoum and Minofiya governorates which represent upper and lower Egypt respectively during the academic year of 2012-2013. The students were selected from different grades with a total of 10,935 students. The prevalence of head lice in the study group was 16.7 %. The incidence was higher in public schools 20.7 % than private schools 9.04 % and in girls 25.8 % more than boys, especially covered hair girls 6.2 %. There was a socio-demographic influence of louse infestation on residence, presence of water supply, number of house rooms, and number of family member. It is concluded that head lice are a common childhood problem related to poor hygiene and socioeconomic status. There is a need for collaboration effort between family, school, community, and media, to create an environment that establishes healthy behaviors and health promotion.