Effect of patient education on metabolic syndrome components among females in Zagazig University outpatient clinics, Egypt: An intervention study.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a major health problem worldwide. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of lifestyle modification regarding MS components among adult females. METHODS: An intervention study performed on 120 adult females with MS (60 intervention and 60 controls) selected randomly from Zagazig University outpatient clinics. Intervention group received patient education program while controls received traditional management. MS components were compared with three months interval representing Pre-Post follow up results. RESULTS: Two groups showed significant improvement in all MS components but mean change was significantly higher in intervention group. Three months follow up demonstrated that 63.4% of intervention group had reversal of their MS versus 15% of control group. CONCLUSION: Patient education improved all MS components and considered significantly more effective than traditionally adopted management. So, we recommend its application on all MS patients.

Human platelet antigen 1, 2 and 5 gene polymorphisms in Egyptians and their potential association with susceptibility to immune thrombocytopenic purpura in Egyptian patients.

OBJECTIVES: This study determined the incidence of HPA1, HPA2 and HPA5 polymorphisms in 120 Egyptian immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) patients and 120 healthy Egyptian subjects. METHODS: Human platelet antigen (HPA) genotyping was done using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: The frequency of HPA1 allele a and b was 78.75 and 21.25% in controls, 80.8 and 19.2% in ITP, respectively. HPA2 allele a and b frequency was 86.25 and 13.75% in controls and of 74.6 and 25.4% in patients, respectively. HPA5 allele a and b frequency was 87.5 and 12.5% in controls, in patients it was 85 and 15%, respectively. With the exception of HPA2, no other significant difference was encountered in HPA allele frequency between controls and ITP patients. DISCUSSION: Egyptian HPA profile is closely linked to Middle East and neighboring Arabs. The current study noted that in all the studied HPA systems 1, 2 and 5, the 'a' allele is more prevalent than the b allele; the most frequent genotype was the homozygous a/a genotype. HPA2b frequency, homo- and hetero-zygous HPA2b genotype frequencies were significantly higher in ITP patients compared to controls. CONCLUSION: HPA 2b are 2.37 times more likely to develop ITP compared to those without this allele. The relatively high allele frequency of the HPA-1b in the Egyptian population suggests that this ethnic group has a higher risk of alloimmunization.