Sleep-disordered breathing among Saudi children seeking orthodontic treatment.

AIMS: The aim of this research is to assess the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and evaluate the risks and symptoms in children seeking orthodontic treatment in a Saudi dental center. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: It is a cross-sectional survey-based study. METHODS AND MATERIAL: Pediatric sleep questionnaire (PSQ) was used to survey 285 children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 years old who are undergoing orthodontic screening in a Saudi Dental Center. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: PSQ scores were tested with multiple variables including gender, parents' education, academic performance using Mann-Whitney-U test. Correlation of study sample scores with age were calculated using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rho). RESULTS: In this study 136 (47.7%) of the participants were deemed to be high risk for developing SDB and 149 (52.3%) were low risk, males were significantly at higher risk compared to females (P ≤ 0.05). Participants with previous adenoidectomy surgery were more likely to be identified as high-risk for SDB (P-value = 0.000) as well as participants with a family history of snoring (P-value = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disordered breathing was prevalent among Saudi children seeking orthodontic therapy, it is important to screen children and adolescents in dental pediatric and orthodontic clinics for SDB risk as this is a prevalent disorder among this population, early detection of SDB will improve patients' quality of life and prevent future complications associated to this disorder.

Validity and reliability of the Arabic-translated kidney disease quality of life survey among long-term dialysis patients in Saudi Arabia.

One of the tools used to measure the quality of life in hemodialysis (HD) patients is the Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL) survey. The KDQOL has been through several developmental processes, with the most recent one being the KDQOL-36™. Our study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Arabic-translated KDQOL-36™ survey in Saudi chronic dialysis patients. This cross-sectional study was conducted at four HD centers in Saudi Arabia. The KDQOL-36™ survey was translated into Arabic according to the RAND Corporation's basic guidelines for translating surveys. The validation process was achieved by assessing reliability and validity. The reliability of the translated survey was established by Cronbach's alpha to measure internal consistency and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) to measure the test-retest reliability. The validity of the translated survey was established based on content validity and convergent validity. The study included 184 patients (36-65 years; 60.9% of men). Regarding reliability, Cronbach's alpha for the subscales ranged from 0.63 to 0.89, and ICCs ranged from 0.60 to 0.88. For content validity, an expert panel reviewed the questions in depth. In addition, we found a positive relationship between all sub- and overall health-rated scores (P <0.01). The Arabic-translated version of the KDQOL-36™ survey is reliable and valid for evaluating the quality of life in Saudi chronic dialysis patients.

Practices, awareness and attitudes toward self-medication of analgesics among health sciences students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Self-medication is a common practice among health sciences students in Saudi Arabia. It is known that inappropriate selfmedication may harm individuals due to increasing the risk of drug misuse or delaying a hospital visit by masking some symptoms. Thus, the aim of our study is to investigate and assess practices, awareness and attitudes toward analgesics self-medication among health science students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in a form of electronic survey that was conducted among health sciences students from different universities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2016. Two hundred and seventy-two students responded to the questionnaire. The electronic questionnaire survey covered demographics, self-medication practice and the analgesics consumption, attitude and awareness about the safety of self-medication practice of analgesics. RESULTS: Factors associated with high prevalence of self-medication were not significant except for age (P = 0.04). Health sciences students had adequate knowledge about the safety of analgesics consumption itself and simultaneous use of analgesics with other drugs, significantly different by college; 80% for Pharmacy, 71% for Medicine, 61% for Nursing and Dentistry, and 25% for Applied Medical Sciences and pre-professional students (p = 0.037). CONCLUSION: The occurrence of self-medication practices is distressingly high among health sciences students. It is necessary to educate the students about the side effects and drawbacks of irresponsible selfmedication.