Ashraful Islam

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate how COVID 19 impacted the spending on medications that are used to relieve migraine. Another aim of this study was to assess the significant predictors which contributed to increasing the economic burden (EB)among patients with migraine. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with migraine between October 2022 and April 2023 using a predeveloped self-administrative questionnaire. All patients who had a migraine, aged 18 and more and can spoke Arabic were included using convenient sampling procedure. The economic burden (EB) model was developed using simple and multiple regression. Results: After removing samples with extreme value, a total of 198 responses were analyzed. When adjusted for confounding patients age, education level, occupation and level of income were the significant predictors for EB. Older patients’ (AOR: 1.82, p<0.05), low educated (AOR: 3.17, p<0.05), employed (AOR: 1.07, p<0.05) and high-income level patients’ (AOR: 2.46, p<0.05) were more likely to experienced EB than their counterparts. Conclusion: The current study provided an initial picture about the economic burden of COVID 19 on the spending of medications and the number of ER visits from the migraineurs’ perspectives. Patients’ age, education level, occupation and level of income were significant predictors of increasing the economic burden on patients with migraine. Most of the migraine patients avoided going to hospital and preferred to take medications at their homes. More research should warrant focusing on estimating the total migraine cost including direct, indirect, and intangible cost.

Objective Objective of the study was to evaluate the public perception and acceptance of community pharmacists in providing mental health support in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19. Methods An online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out among the general public (aged 15 years or above) of Saudi Arabia during March-April 2020 using QuestionPro platform. The validated questionnaire was bilingual (English and Arabic), simple, detailed, and relevant to obtain focused responses from participants. Importantly, an item related to an agreement on a statement “Pharmacist can counsel people on psychological issues” was included on a five-point Likert scale. The survey link was shared across multiple social media platforms. Results A total of 773 participants completed the survey. The majority were female (65.2%) and youngsters (48.1%). Nearly half of the participants disagreed, while 19% agreed that pharmacists could provide support on psychological issues. Factors such as age, employment status, and the management of the psychological issues during the pandemic were significantly associated with the acceptance of community pharmacists’ role in providing mental health services (p

Aim: The study aimed to document the anxiety attributed to COVID-19, disease knowledge, and intention to vaccinate against the disease in general public. Moreover, the interplay among these three outcomes was also investigated.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted for 2 months in three cities of Dammam Region of Saudi Arabia. The target segment was the adult population of Saudi Arabia. Convenience sampling was used and all adults aged ≥18 were invited to participate. The questionnaire used in the study was available in both Arabic and English languages. It included a demographic section, a section dedicated to vaccination intention and, a section containing coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS). The data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS version 23. The study was approved by an ethics committee (IRB-2021-05-297).Results: A total of 542 responses were analyzed. Most respondents had no anxiety attributed to COVID-19 (92.1%), self-reported good knowledge of COVID-19 (79.7%) and intended to administer a vaccine (57.4%). Age groups 18–29 years and 30–45 years, and having a chronic medical condition, were found to be determinants of having COVID-19 anxiety (p < 0.05). The variables of self-rated good knowledge of disease, never contracted COVID-19, and incomes of SAR 5,000 (i.e., USD 1333), and SAR 7,500–10,000 (i.e., USD 1999.5–2666), were found to be determinants of having positive intention toward vaccination (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The anxiety due to COVID-19 was present in a few participants. Besides, self-reported knowledge about COVID-19 and intention to administer a vaccine, were positively linked to each other. However, both variables had no effect on COVID-19 anxiety. It is important to review and address the determinants of positive intention to further increase vaccine acceptance rate.

Factors reported in the literature associated with inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials include physicians with less experience, uncertain diagnosis, and patient caregiver influences on physicians’ decisions. Monitoring antimicrobial resistance is critical for identifying emerging resistance patterns, developing, and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation strategies. Improvement in prescribing antimicrobials would minimize the risk of resistance and, consequently, improve patients’ clinical and health outcomes. The purpose of the study is to delineate factors associated with antimicrobial resistance, describe the factors influencing prescriber’s choice during prescribing of antimicrobial, and examine factors related to consequences of inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobial. A cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare providers (190) in six tertiary hospitals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The research panel has developed, validated, and piloted survey specific with closed-ended questions. A value of p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. All data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 23.0). 72.7% of the respondents have agreed that poor skills and knowledge are key factors that contribute to the inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials. All of the respondents acknowledged effectiveness, previous experience with the antimicrobial, and reading scientific materials (such as books, articles, and the internet) as being key factors influencing physicians’ choice during antimicrobial prescribing. The current study has identified comprehensive education and training needs for healthcare providers about antimicrobial resistance. Using antimicrobials unnecessarily, insufficient duration of antimicrobial use, and using broad spectrum antimicrobials were reported to be common practices. Furthermore, poor skills and knowledge were a key factor that contributed to the inappropriate use and overuse of antimicrobials, and the use of antimicrobials without a physician’s prescription (i.e., self-medication) represent key factors which contribute to AMR from participants’ perspectives. Furthermore, internal policy and guidelines are needed to ensure that the antimicrobials are prescribed in accordance with standard protocols and clinical guidelines.

This study aimed to assess public knowledge about medicine information, safety, and adverse drug reaction reporting (ADR) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional study was conducted using purposive stratified sampling in different settings of Dammam city for three months (January–March 2020). The target population was identified as consumers who had used the medicines in the last 3 months. The questionnaire was adopted from the literature and was validated. Content and face validities were established, and reliability was assessed. The study was approved by the concerned ethics committee. A total of 915 participants returned completed questionnaires. A total of 54.4% participants aged between 18 and 30 years, 65.8% were females and 53.1% had obtained bachelor level education. The mean score for knowledge of medicines (K1) was 5.46 ± 1.07. The mean score for knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) was 5.94 ± 1.73. The mean score for tendency to report a suspected ADR (T1) was 3.43 ± 1.57. Gender was a determinant of knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01) and ADR reporting tendency (T1) (p < 0.01). The marital status of patients was a determinant for both knowledge of medicines (K1) (p < 0.01) and, knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01). The results of this study highlighted that although the scores for knowledge of medicines, and tendency to report ADR were better, the score for knowledge regarding medication safety was unsatisfactory.

Female sex workers are usually at high risk of transmission of HIV/AIDS. The aim of the study was to identify factors related to HIV testing behavior among FSWs in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 200 FSWs. The present study revealed that sixty-eight percent of FSWs in Rajshahi city have been tested for HIV. It was noted that FSWs who were between 21-30 years of age, had secondary, or higher level of education, came from a richer family, had been tested for sexually transmitted infections (STI), and traded sex at residence, were more likely to have been tested for HIV. FSWs used condoms while having sex, and regularly asked new clients on their HIV testing status, that were more likely had been tested for HIV. This information would allow health authorities to target FSWs who may not be aware of their health, and controlling HIV/AIDS in this country.

Non communicable diseases like type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) are increasing in children. Ten persent of diabetes are type 1. Diabetic nephropathy(DN) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are the most common complications in DM Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by persistent proteinuria leading to end stage renal disease Around 25-45% of patient with type 1 diabetes will develop overt nephropathy over 10-15 years Hence it is very rare to develop diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy after 2 years of arising symptom in the paediatric age group .In this case report we describe a 15 years old boy who was diagnosed to have type 1 DM 7 days back and symptoms of DM started 2 years back . Patient develop overt nephropathy manifested by edema and proteinuria and retinopathy manifested by dimness of vision, microaneurysm with dot and blot haemorhage after 2 years of complaining symptoms suggestive of DM. The patient was managed accordingly with insulin therapy for tight glycaemic control and supportive therapy for chronic kidney disease (stage IV). As retinopathy preceed nephropathy, so renal biopsy was not done. It is recommended that all children should be screened for type 1 DM periodically to ensure good glycaemic control as well as reduce the complication like DR and DN. J Shaheed Suhrawardy Med Coll, 2014; 6(2):93-95