Fahad Alkhathaami

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression, depressive symptoms, and quality of life among caregivers of pediatric cancer patients and the associated risk factors. In total, 73 participants were recruited for this cross-sectional study in King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital. Two self-administered questionnaires were used, the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ9) and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL), to assess the depressive symptoms as well as the prevalence of clinical depression and quality of life, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) to assess the level of depression and quality of life and the associated factors using Fisher’s exact and Mann-Whitney tests. It was found that 90.4% were females and 9.6% were males, with 49.3% being between the ages of 31 and 40. Regarding the level of depression, 47.80% had mild depression. There were no significant associations between the baseline characteristics and the level of depression. Gender was significantly associated with all four domains of quality of life, age was significant in physical health and environmental domains, duration of illness was significant only in the physical health domain, while education level was found to be not significantly associated with any of the domains. This study found that nearly half of the participants had mild levels of depression, and the four domains of the WHOQOL were significantly affected by several risk factors. We recommend further research into this topic with larger sample sizes, as well as a follow-up assessment of caregivers for a more accurate representation of caregivers’ depression and quality of life. We recommend that in addition to the assessment of pediatric cancer patients, caregivers must also be assessed due to the burden associated with the task of being a caregiver.

The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is increasing along with the availability of diagnostic tests and is becoming a common nosocomial infection. CDI is the cause of nearly all occurrences of pseudomembranous colitis as well as 10-25% of antibiotic-related diarrhea. In patients presenting with persistent C. difficile diarrhea, the most common cause is the recurrence of pseudomembranous colitis but other differential diagnoses may need to be considered. In this case, we report a case of C. difficile diarrhea associated with life-threatening colitis and bowel ischemia. We report the case of a 60-year-old male with persistent C. difficile diarrhea complicated by bowel ischemia. He presented with one month of persistent diarrhea and vomiting that had been worsening over the past three days; these symptoms were precipitated with prolonged antibiotic use. The patient was not known to have any chronic diseases but was attending the oncology outpatient clinic for an undiagnosed colonic mass that needed further examination. The patient’s vitals showed tachycardia (116 bpm), and a palpable left lumbar mass was noted on examination. The patient’s laboratory tests revealed significantly high inflammatory markers and deranged renal functions, and x-ray images showed hemicolitis. The patient was admitted because of dehydration. Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen was conducted which revealed bowel ischemia. A high index of suspicion for bowel ischemia should be held in C. difficile cases presenting with persistent symptoms. C. difficile infection is a very common healthcare-associated infection, its risk factors are older age, hospitalizations, and severe diseases. There is a need to increase the awareness of clinicians and prompt the diagnosis if suspicion of complicated C. difficile is present such as bowel ischemia.