Background Childhood obesity is a public health concern that in expanding globally. Of those aged between 5-19 years in Oman, 32% were found to be overweight in 2016. Method An electronic survey was distributed to in-training and post residency paediatricians in Oman. Results A total of 69 responses met the inclusion criteria and were analysed. 50% of participants were less than 30 years-old (53.6% female). 70% were in training residency (R1, R2 24.6%, R3, R4 36.2%,) and 30% were post residency. 72% had their training in Oman. About half of participants measure child’s weight and Height, however, only 24.4% document BMI and compare with previous records. 75% regularly obtain family history of obesity and related conditions along with dietary intake. More than half of participants were not confident on discussing weight and related complication with the child, but 62.3 % were confident in discussing it with the parents. 50% were confident in initiating treatment for childhood obesity and providing dietary advice. Attitudes towards exposure to childhood obesity and management varied and overall excellent exposure accounted for less than one third of responses (Medical school 21.7%, Residency 26.1%, 27.5%). In general, only 20.6% believe they are confident in managing childhood obesity and only 29% attended seminar or training on childhood obesity. 93% believe there is a need for a more focused training on childhood obesity prevention and management. Conclusions Great efforts need to be targeted towards strengthening Paediatricians’ confidence in childhood obesity prevention and management via in residency-training and continuous professional development.

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Background/ObjectivesTo determine the prevalence of urticarial vasculitis (UV) in a pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE) cohort of Arab ethnicity from Oman and to describe their demographic, clinical, and laboratory features.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective multicenter study among pediatric rheumatology centers in Oman over a 10‐year period from 2008 to 2018. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics.ResultsA total of 148 pSLE under the age of 13 years were included of which 30% (n = 44) were men. The overall mean age at SLE diagnosis was 7.6 ± 3.5 years while the mean disease duration was 10.1 ± 5.4 years. UV was diagnosed in 36% (n = 53) of pSLE patients. Patients with pSLE and UV were more likely to be male (57% vs 15%; P < .001), diagnosed at a younger age (5.9 vs 8.5 years; P < .001), have a family history of SLE (53% vs 36%; P = .044), and have associated conjunctivitis, (32% vs 5.3%; P < .001) but less likely to have CNS involvement (7.6% vs 20%; P = .045) or hematological manifestations such as leukopenia (9.4% vs 24%; P = .028) and thrombocytopenia (5.7% vs 18%; P = .045). This subgroup was also more likely to be associated with low C3 complement count (94% vs 66%; P < .001) and positive cytoplasmic ANCA (11% vs 0%; P = .022).ConclusionWe report a high occurrence of UV in a pSLE cohort associated with unique demographic, clinical, and laboratory features.

spite of immune activation. Hierarchical clustering is presented in figure 1. Cluster analysis demonstrates that the group with the highest mean SLEDAI-2K (10.7) had lower Hb, transferrin and LCN2 in addition to elevated IL1b, IL6 and hepcidin compared with those with lower SLEDAI-2K. Elevated haptoglobin levels were seen in those in the higher disease activity groups, suggesting that haemolysis was an unlikely cause for anaemia. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest increased lupus disease activity results in abnormal iron homeostasis through impaired cellular iron import (via reduced transferrin), a lack of stored iron release (under the actions of elevated hepcidin) and reduced iron sequestration by LCN2, which may represent a novel cause of non-haemolytic anaemia.