Introduction. Adolescent interpersonal violence is a global public health problem, yet gaps remain in the epidemiologic literature on adolescent violence in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Prevalence rates and risk and protective factors reported in high-income countries may be different from those reported in LMICs. Culturally-relevant epidemiologic data is important in efforts aimed at addressing adolescent interpersonal violence in these countries.Methods. A cross-sectional study of Egyptian adolescent involvement in violent behavior was conducted. Data collected from a 2006 school-based survey initiative were used; participants were adolescents aged 11–17 (N = 5, 249). Some participants were excluded from the dataset due to incomplete data (N = 111) resulting in a final sample of 5,138. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were run to determine demographic and social variables associated with participation in physical fighting.Results. Thirty-one percent of adolescents reported being involved in a physical fight. Previously reported risk factors for violent behavior among adolescents such as depressive symptoms (OR = 1.29; CI = 1.11–1.50) and bullying victimization (OR = 2.44; CI = 2.12–2.83) were positively associated with violent behavior in the present study, while the more novel factor of sedentary behavior was also observed as having a positive association with violent behavior (OR = 1.43; CI = 1.21–1.69). Known protective factors such as helpful peers (OR = 0.75; CI = 0.62–0.90) and understanding parents (OR = 0.67; CI = 0.56–0.81) were found to have negative associations with violent behavior in the present study, in addition to the counterintuitive protective effect of having fewer friends (OR = 0.75; CI = 0.60–0.92).Conclusions. Prevalence rates of adolescent interpersonal violence in Egypt are similar to rates in other LMICs. The high reported rates of depressive symptomatology and bully victimization along with their positive association with physical fighting suggest that interventions aimed at treating and preventing these problems may help mitigate the likelihood of adolescents engaging in violent behavior; involvement in appropriate physical activity in a safe environment may be beneficial as well. More research is needed to understand the observed protective factor of having fewer friends.

Background: Hypertension is a major health problem in Egypt with low rates of awareness, adherence, and control. Family oriented health education program is needed to know the effect of family involvement on the outcome of hypertension. Aim of the study: to improve care provided to hypertensive patients in family practice settings. Subjects and methods: This study was conducted as an intervention study. The awareness, adherence to treatment and control of hypertension were assessed before and after the intervention program through a structured interview with hypertensive patients and their families (at least one family member attended once/month over 6 months). The study was conducted at two family practice settings (the family practice outpatient clinic and El Mahsama family practice center, both are affiliated to Suez Canal University, Egypt). There were 206 hypertensive patients, who were recruited to reach the estimated sample size (190 patients) to start the intervention program. Results: The overall awareness, adherence, and control before the intervention were 60.2%, 37.1%, and 12.9% respectively. One month after the end of the intervention program, all non-aware patients became aware (p<0.001) and the pre-post adherence and BP control improved significantly (p<0.01 and p< 0.001 respectively). The rural residence and adherence improvement were statistically significant positive predictors of improvement of hypertension control. Conclusion: The family oriented-health education program is effective to improve awareness, adherence, and control of hypertension.

Background: Chronic diseases often occur as comorbidities. Diabetes mellitus is a common problem leading to compromised health problems, without proper treatments many complications can occur. Successful management depends on adequate self-care. Self-care barriers affect the performance of the patient. Aim: to assess the barriers of self-care in diabetic patients. Patients and Methods: It is a cross sectional study, conducted on 228 diabetic patients attending three family medicine centers in Port Said city. A self-administered modified structured questionnaire was given to each participant to assess barriers of self-care and determine degree of self-care in diabetic participants. Results: Eighty-four percent (n= 192) of the patients did not follow their selfcare program in an accepted manner, taking treatment of diabetes regularly was the most followed domain in the program of the self-care by 85.5% (n= 195). The most frequent barrier to selfcare was difficulty in following recommended exercise in 74.1% (n= 169) participants, and the least frequent barrier was poor adherence to medications in 11.8% (n= 27). Conclusions: The most frequent barriers of self-care among the surveyed diabetic patients are: difficulty in following recommended exercise, low education level, difficulty in following recommended dietary plans and annual investigation respectively. Therefore, we recommend that family physicians and their health care teams should pay attention to the most frequent barrier to self-care among the diabetic patients to help them to achieve their glycemic goals.