BackgroundDiabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the most widely prevalent diseases in Saudi Arabia. Health education is considered an essential component to improve knowledge and change behavior. People affected by diabetes often have inadequate knowledge about the nature of diabetes, its risk factors and associated complication.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the awareness of the Arar population with various aspects of diabetes mellitus.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out in Arar city, the capital of the Northern Province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study was carried out on Saudi nationals from different age groups that were selected by systematic random sampling. Data was collected by means of personal interview with the participants using a pre-designed questionnaire which was administered by the medical students for each diabetic patient. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 15, using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test.ResultsA total of 702 participants were interviewed, among them 201 (28.6%) males and 501 (71.4%) females, and most of them (77.8%) had high educational level, 10.4% were diabetics, 78.9% did not have regular checkup visits to the doctor and 58.5% did not perform any regular exercises, including walking, 60% thought that DM was due to partial or total decrease in insulin secretion and 12.4% thought that it was due to excess sweet eating. Additionally, 48.7% of the respondents thought that lack of exercise and obesity were the major risk factors of DM, 33.2% thought that it was a genetic disease. The majority (86.3) of the participants believed that the treatment of DM was a combination of healthy diet, exercise and medication and more than half (63.1%) said that weight loss and modification of life style were the most important preventive measures of DM. Regarding participants’ knowledge about DM complications, 24.5% knew about retinopathy and loss of vision, 8.3% knew about retinopathy, loss of vision, low sensation and numbness in extremities, 24.9% said that symptoms of DM were thirst and frequent urination.ConclusionThis study recommends that health policy makers conduct more effective health education sessions to increase knowledge of diabetic patients and their caregivers about diabetes and the importance of compliance with its treatment.

Background: Senile cataract is an age-related, vision-impairing disease characterized by gradual progressive thickening of the lens of the eye. It is the world's leading cause of treatable blindness. The objective of this study was to identify the percentage and determinants of Senile Cataract in Arar, Northern Saudi Arabia. Methods: The current study is a hospital based conducted in Arar Cental Hospital, for the period from 1/3/ 2016 to 30/9/2017. All elderly patients referred to or admitted to the hospital ocular department and who were clinically suspected to have Cataract were included in the study after obtaining an informed consent from them. Exclusion criteria included patients who refused to participate in the study. Data was collected through face to face interview and filling a questionnaire which included questions about age, sex of participants, signs and symptoms of cataract and it's complications, presence of comorbidities. Results: The study included 134 cases, 95.5% of the studied cases had Cataract, of them 53.9% were males and 46.1% females, 53.1% aged between 50-60. One third of the cases had cataract for less than one year, 37.5% for -2 years. Fifty five (43%) reported foggy vision, 17.2% see halos around the light, 15.6% reported problems in seeing bright colors, 12.5% problems with night vision and 11.7% reported fad in colors and 0.6% had complete blindness. Twenty nine (22.7%) of the cases had DM, 17.2% were obese, 16.4% had hypertension, 6.2% had IHD and 28.1% were smokers. Only 49.2% had cataract operation but succeeded in 28.9% of them. Conclusions: We found senile cataract in 95.5% of the studied old aged participants, there was high rates of no operated cataract in older people in North Saudi Arabia. Males had higher rates of cataract, and 0.6% had complete blindness.

Background: In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), cervical cancer ranks the 9th most diagnosed cancer among females aged 15-44 years and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recent figures, it ranks the 6th leading cause of cancer-related mortalities in this age group in Saudi Arabia. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the primary health care physicians towards the Cervical Cancer and Human Papilloma Virus and its prevention. Subjects and methods:A descriptive cross-sectional facility basedstudy was conducted in Arar city in a period from February to December, 2021 among all the primary health care physicians, in addition to gynecologist and pediatricians in Maternity and Child hospital. A comprehensive structured English self-administered questionnaire to assess the levels of knowledge and attitudes regarding cervical cancer and the two major preventive strategies (the Pap smear and HPV vaccine) was used for data collection. Results: The study included 128 physicians. Females represented 61.7% of them. Their age ranged between 24 and 56 years with an arithmetic mean±tandard deviation (SD) of 31.6±6 years. The total knowledge score about cervical cancer prevention and screening ranged between 2 and 21 out of a maximum possible of 22 with a median (interquartile range IQR) of 15 (12-17). The highest knowledge score was observed among family physicians (mean rank=72.90) whereas the lowest score was observed among pediatricians (mean rank=38.55), p<0.001. The total attitude score ranged between 7 and 15 out of a maximum possible of 17 with a median (interquartile range IQR) of 11 (9-12). Only 20.3% of the physicians reported a history of ever been vaccination agaist HPV.The age of vaccinated physicians was significantly lower than that of not vaccinated group (29.0±4.1 vs. 32.2±6.3), p=0.014. Similarly, the years of experience of vaccinated physicians was significantly lower than those of not vaccinated group (3.5±3.0 vs. 5.9±5.2), p=0.024. Almost half of physicians between R1 and R3 (46.2-55.6%) compared to only 4% of R4 and 4.9% of specialists reported history of being vaccinated against HPV, p<0.001. Knowledge about cancer cervix score was significantly higher among not vaccinated compared to vaccinated group (median scores were 16 and 14, respectively), p=0.018. Conclusion:Knowledge of physicians in Arar regarding cancer cervix prevention and screening is moderate, favorable attitude towards the disease was observed, however, suboptimal uptaking of the HPV vaccine was observed.

BackgroundDeep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients worldwide and, simultaneously, the most preventable. Studies revealed several risk factors of deep venous thrombosis in hospitalized patients.Objectiveto identify frequency and factors associated with occurrence of deep venous thrombosis among diabetic patients referred to King Abdulaziz University (KAU) Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.MethodsThis cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted from June to December, 2016. All diabetic patients referred to the hospital departments and who were suspected to have deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and subjected to Doppler examination were included in the study. A questionnaire was designed to obtain data about deep venous thrombosis frequency among participants and factors associated with the development of deep venous thrombosis among them. Data was collected through face to face interviews with patients included in the study. We used SPSS version 16 for data analysis through descriptive statistics and Chi-square test.ResultsDVT was detected in 14.7 % of the examined patients. There were significant and positive associations between age and DVT (X2=10.13, p=0.03) and between ischemic heart disease and DVT (X2=1.628, p=0.043) with the development of deep venous thrombosis among the studied patients. On the other hand, gender, other comorbidities, history of previous DVT, being bed ridden and using orthopedic casting were not significantly associated with the occurrence of deep venous thrombosis among the participants.ConclusionDVT development rate among the participants was 14.7 %. Aging was significantly associated with DVT occurrence. Most of the studied factors and comorbidities had no significant role in DVT development among participants and only ischemic heart disease was significantly associated with DVT development.