This study reflected the importance of assessing VTE prophylaxis in Lebanese hospitals, thus, the need for implementing established guidelines to improve the overall patient safety.

Background Online surveys have triggered a heated debate regarding their scientific validity. Many authors have adopted weighting methods to enhance the quality of online survey findings, while others did not find an advantage for this method. This work aims to compare weighted and unweighted association measures after adjustment over potential confounding, taking into account dataset properties such as the initial gap between the population and the selected sample, the sample size, and the variable types. Methods This study assessed seven datasets collected between 2019 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic through online cross-sectional surveys using the snowball sampling technique. Weighting methods were applied to adjust the online sample over sociodemographic features of the target population. Results Despite varying age and gender gaps between weighted and unweighted samples, strong similarities were found for dependent and independent variables. When applied on the same datasets, the regression analysis results showed a high relative difference between methods for some variables, while a low difference was found for others. In terms of absolute impact, the highest impact on the association measure was related to the sample size, followed by the age gap, the gender gap, and finally, the significance of the association between weighted age and the dependent variable. Conclusion The results of this analysis of online surveys indicate that weighting methods should be used cautiously, as weighting did not affect the results in some databases, while it did in others. Further research is necessary to define situations in which weighting would be beneficial.

Background This study objective was to evaluate the prevalence as well as factors (smoking, internet addiction, social phobia, depression, child abuse and bullying) associated with alcohol use disorder among a representative sample of Lebanese young people, in addition to validating and confirming psychometric properties of the AUDIT scale. Methods A cross-sectional study, conducted between January and May 2019, enrolled 1810 adolescents aged between 14 and 17. Alcohol dependence was defined as a high AUDIT score. A principal component analysis technique to confirm the validity of the construct of the AUDIT scale score was done and a confirmatory analysis to assess the structure of the instrument was conducted. Results The mean AUDIT score was 6.46 ± 8.44 and high risk of hazardous alcohol drinking was found in 28% of adolescents. One factor solution of the AUDIT scale had been found after running the factor analysis and the confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the χ2/df=2.4, the Steiger-Lind RMSEA was 0.10 [0.084-0.155] and the Joreskog GFI equaled 0.91 and AGFI equaled 0.92. Higher cigarette (Beta=0.372) and waterpipe (Beta=0.319) dependence, higher child sexual (Beta=0.581) and neglect (Beta=0.106) abuse, higher internet addiction (Beta=0.088), separated parents compared to living together (Beta=3.202) and higher bullying victimization (Beta=0.143) were significantly associated with higher AUDIT scores. Conclusion Alcohol dependence seems to be influenced by several risk factors among the Lebanese adolescents such as cigarette and waterpipe dependence, higher internet addiction, bullying, and child sexual and neglect abuse. Parents and healthcare professionals could use this data to influence intervention efforts.

Purpose: To determine the knowledge, attitude and reported practice of Lebanese community pharmacists who advise persons who present with low back pain.Methods: This was a multi-center cross-sectional study conducted in over 300 community pharmacies across Lebanon from December 2017 to May 2018. Pharmacists working at a community pharmacy were considered eligible, and those who volunteered to participate completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed for self-completion by the pharmacist and included demographic questions about the respondent, questions that assessed knowledge and attitude toward low back pain, and questions about treatment to reflect and characterize the nature of practice. The primary outcome was to determine the knowledge, attitude and reported practice of the Lebanese pharmacists advising people who presented with low back pain. The secondary outcome was to assess factors that affect knowledge, attitude, and practice.Results: The response of 320 community pharmacists was analysed. The proportion of pharmacists with good knowledge about low back pain (51. 7 %) was slightly higher than those with poor knowledge (48. 3 %). Oral therapy was the most prescribed dosage form for back pain compared to local patch and cream. Among oral dosage forms, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the most prescribed medications (42 %). Of the patients’ referral to the physician if necessary, 73.1 % of the referrals were by pharmacists.Conclusion: Community pharmacists in Lebanon demonstrate an acceptable level of knowledge of back pain, yet major gaps still exist, particularly in terms of the quality of advice. Hence, more education is needed to provide better quality of advice. Keywords: Attitude, Knowledge, Low back pain, Reported practice, Quality of advice

Adherence to the KDOQI recommendations for EPO dosing and managing iron status ameliorates anemia control in hemodialysis subjects. This highlights the necessity for strict implementation of guidelines and the involvement of a clinical pharmacist in hemodialysis units.

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