PurposeThis study objective was to explore the pattern of self-medications among King Khalid University students, Saudi Arabia.Patients and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted over five months among King Khalid University students, Abha, Saudi Arabia.ResultsAmong all the study participants, nearly 98.7% were practicing self-medication. Headache (75.9%), cough and cold (52.5%), and fever (35.6%) and body pain (24.6%) were the most reported symptoms. Use of painkillers (91.6%) was significantly predominant among the medical students, whereas non-medical students used antibiotics (35.4%).Time saving (64.2%), mild symptom (51.7%) and quick relief (36.9%) were the reasons behind seeking self-medication in this study.ConclusionSelf-medications was common in King Khalid University. Educational programs are highly recommended.

Background E-learning is a modern and flexible mode of education and is being used as an alternative to conventional mode of education during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However evidence suggests that effectiveness of e-learning is influenced by many prevailing factors. Methods A cross sectional study aimed to evaluate health care students’ perception towards implementation of e-learning was conducted for a period of 4 months, from April 2020 to July 2020. Research instrument consisted of a self-designed, qualitative questionnaire with three domains was validated using field pretest method and administered among health care students of King Khalid University using social media platforms. Chi square test was used to estimate the effect of e-learning on various domains whereas linear regression analysis was used to find the association between subjects’ characteristics to overall domain scores. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Among 254 respondents 59.8% were males and 96.5% respondents were staying with their families.10.2% reported medically imposed quarantine for one or more family members. 59.8% reported that the online classes were commenced too early. 63.4% of the respondents reported that they had no previous experience. Poor network connectivity (32.3%) and unawareness about online platforms (29.9%), poor audio/video qualities (26.3%) were found as major barriers. Psychological stress, discipline of study, living status and quarantine history had a remarkable impact on the effectiveness of online education. Conclusion Health care students are still cynical and are yet to embrace e-learning fully. Psychological distress, technical issues in association with accessibility, inexperience and unpreparedness were found to be main barriers that limited student acceptance of e-learning.

Background. Hypertension is extremely prevalent in patients with diabetes. Limited data exist on utilization patterns of antihypertensive in this population are consistent with evidence-based practice guidelines. Objective. To evaluate utilization patterns of antihypertensive agents among diabetic patients with hypertension. Design. Retrospective descriptive cross sectional. Patients / Participants. 149 patients with diabetes and hypertension from outpatient department at Family Medicine Hospital, Ahaderfieda. Khamis Mushait, K.S.A. Results. Over 43% of patients were receiving calcium channel blockers (CCB), 36.2 % of received angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), followed by angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) (34.9%), diuretics (34.2%) and β-blockers (16.2%). Patients on monotherapy were mostly receiving CCB (34.3%) and ACEI (29.9%). The majority (55.03%) of treated patients were on multidrug regimens. In patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), a diuretic with ACEI (25%) and calcium channel blocker with angiotensin receptor blocker (25%) was most commonly prescribed. Conclusions. Patterns of antihypertensive therapy were generally consistent with international guidelines. Areas of improvement include increasing ACEI/ARB and diuretic use, decreasing the number of untreated patients, and increasing the proportion of patients with controlled BP in this population.

Objectives: Although depression symptoms are common among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the medical literature still reports underrecognition of depression in patients with PD. Our main objective is to examine the trend of depression recognition during the first year of PD diagnosis using large population data. Methods:We conducted a population-based study of residents in Wales, using the Secure Anonymized Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. We included newly diagnosed patients with PD aged 40 years or older with a first PD diagnosis between 2000 and 2015. Depression and antidepressants related data were extracted from SAIL. A series of multilevel logistic regressions were run to determine the factors affecting depression recognition. The results were presented using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results:The study included 6596 patients with PD. About 38% of patients had a recorded code of antidepressants, depression diagnosis, or both within the first year of PD diagnosis. There was a significant association of depression diagnosis, antidepressant use, or both with the year of PD diagnosis (OR 0.972, 95% CI 0.962-0.983). We also found that patients who used monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-B inhibitors) were associated with a lower depression diagnosis, use antidepressants, or both, compared to those who did not use MAO-B inhibitors (OR 0.769, 95% CI 0.627-0.943). Conclusion:There is a slight decrease in depression recognition in PD patients between 2000 and 2015, which could be due to an increase in depression recognition during the prodromal phase of PD.

Complications of urinary tract infections (UTIs) like kidney failure and septicaemia develop once infections spread from the upper urinary tract to other parts of the body by haematogenous dissemination and they pose great health and economic burden to the countries. This retrospective study was conducted among 132 patients with bacterial UTIs in the inpatient department of tertiary care hospital in Abha, Saudi Arabia. During the study period, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia) along with other 15 different bacteria were isolated. A significant difference (P &lt; 0.05) was observed between the male and female children population in different age groups. We observed fever (84.09%) as a major symptom (P &lt; 0.05), and seizure (9%) was reported as a major concomitant condition among UTI cases. Around 31.82% of E. coli was found to be the most common uropathogens in pediatric cases followed by 25% in K. pneumoniae. E. coli was observed to be more susceptible (92.86%) to amikacin, ceftriaxone, levofloxacin, ertapenem, gentamycin, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam, tigecycline, and ceftazidime. However, meropenem, tigecycline, and amikacin were observed to be effective in 100% of cases of K. pneumoniae. Meanwhile, cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed drug category among different classes of drugs. Almost 99% of pediatric cases, based on their age, were admitted to the ward, and drugs were administered intravenously. We concluded that microbiology laboratory evidence on the causative organisms and choice of treatment together allows tailoring appropriate treatment regimens in conjunction with clinical experiences.