Saudi People Research Articles

Public motives and willingness to participate in first-in-human clinical trials in Saudi Arabia: A new era in the making

BackgroundParticipation in first-in-human (FIH) clinical trials is a valuable contribution to science. This study aims to investigate the Saudi public’s attitude toward FIH clinical trials, identify their willingness to take part in it, and their preferences for participating in these kinds of trials, given the fact that the Saudi FDA has never approved such studies in Saudi Arabia. MethodsThis was a cross sectional study conducted in February 2018. It was based on a self-reported survey distributed by convenience among Saudi adults visiting a national festival in Riyadh and through social media. Data were analysed using descriptive and bivariate statistics, as well as linear and binary logistic regression. ResultsStudy participants who were invited and completed the survey were 657. The percentage mean score of participants’ attitudes and concern was 70.1 ± 16.4 and 58.3 ± 15.3 respectively. Almost 71.5% expressed their intention to enroll in such trials. Higher attitudinal scores were reported by those who perceived healthcare services as good/excellent (adj.P < 0.001), and by those who had less concerns (adj.P = 0.005). Less educated participants were 1.75 [1.04–2.93] times more likely to enroll in future clinical trials, adj.P = 0.035. For every one unit increase in the attitudinal score, study participants were 1.03 [1.02–1.04] more likely to enroll in future trials, adj.P < 0.001. In contrary, for every one unit increase in concern scores, the odds of enrollment decreased among study participants by 0.98 [0.97–0.99], adj.P = 0.017. The factors causing people to decline participation were mainly fear of the unknown, social reasons, religious reasons, moral reasons, and the concern over human beings being treated as animals. The preferred duration for participation was 1–3 days (n = 268, 57%). Participants revealed their preferences of clinical trial studies were in favor: (a) vaccines (n = 209, 44.5%); (b) treatment drugs (n = 232, 49.4%); and (c) medical devices (n = 310, 66.0%). ConclusionThe Saudi public community showed a high level of enthusiasm for participation in future FIH clinical trials, yet they had some reservations. Increasing public awareness about the benefits of clinical trials and conduction process helps to alleviate the concerns of the Saudi people and to increase their likelihood of enrollment.

Assessment of knowledge and awareness regarding thyroid disorders among Saudi people

Background: Thyroid disorders are amongst the most prevalent of the medical condition. According to the World health organization (WHO), more than 190 million suffer from iodine deficiency disorders. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of the thyroid dysfunction and degree of awareness regarding thyroid diseases among Saudi Arabian population. Methodology: An online survey was conducted among 367 adult residents in Saudi Arabia. An Arabic self-administered questionnaire was filled by the participants including socio-demographic data other questions to assess knowledge about the type and functions of the thyroid gland, its disorders, factors affecting thyroid disorders, and their common manifestations. Results: Among the total 367 participants who responded to the online questionnaire, 30.8% were aged between 20 to 35 years, 76.3% were females and 22.3% were males. Statistical analysis showed that 140 (57.32%) of respondents had good knowledge, whereas 188 of them (42.68%) had poor knowledge of thyroid disorder diseases. Age, Sex, education, and occupation had no significant effect on the knowledge level of the respondents (p &amp;gt; 0.05). Conclusion: Knowledge of thyroid disorders was not found good enough among Saudi Arabian population. The present study warrants the educational program and awareness campaigns on thyroid disorders for the general population.

Neural Network-based Diabetic Type II High-Risk Prediction using Photoplethysmogram Waveform Analysis

This work aims to predict and classify patients into diabetic and nondiabetic subjects based on age and four independent variables extracted from the analysis of photoplethysmogram (PPG) morphology in time domain. The study has two main stages, the first one was the analysis of PPG waveform to extract b/a, RI, DiP, and SPt indices. These parameters contribute by some means to the prediction of diabetes. They were statistically significant and correlated with the HbA1C test. The second stage was building a neural network based classifier to predict diabetes. The model showed an accuracy of 90.2% in training phase and an accuracy of 85.5% in testing phase. The findings of this research work may contribute towards the prediction of diabetes in early stages. Also, the proposed classifier showed a high accuracy in predicting the existence of diabetes in Saudi people population.

CNN-Based Crowd Counting Through IoT: Application For Saudi Public Places

Crowd counting in specific places has recently been considered as a significant contribution in many applications in terms of security and economic values. Recently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has considered new ways and methods to diversify sources of income, where many non-traditional establishments in several fields have been initiated and put in place. However, controlling the number of visitors and participants to events and exhibitions has always been a challenge, as it has always been considered as an important success factor to any event. Smart public places approach is one of the inevitable directions of development in Saudi Arabia, where security, comfort, and safety of crowds is to be controlled and managed using machine learning techniques, more specifically, IoT-based crowd counting techniques. Such a technology will not only help in resolving security and safety problems, but also will play a significant role in reducing waiting time for visitors, by giving indicators, projections and advices on crowded places. In this paper, a mobile-based model is proposed for counting people in high and low crowded public places in Saudi Arabia under various scene conditions with no prior knowledge. The proposed model is built based on pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) called VGG-16 with some modifications on the last layer of the CNN to increase the efficiency of the training model. In addition to the improvement of efficiency, the proposed method accepts images of arbitrary sizes/scales as inputs. The applicability of the proposed method has been evaluated by incorporating IoT architecture, where surveillance cameras to be connected to the Internet to capture live pictures of different public places. To achieve this goal, New and special Saudi people dataset as well as some other existing dataset, have been produced and used to train the network. The result shows a significant improvement to the efficiency of the DCNN over the existing counting networks.

The Prevalence of Food Addiction Among a Sample of Saudi Adults and Its Association with Overweight and Obesity

Background: Obesity is highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia. It significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality among Saudi population. Food addiction has received a lot of attention due to the increasing prevalence of obesity, which is directly related to over consumption. To our knowledge; no study has explored addiction to food among the Saudi. Objectives: To investigate the existence of food addiction in Saudi Arabian adults; and how it is associated with weight status; and other co-factors. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: healthy Saudi adults who volunteered to participate in an online survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/), Saudi Arabia. Study population and Methods: The survey had 1384 responses but only 1059 of those met the criteria of the study (26% men and 74% women) ranging in age from 18 to 59. The Yale Food Addiction Scale was used to diagnose food addiction. Main Outcome Measures: Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between food addiction, overweight and obesity. Results: 10.9% of the entire study population diagnosed with food addiction. They were heavier by 13.8kgs. Those who were diagnosed with food addiction were 4.1%, 8.4% and 19.9 % among those who were healthy, overweight and obese respectively. The obese were 6.5 times more likely to have food addiction than those with normal weight. Food addiction found to be associated with people had a low income, were trying to lose weight, physically inactive, and watched TV, or used a phone for more than 5 hours each day. Conclusion: Food addiction was found to exist in Saudi people and it is associated with those who were heavier. Thus, urgent intervention is needed to manage and overcome this problem. Limitation: This is a cross-sectional study thus a longitudinal analysis is needed to evaluate the relationship between food addiction prevalence and weight status. The data was self-reported.

The experience and impact of stigma in Saudi people with a mood disorder

BackgroundStigma plays a powerful role in an individual’s attitude towards mental illness and in their seeking psychiatric and psychological services. Assessing stigma from the perspective of people with mood disorders is important as these disorders have been ranked as major causes of disability.ObjectivesTo determine the extent and impact of stigma experiences in Saudi patients with depression and bipolar disorder, and to examine stigma experiences across cultures.MethodNinety-three individuals with a mood disorder were interviewed at King Saud University Medical City using the Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences (ISE).ResultsWe detected no significant differences in experiences of stigma or stigma impact in patients with bipolar vs. depressive disorder. However, over 50% of respondents reported trying to hide their mental illness from others to avoiding situations that might cause them to feel stigmatized. In comparison with a Canadian population, the Saudi participants in this study scored significantly lower on the ISE, which might be due to cultural differences.ConclusionMore than half of the Saudi participants with a mood disorder reported avoiding situations that might be potentially stigmatizing. There are higher levels of stigma in Canada and Korea than in Saudi Arabia. Our results suggest that cultural differences and family involvement in patient care can significantly impact self-stigmatization. The ISE is a highly reliable instrument across cultures.

Bank Selection Criteria in the Saudi Community Empirical Study of Saudi Banks' Customers in Tabuk City

The study aims to investigate the determinant factors of bank choice among Saudi community; to rank these determining factors according of the customer’s priority; and to examine whether Saudi banks ‘customers will be a homogeneous group concerning the way they select a bank or not.it follows a descriptive survey research design, quantitative research approach is adopted through the semi-open structure questionnaire. Total of 178 respondents from different banks (full fledge Islamic, conventional and Islamic window banks) as of a single point in time in the form of quantitative measures. Exploratory Factor Analysis is employed to rank factors effect bank choice criteria among Saudi people. Results of factor analysis reveal that ranks of factors affect customer decision in selecting a bank service based on mean, are satisfaction(mean =4.05) ,service quality (mean=3.74),Islamic value (mean =3.7),service cost(mean=3.5),financial intermediate (mean =3.39). Moreover it discovers that Customers in Saudi banks are homogeneous. Lessons to be learned from the study result, Saudi banks should focus on service quality,; note that Saudi Arabia is one of transfers’ countries, and Islamic banks should be emphasizing on customers ‘trust about services consistent with sharia’h provision.

Most Saudi people willing to contribute to healthcare services

Most Saudi people willing to contribute to healthcare services

Prevalence of People That Using Multivitamins Supplementation and Experiencing a Side Effect in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: multivitamins are normally used to treat vitamin deficiencies. They may cause constipation and diarrhea. We are concerned to see the prevalence for using multivitamins supplementation & awareness of their side effects among saudi people. Methods: we conducted a cross sectional study and data collected by distributing an electronic questionnaire from 6/3 to 15/8/2017 and approved by the King Faisal University in Alhass, SA. Both gender above 18 years were included and excluded people below them. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Results: this study was applied on 471persons from different areas of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most of them were female 67.5 %.the age of our studied group was above 18 years. Most of them was healthy, pre-university, from western area and used multivitamins for weight gain. 15.5% had harmful effect and 69.6% had vitamins or minerals deficiency (51.7% iron deficiency). 43.1% used them with no prescription and 85% used as pill. 80.8% considers them are important to their health and 35.8% believe there is no difference between using vitamins with or without medical advice. 24.9% believe they have no side effects and16.3% believe that they are sufficient for the variety and quantity of food.70.7% believe that the amount of vitamins in the food is not sufficient for the daily body and 42.5% read about vitamins from scientific books. Conclusion: the majority of the participants were using vitamins according to medical advice and there is a less percentage of people that experienced a side effect from using that supplementations. Objectives: to determine the prevalence, reasons, source of information of multivitamins supplement uses, and their side effects.

Experiences of Barriers and Motivators to Weight-Loss among Saudi People with Overweight or Obesity in Qassim Region - A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND:Obesity has become a global health threat. Saudi Arabia ranks among the countries with high obesity and overweight rates. This study aims to explore experiences of Saudi people with overweight or obesity with a particular focus on the perceived barriers and motivators to weight loss.MATERIAL AND METHODS:We used a qualitative approach to recruiting a purposive sample using maximum variation sampling technique. Those who had previously attempted weight loss at least once were included in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted, transcribed and/ or audiotaped. Interviews continued until saturation was reached. The qualitative content analysis was performed.RESULTS:A total of 19 males and 18 females participated in this study with a mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of 32.6 kg/m2. Their main triggers to weight loss were concerns about overall health and the desire to improve their looks. Declining motivation, lack of family support and unhealthy eating during social gatherings were perceived as the main barriers. Motivating factors included concerns about health, family support, and availability of exercise facilities.CONCLUSION:Factors responsible for a successful weight- loss is context-specific. This study has shown several barriers as well as motivators, which play an important role in weight reduction and maintenance.

Hepatitis C virus infection in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia: Seroprevalence and knowledge.

The infection rate of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Saudi Arabia is among the lowest in the world. However, it is likely that poor knowledge and awareness of HCV infection could minimize the effectiveness of prevention and control programs in the kingdom. Thus, the study objective was to estimate the prevalence of HCV infection, and to assess current knowledge about it, in the targeted population. Data on 5482 Saudi people attending primary healthcare centers in Jeddah City in 2014/2015 were analyzed in this cross-sectional study. Questions that covered the natural history, risk behavior, and prevention, and treatment of HCV were collected using a predesigned questionnaire. HCV seroprevalence was assessed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HCV prevalence of 0.38% (95% confidence interval: 0.22-0.54) was found. The level of knowledge of the natural history, risk behavior, and prevention and treatment of HCV was poor among the participants. The lowest level of knowledge for all participants pertained to its prevention and treatment. The prevalence of HCV was low in Saudi Arabia (0.38%). However, adequate knowledge of HCV was lacking. Thus, the need to increase knowledge and awareness of HCV in the Saudi population is warranted.

Healthcare Finance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Study of Householders' Attitudes.

BackgroundThe public sector healthcare system in Saudi Arabia, essentially financed by oil revenues and ‘free at the point of delivery’, is coming under increasing strain due to escalating expenditure and an increasingly volatile oil market and is likely to be unsustainable in the medium to long term.ObjectivesThis study examines how satisfied the Saudi people are with their public sector healthcare services and assesses their willingness to contribute to financing the system through a national health insurance scheme. The study also examines public preferences and expectations of a future national health insurance system.MethodsA total of 36 heads of households participated in face-to-face audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. The participants were purposefully selected based on different socio-economic and socio-demographic factors from urban and rural areas to represent the geographical diversity that would presumably influence individual views, expectations, preferences and healthcare experiences.ResultsThe evidence showed some dissatisfaction with the provision and quality of current public sector healthcare services, including the availability of appointments, waiting times and the availability of drugs. The households indicated a willingness to contribute to a national insurance scheme, conditional upon improvements in the quality of public sector healthcare services. The results also revealed a variety of preferences and expectations regarding the proposed national health insurance scheme.ConclusionsQuality improvement is a key factor that could motivate the Saudi people to contribute to financing the healthcare system. A new authority, consisting of a partnership between the public and private sectors under government supervision, could represent an acceptable option for addressing the variation in public preferences.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40258-017-0353-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Stigma versus Mental Health Literacy

Background: A sound mental health is the key component of health and the absence of mental health could create a great deal of burden to the functioning of a nation. As well the attitudes of the public towards mental health issues are important factors in fighting the stigma with mental disorders&#x0D; Aim: To investigate the Saudi people level of mental health literacy and attitudes regarding mental disorders and those affected people.&#x0D; Participants and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional survey was used and a convenient sample of 255 subjects from general Saudi population attending to general public collections area, such as, shopping malls, universities, and restaurants in Jeddah city. The tool consisted of sociodemographic data sheet and self-administered checklist developed by Kumar et al., 2012 for assessing the attitude and awareness level of public towards mental disorders.&#x0D; Results: A total of 255 people were interviewed. Most of the respondents 66.3% were females and the majority of the studied population have little awareness and had negative attitude toward the nature of mental illness as well 72.2% indicted that Evil Spirit causing mental illness. Negative attitude responses were ranging from 47 -57% regarding stigmatization, after effect and treatment.&#x0D; Conclusion and recommendations: the findings concluded that there was a decreased level of mental health literacy among studied population as well as negative attitudes and stigmatization of mental illness. Therefore, more work needs to be done to educate the public about the psychobiological underpinnings of psychiatric disorders and the value of effective treatments.

Withstanding the Winds of Change? Literary Representations of the Gulf War and Its Impacts on Saudi Society

This article argues that the 1991 Gulf War had a deep transformative effect on Saudi Arabia. It aims to analyze the extent to which this war brought about major ideological changes to a society seemingly deemed unchangeable. Through the study of three Saudi novels which drew on this war as a source of creative and political inspiration, this study brings to life Saudi people's discussions, dilemmas, and reactions to the crumbling of the edifice of Arab unity and the emergence of “America” in its place as the “savior” from the evil of Saddam Hussein. We contend that despite resistance from various conservative elements of Saudi society, the winds of change brought by this war could not be resisted. The novels under study skillfully portray the events of this war not as battlefield accounts, but as accounts of a society wrestling with an irresistible wind of change.

Reference Value Profile for Healthy Individuals From the Aljouf region of Saudi Arabia.

BackgroundMany factors influence hematological values such as sex, age, ethnic origin, geographic location, season, and genetic disease. The aim of this study was to detect the hematological reference value profile for healthy adults from the Aljouf region of Saudi Arabia.MethodsThe project was carried out on 2,040 healthy individuals, 1,152 males and 888 females, with ages ranging from 17 to 28 years. A group of participants were recruited from the higher secondary schools, university students and premarital centers of Aljouf cities. Hematological reference value profile, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, red blood cell (RBC) count, RBC indices, white blood cell (WBC) count, differential WBC and platelet (Plt) count were measured. Moreover, a peripheral blood film was prepared in order to detect abnormalities of RBC and all samples were examined for liver function tests (LFTs) and renal function test (RFT) performed, along with a lipid profile.ResultsHb concentration, hematocrit (Hct) and RBCs were found to be significantly higher in males than in females (P < 0.01). On the contrary, Plt ranges were significantly lower in male as compared to female (P < 0.01). No significant differences in the study population were determined in the other hematological parameters (P > 0.05).ConclusionOur findings reflect that healthy adults from the Aljouf region have some hematological parameters differing quantitatively from Caucasians. The hematological reference value profile reported here can be used as normal reference values for Saudi people of the Aljouf region to help in diagnosis and consequently treatment of individuals with hematological disorders.

Prevalence and predictors of hepatitis B in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia: a population-based seroprevalence study.

Despite solid preventive strategies to reduce the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, recent reports about its prevalence and predictors are lacking in several Saudi cities at the community level. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of HBV and to identify the most important predictors among the Saudi population in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 5,584 Saudi people attending primary health-care centers in Jeddah city during 2012/2013. Sociodemographic and hepatitis-related data were collected. HBV was diagnosed by ELISA test. The seroprevalence of HBV was estimated, and appropriate statistical analyses were performed, including univariate and multivariable regression analyses. The seroprevalence of HBV was 2.2% (95% CI = 1.82-2.58) in the studied participants. The prevalence was higher among non-governmental workers (3.5%), male participants (3.4%) and those aged ≥ 25 years (2.4%). The most important predictors for increasing the risk of HBV in this study were HBV contacts, male sex, history of dental procedures and blood transfusion. The significant positive risks associated with these predictors were 3.3, 2.5, 2.0 and 1.65, respectively. HBV vaccination, on the other hand, was associated with a significant risk reduction of 88% (OR = 0.12; 95% CI = 0.03-0.51). The seroprevalence of HBV was relatively low among the Saudi population in Jeddah city reflecting the actions taken by health authorities to control HBV infection. However, more efforts, particularly in relation to health education programmes, strict control of blood banks and dental clinics, are still needed.

Saudi Parents' knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Antibiotic Use for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Children: A population –based Survey; Taif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) occur most commonly among children and considered as a major cause of mild morbidity. Aims and objectives: This study was conducted to assess parental knowledge and to identify their attitudes and practices related to antibiotic use in the treatment of childhood upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Study design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was conducted during the period of January-March 2014 in Taif City, Saudi Arabia. Methods: Adult (&gt; 18 year) Saudi people residing the city were included. Convenience method of sampling was adopted. Data was collected by mean of a structured questionnaire. Statistics: Data was processed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPPS). Logistic regression analysis was performed. P value&lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 400 participants was included, of them 236 (59%) were males. Overall, 124 (31.0%) of all interviewed parents had satisfactory knowledge on antibiotic use. Multivariate analysis showed that higher education was found to be the only predictor of satisfactory knowledge, [OR 2.5 CL (1.7- 4.5), (P= 0.026)]. Of all the parents 206 (51.5%) often give the child antibiotic based on a pharmacist recommendation and 193 (48.3%) of them reuse the antibiotic previously given for the same symptoms. Conclusion: Parents in the study area had poor knowledge on antibiotic use, which is significantly dependent on parents' level of education. In addition, some misconceptions on parents attitudes and practices related to the use antibiotics for the treatment of URTIs among children were identified.

Knowledge of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and its Management: A Survey among Saudi People in Taif; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Knowledge of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and its Management: A Survey among Saudi People in Taif; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Medication Use and Safety among Saudi People: a Public –based Versus an Internet –based Survey in Taif; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Suboptimal knowledge on medication use and safety and negative attitudes has negative impact on drug use. The major objective of this study was to measure the public knowledge and to identify their attitudes and practices on medication use and safety. Two cross -sectional surveys (Public-based and internet-based) were conducted during June to October 2015. Adult (> 18 years old) Saudi residing in Taif City; KSA were included. Convenience method of sampling was adopted and data was collected by mean of a structured questionnaire. Data was processed by SPSS. A total of 788 (386 and 402 in the public-based and the internet-based study, respectively) was recruited. Respondents recruited electronically with satisfactory knowledge on medication use were 302 (75.1%), compared to 234 (60.6%) included manually, (P= 30 years) and higher educational level were significantly associated with satisfactory knowledge among electronically responded participants (OR= 0.6; 95% CI (0.4- 1.0); P = 0.032) and (OR= 1.9; 95% CI (1.1-3.2); P = 0.015), respectively. Misconceptions in knowledge, attitudes and practices on medication use and safety were identified. Public education that brings about positive changes is imperative.

Corneal biomechanics in normal Saudi individuals

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine and relate corneal biomechanical metrics with demographic, tomographic and refractive data in healthy Saudi people. DesignProspective, cross-sectional, observational study. ParticipantsThe study included 215 normal Saudi adult individuals. MethodsCorneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF), Goldmann-correlated intraocular pressure (IOPg) and corneal-compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc) were measured by ocular response analyzer. The central keratometry (CK), central corneal thickness (CCT), and anterior chamber depth (ACD) were measured using Pentacam system. The spherical equivalent of refraction (SER) was obtained by an Auto-refractometer. ResultsThe mean CH was 11.16±2.11, CRF was 11.07±2.31 and IOP was 15.12±3.5. Mean CK, ACD, CH and CRF were distinct among gender with the significant P values of 0.05, 0.006, 0.020, and 0.047 respectively. CRF was negatively correlated with ACD (r=−0.146, P=0.032). A positive correlation was found between CRF and SER (r=0.176, P=0.010), CCT (r=0.447, p=0.000) and CH (r=0.878 and p=0.000). CH was negatively correlated with IOPcc (−0.433, p=0.000). A positive correlation was found between CH and ACD (r=−0.14, p=0.044), SER (r=0.617, p=0.014), CCT (r=0.412, p=0.000) and IOPg (r=0.183, p=0.007). ConclusionThis study demonstrated a distinct difference among gender values of corneal hysteresis and corneal resistance factor being higher in female Saudi subjects. CH and CRF values were higher in Saudi subjects than values in other populations. This may suggest the presence of ethnic differences in ocular parameters and support the importance of establishing population norms for corneal biomechanical parameters.