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Family medicine is one of the most vital health specialties in the field of medicine. This can be attributed to the wide range of health services for all people regardless of age, gender, and diagnosis. Saudi Arabia as suggested by various studies put more of its attention at all levels to family medicine in order to produce an adequate number of family physicians and improve both the academic aspects and the services provided by family medicine in the country. Thus, a comprehensive national survey was suggested to analyze the current situation of the specialty in the country and to draw up a strategic plan to achieve the national vision for family medicine by 2020. In light of the aforementioned, this study deemed it necessary to examine family medicine research productivity in Saudi Arabia in order to recommend possible measures to increase the quality of research output related to the field. The Web of Science (WoS) bibliographic database search engine was used to retrieve and analyze data. The terms "Family Medicine" and "Saudi Arabia" were entered in the search address fields using the SAME boolean operator (i.e., Family Medicine SAME Saudi Arabia) to retrieve records that contained these two terms and were in the same address. Research articles that were published from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2018 were included for data analysis. Publication details such as the year of publication, document type, research area, authors' affiliation, journal name, international collaborators, journal impact factor (JIF), and citation reports were all considered in the analysis. As for the result, Saudi Arabia's research productivity in the field of family medicine is very poor, with a very gradual linear increase over the last 15 years. Further, health institutions have low research productivity compared to universities and medical colleges. Finally, most of the publications were published in low- or no-impact-factor journals. Therefore, this study concludes that Saudi Arabia has had low research productivity in family medicine. It recommends that an educational research program with the supervision of Ministry of Health (MOH) be implemented among family medicine physicians featuring organizational support and well-structured communication between health and educational institutions to increase research productivity in the country.
RESUMO
Objective Patients with post-meningitis deafness remain challenging candidates for cochlear implantation (CI) which can be difficult due to fibrosis or ossification of the inner ear, and their outcomes remain doubtful. We assessed the surgical and audiological outcomes of CI in patients with profound sensorineural hearing loss caused by meningitis and compared those outcomes to patients without cochlear ossification. Methods This retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out at King Fahad General Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Among 246 patients who underwent cochlear implantation, 13 patients with post-meningitic deafness were identified (Group 1). A matched control group, including patients with deafness due to other causes who did not have cochlea osteogenesis, was selected (Group 2). For all patients, data were collected from medical records, including surgical and audiological outcomes. Results Sclerosis of the cochlea was high in Group 1 (46.2%). There were no postoperative surgical complications in either group. Responses of the auditory nerve action potential obtained through auditory response telemetry (ART) or the neural response telemetry (NRT) were recorded. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the intraoperative and the postoperative ART or NRT at selected electrodes representing the entire cochlea. Likewise, no significant difference regarding the speech recognition test (SRT) was detected. Conclusions Cochlear implantation is a safe procedure without surgical complications in post-meningitis patients. Furthermore, early CI in children was associated with favorable outcomes in terms of preservation of the auditory nerve response, restoration of speech discrimination, and recognition to levels comparable to patients with deafness due to other causes. Early audiological assessment in meningitis patients is recommended to identify hearing loss and eventually to offer CI.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: High blood pressure (BP) is an important health issue on a global level. It is one of the major factors for mortality in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, high BP is considered a significant risk for heart disease responsible for 30% of all deaths all over the world. The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence of hypertension in children attending the pediatric clinics and determine the common risk factors associated with high BP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among 6-15 year aged children attending the pediatric clinic at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah; children were selected using sytematic random sampling technique. Data was collected by interviewing the parents using a structured questionnaire. SPSS was used for data entry and analysis. Computed frequency and percentages for categorical variables, and mean and standard deviations for continuous variables. Chi-square test and correlation used to determine associations, and logistic regression performed to determine factors associated with blood pressure >= 95th percentile. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension was 14.4% and 6.5%, respectively, in males, whereas, in females, it was 16.3% and 5.2%, respectively. A high prevalence observed for the 6-10 years age group as compared with the 11-15 year age group, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). A high prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in overweight and obese group was noticed. A significant positive correlation between systolic BP and weight, height, and BMI was demonstrated. The common risk factors for hypertension in this study were the age range of 6-10 years, (odds ratio OR = 2.44), overweight and obese children (OR = 2.44), children with family history of hypertension (OR = 1.39), and children with low birth weight (OR = 1.05). CONCLUSION: These factors are considered risk factors for such a chronic disease as cardiovascular disease. Consequently, continuous BP monitoring and early identification of high BP in children are some of the greatest strategies for the prevention of chronic diseases in adulthood.