Factors associated with knowledge and awareness of stroke in the Iraqi population: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Stroke is a highly prevalent condition with high rates of death and disability in Iraq and around the world. Knowledge of stroke and its associated risk factors is essential for disease prevention and rapid response when confronted with a stroke patient. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess stroke knowledge and identify factors associated with awareness among the Iraqi public. Material and methods: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted on the Iraqi population. The self-administered online questionnaire contained three sections. The study got ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee at the University of Baghdad. Results: The results showed that 26.8% of the participants reported knowledge regarding identifying all risk factors. In addition, 18.4% and 34.8% of the participants recognized all symptoms and mentioned all possible consequences of stroke, respectively. Previous medical history with chronic diseases had essential relationships with the response when faced with a person having an acute stroke. In addition, there was a significant relationship between gender, smoking history, and identification of early stroke symptoms. Conclusion: There was a lack of knowledge about risk factors for stroke among the participants. There is a need for an awareness program among the Iraqi people to raise their understanding of stroke that can reduce stroke mortality and morbidity.

Electronic cigarettes' withdrawal severity symptoms among users during intermittent fasting: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Recently, electronic cigarette (e-cig) usage has increased significantly, making it a potentially effective smoking cessation tool. In Muslim countries, most people who use e-cigarettes fast the month of Ramadan, which results in intermittent fasting. This study aims to reveal the severity of e-cig withdrawal symptoms among users during this intermittent fasting period. METHODS: A self-administered survey was developed and validated to solicit anonymous responses from e-cig users living in Jordan, through a cross-sectional study design. Participants were recruited through social media resources. Severity scores of physical (out of 11) and psychological (out of 8) withdrawal symptoms for each participant were assessed and calculated for each participant, depending on the symptoms reported. RESULTS: A convenience sample (n = 523) of e-cig adult users were recruited. The majority of the participants were males (96.4%) aged between 18 and 40 years (86.4%). Many participants replaced tobacco smoking with e-cig (53.5%) in order to help them stop smoking. More than half of the participants experienced relatively weak physical (0.82 ± 1.78) and psychological (1.24 ± 1.89) withdrawal symptoms during the month of fasting. Most of the participants (63.2%) preferred to engage themselves with a busy schedule to tolerate the related withdrawal symptoms they experienced. CONCLUSION: E-cigs could play a vital role in smoking cessation among tobacco smokers during intermittent fasting. Ramadan offers a good opportunity for smokers to quit, as the reported physical and psychological e-cig withdrawal symptoms were found to be relatively weak. Awareness and behavioral interventions would help clarify the effect of e-cigs and help determine alternative ways to cease smoking.

The Era of E-Cigarettes: A Cross-Sectional Study of Vaping Preferences, Reasons for Use and Withdrawal Symptoms Among Current E-Cigarette Users in the United Arab Emirates.

Electronic cigarette (E-cig) use has increased substantially among the young population, who adopt using E-cig for various reasons. Our present study aimed to explore vaping preferences and reasons for using E-cig among current users in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to assess physical and psychological symptoms experienced while using E-cig during intermittent fasting. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 23 to May 22, 2020, to solicit responses from current E-cig users in the UAE. Data were collected about sociodemographic profile, tobacco cigarette smoking, vaping preferences, reasons for use, and withdrawal symptoms during fasting in Ramadan. A convenience sample of 591 adult E-cig users were initially recruited, of whom 392 participants with complete responses were included in our analysis. The majority of participants were males (n = 275, 70.2%) and around 28.6% (n = 112) were dual users. Vape tank/Box-mod was the most used type of E-cig (50.3%). Most of the participants (n = 317; 80.9%) believed that E-cigs are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. During fasting time, around 46.2% (n = 181) of E-cig users have experienced various physical symptoms, while 51.0% (n = 200) of users have experienced various psychological symptoms. E-cig use is gaining popularity within the UAE after the recent legalization as these devices are commonly advertised and claimed by manufacturers to aid smoking cessation. The effectiveness of E-cig in aiding smoking cessation should be investigated with a higher level of evidence, especially in a new context of usage as the UAE, considering various types of devices, hundreds of E-liquid brands, and the influence of concurrent poly-tobacco use.

Perception of adults toward electronic cigarettes: a cross-sectional study from Jordan.

INTRODUCTION: The rate of Jordanian tobacco smokers has been reported to be one of the highest rates in the world. The electronic cigarette (E-cig) has become an option, or an alternative, to tobacco cigarette smoking. This study was aimed to measure the perception of Jordanian adults toward E-cig use. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used. A self-administered survey was developed and validated to solicit anonymous responses from the study participants. A convenience sample (n = 984) was recruited electronically through social media platforms. Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were completed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS: More than half of the participants (53%) were females, and almost all participants had heard about E-cig (99.2%), mainly from their friends (40%) and social media (34.5%). About half of the participants were nonsmokers and around one-third of them (33.1%) were current E-cig users. The majority of the participating E-cig users had replaced tobacco with E-cig (56.4%)/All the E-cig users reported positive beliefs toward the E-cig as a safer alternative for tobacco smoking. About 45% of participants believed that the E-cig is helpful in tobacco smoking cessation, but should be highly regulated. CONCLUSION: This study illustrated a significant prevalence of E-cig usage among Jordanian adults. E-cig users perceived E-cig as a safer and cheaper alternative to tobacco smoking and that it helps in tobacco smoking cessation. However, health awareness campaigns are needed for the entire Jordanian community about E-cig use, related emerging health findings, and how to promote tobacco smoking cessation.

Knowledge and awareness about human papillomavirus infection and its vaccination among women in Arab communities.

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common types of cancer that affect females worldwide with hundreds of thousands of women dying annually due to this disease, mainly in developing countries. Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main risk factor for this cancer. There are no public awareness and national immunization programs in most Arab countries. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and awareness about the HPV vaccine among females in four Arab countries and their acceptance to receive the vaccine. A cross-sectional study was conducted in several Arab countries: Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Iraq. Respondents that fulfilled the desired criteria and were willing to participate in the study were asked to fill out the survey. Knowledge and awareness were assessed using 13 questions. Ethical approvals were given from the four countries. A total of 3658 individuals participated in the study; however, 2804 responses were included in the analysis and more than one third of participants (n = 1007) were aged between 18 and 25 years old. This study revealed poor awareness and knowledge of the participants about HPV and its vaccine among all four countries' participants with relatively better knowledge among participants from the UAE. Participants who are younger (18-25 years old), have a postgraduate education, have an education or career related to the medical field, or had a Pap smear in the last three years tend to have higher knowledge about the HPV vaccine compared to others. Poor knowledge and awareness findings in this study were expected, considering the lack of public education campaigns regarding the HPV virus coupled with the absence of the HPV vaccination from the national immunization schedule in three participating countries (Jordan, Qatar, and Iraq). It is recommended that there is a need to provide national educational campaigns about the HPV vaccine to the public in all Arab populations.