Perceptions of COVID-19 symptoms, prevention, and treatment strategies among people in seven Arab countries: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUP: the widespread COVID-19 infection worldwide has resulted in the inability of healthcare facilities to receive all infected patients; therefore, most are treated at home. In addition, factors such as high mortality, types and severity of symptoms, and the prevalence of unreliable information have prompted patients to resort to self-treatment. OBJECTIVES: To assess prevention, treatment, degree of symptoms, and sources of information among patients with COVID-19 in Arab countries METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in seven Arab countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and the United Arab of Emirates. People who have recovered from COVID-19 completed the study questionnaire. Score of symptoms during and after COVID-19 infection has been calculated by giving the participants a list of 13 symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 3519 participants completed the survey. Mostly females (68.3%), and aged between 18 and 40 years old (59.4%). Prophylaxis treatments, including vaccines and antibiotics, have been used in around 40% of the participants. The total average score of symptoms during the infection period was found 7.31 ± 3.66 out of 13. However, the symptoms score upon recovery was low (0.48 ± 1.11 score). The significant associations with increased incidence of symptoms during infection were reported with older people, married, divorced or widowed, people with chronic diseases, and obese. Moreover, significant associations with decreased symptoms were reported with those who worked in the health sector, non- or ex-smokers, and vaccinated people. CONCLUSION: The use of medication and other treatments to prevent infection with COVID-19 was common among the participants in the seven countries. Taking the vaccine was the only effect on the number of symptoms experienced by patients. Although nearly two years have passed since the onset of the disease, there is still a need to raise treatment awareness among patients at home.

The impact of environmental and climate parameters on the incidence and mortality of COVID-19 in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries: A cross-country comparison study.

BACKGROUND: Environmental factors can influence the epidemiological dynamics of COVID-19. To estimate the true impact of these factors on COVID-19, climate and disease data should be monitored and analyzed over an extended period of time. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are particularly lacking in such studies. This ecological study investigates the association between climate parameters and COVID-19 cases and deaths in the GCC. METHODS: Data on temperature, wind-speed and humidity and COVID-19 cases and deaths from the six countries of the GCC were collected between 29/1/2020 and 30/3/2021. Using Spearman's correlation coefficient, we examined associations between climate parameters and COVID-19 cases and deaths by month, over four different time periods. A two-step cluster analysis was conducted to identify distinct clusters of data using climate parameters and linear regression analysis to determine which climate parameters predicted COVID-19 new cases and deaths. RESULTS: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had the highest cumulative number of COVID-19 cases while Bahrain had the highest prevalence rate per 100,000. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reported the highest cumulative number of deaths while Oman recorded the highest death rate per 100,000. All GCC countries, except the UAE, reported a positive correlation between temperature and cases and deaths. Wind speed was positively correlated with cases in Qatar, but negatively correlated with cases in the UAE and deaths in KSA. Humidity was positively correlated with cases and deaths in Oman, negatively correlated in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and KSA but there was no correlation in the UAE. The most significant predictors in cluster analysis were temperature and humidity, while in the regression analysis, temperature, humidity and wind speed predicted new COVID-19 cases and deaths. CONCLUSION: This study provides comprehensive epidemiological information on COVID-19 and climate parameters and preliminary evidence that climate may play a key role in the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. This study will assist decision makers in translating findings into specific guidelines and policies for the prevention and elimination of COVID-19 transmission and infection.

Behavioral, psychological, and clinical outcomes of Arabic-speaking people with type 2 diabetes during COVID-19 pandemic.

AIMS: Assess self-care activities, health behaviors, self-efficacy, diabetes distress, challenges, and changes in diabetes treatment and clinical parameters among Arabic-speaking people with T2DM during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in the United Arab Emirates. The study instrument collected self-reported data using validated tools about health behaviors, self-efficacy, and diabetes distress, and challenges in accessing and using healthcare services during the pandemic and documented clinical data and treatment before and during the pandemic from medical records. RESULTS: 206 patients participated with a mean age of 58.7 years and 15.7 years since diabetes diagnosis. Non-adherence to healthful eating and exercise was reported by 38.3% and 73.7%, respectively. Exercise was the self-care activity that decreased the most (36.8%). Most participants had low diabetes distress (85.9%). There were no significant differences in clinical parameters before and during the pandemic, and diabetes treatment was unchanged for 72.8% of participants. Having two or more challenges with accessing and using diabetes healthcare services was significantly associated with decreased adherence to healthy eating (p = 0.025) and exercise (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Arabic-speaking people with T2DM appeared to maintain relatively similar self-care levels, except exercise, with no deterioration in clinical parameters compared to pre-pandemic.

Knowledge and perceptions of pharmacists' readiness during coronavirus pandemic: the case of United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: With the outbreak of Coronavirus infection (COVID-19), pharmacists play an important role in supporting local health during this emergency. AIM: To assess the knowledge and to identify information sources regarding COVID-19 used by pharmacists, to investigate the active and public perceived roles of pharmacists, to explore the role of the pharmacy facilities and health authorities, and to identify barriers that would hinder pharmacists from performing their duties optimally in the United Arab Emirates. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional online study was conducted in the UAE during the COVID-19 outbreak, from 18 May to 20 June 2020. A validated online questionnaire addressing participants' current knowledge about pandemics and COVID-19, source of information, and their perspectives of their role was used. Participants were licensed pharmacists practising in community and hospital pharmacies in UAE, academics, and pharmacy students. RESULTS: Almost two-thirds of the participants (71.2%) were aged 18-30 years, with 76.2% females. Only 57.5% of participants believed that they got enough education about pandemics, and 88.3% of them followed on the latest coronavirus updates regarding treatments, and that is mainly from the World Health Organization reports (53.9%), followed by health authorities (44.8%). Two-thirds of participants (69.7%) had good/very good current knowledge regarding COVID-19. Knowledge of pharmacy students compared to pharmacists was significantly higher (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The majority of pharmacists and pharmacy students reported that they have a major role in managing pandemics executed through the community pharmacies and that it is their role to ensure the availability of key medications. Policymakers and health authorities are called upon to train pharmacists in advance of emerging situations, supporting and helping them to optimally fulfill their role.

A global assessment of distance pharmacy education amid COVID-19: teaching, assessment and experiential training.

OBJECTIVES: To explore pharmacy colleges' experiences and challenges worldwide with the transition to online teaching during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: From the six World Health Organization regions, 28 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases were identified, and 111 pharmacy colleges were randomly selected from these countries. Two online surveys were sent to faculty members and senior administrators. They assessed changes in teaching and learning, experiential training, assessment, readiness for and challenges with distance e-learning and work-related stress. KEY FINDINGS: Data were collected from 46 colleges. The majority (80.4%) of colleges transitioned to distance e-learning. On-site experiential training was discontinued in 55.5% of colleges and 25.0% redesigned on-site training into remote learning experiences. Assessments were modified in 75.9% of colleges. Assuring the integrity of assessments and delivering practical classes were the most prominent faculty challenges. The majority of faculty (75.0%) and administrators (61.9%) reported moderate work-related stress. Nevertheless, most academics felt that they received adequate support from their institutions and had positive perceptions of the transition to distance e-learning during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic required drastic changes for most programs' teaching methods. Our results showed that educational institutions were somewhat able to support faculty and the needs of educational programs were largely met. However, academic rigour and provision of experiential training can be improved. Faculty emotional support and training needs were not fully addressed in these difficult times. These results shed light on how the global pharmacy academy has addressed the COVID-19 pandemic and help rethink crisis response models.

A mixed-methods study to assess COVID-19 vaccination acceptability among university students in the United Arab Emirates.

To effectively achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, a substantial proportion of a population would need to be vaccinated. However, vaccine hesitancy and refusal are significant issues globally. This mixed-methods study aimed to investigate university students' attitudes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) toward the COVID-19 vaccination, determine the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy, and understand the underlying reasons. We conducted an online survey between 16th-24th February 2021 in 669 students from the University of Sharjah (UAE) and semi-structured qualitative interviews with a subsample of 11 participants. Data on COVID-19 vaccine intention and uptake, risk perception, beliefs and attitudes toward the disease and the vaccine were collected. Multinomial logistic regression was applied and thematic content analysis was conducted with qualitative data. Overall, 31.8% of students demonstrated vaccine hesitancy; 24.4% of students reported a high intention to get the vaccine, and 43.8% were already vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy was associated with less positive beliefs and attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine (AdjOR = 0.557;95%CI 0.468-0.662), high perceived adverse effects (AdjOR = 1.736;95%CI 1.501-2.007), and not perceiving easy access to a vaccination center (AdjOR = 0.820;95%CI 0.739-0.909). The main reasons underlying vaccine hesitancy were related to uncertainty about the effectiveness of the vaccine, knowledge about negative experiences from vaccination among family and/or community, overvaluing the risks of the vaccine in relation to the potential benefits, and not perceiving immunization as a social norm. To increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake, interventions to reduce hesitancy could focus on reducing fears about adverse effects and highlighting individual and societal benefits of the vaccination.