ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The importance of children's eye health cannot be overstated as it has significant implications for personal life, education, career, health, financial status, and overall satisfaction. This study aims to assess the awareness of parents regarding pediatric eye diseases to identify potential gaps in knowledge. By understanding parental awareness, we can develop targeted educational initiatives to promote early detection, timely intervention, and overall improved eye health in children. This research seeks to contribute valuable insights for enhancing preventive measures and fostering healthier eyesight in younger generations. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Hail and Al-Qassim regions, of Saudi Arabia. Parents with children aged less than 15 years were included. Targeted parents were selected consecutively using an online questionnaire for data collection. Data included parents' data, children's eye diseases, and parents' knowledge, practice, and attitude toward pediatric eye diseases. Results: A total of 618 eligible parents were included, 429 (69.4%) from Al-Qassim and 189 (30.6%) from Hail. Parents' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years with a mean age of 35.4 ± 11.5 years. A total of 510 (82.5%) respondents were females. A total of 442 (71.5%) of the study parents had poor knowledge about their pediatric eye problems, 154 (24.9%) had a good knowledge level, and only 22 (3.6%) had excellent knowledge. As for their practice, 458 (74.1%) of the parents arranged for their children to undergo an eye or visual test; 254 (55.5%) did so when the child was six to ten years of age. CONCLUSION: The current study showed poor awareness levels about pediatric eye diseases among parents, mainly regarding cataracts and glaucoma. On the other hand, parents demonstrated a high level of engagement in visually assessing their children. The primary hindrance to conducting assessments was the absence of symptoms and signs or active complaints, leading to a lack of proactive seeking of visual evaluations.
ABSTRACT
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental and physical disorder with different degrees of severity. Since CP manifests itself in early childhood, numerous research studies have concentrated on children with CP. Patients with CP encounter different severity of motor impairments attributed to the damage or disturbance to the fetal or infant developing brain, which begins in early childhood and persists through adulthood. Patients with CP are more prone to mortality compared to the general population. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the risk factors that predict and influence mortality in patients with CP. Systematic search for studies assessing the risk factors for mortality in CP patients that were conducted from 2000 to 2023 in Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane Library was performed. R-One Group Proportion was used for statistical analysis and Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS) for quality appraisal. Of the 1791 total database searches, nine studies were included. Based on the NOS tool for quality appraisal, seven studies were of moderate quality, and two studies were rated as of high quality. The risk factors included pneumonia and other respiratory infections, neurological disorders, circulatory diseases, gastrointestinal infections, and accidents. Pneumonia (OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.31 - 0.51), neurological disorders (OR = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.08 - 0.16), respiratory infections (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.31 - 0.51), cardiovascular and circulatory diseases (OR = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.04 - 0.27), gastrointestinal and metabolic causes (OR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.06 - 0.22), and accidents (OR = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.04 - 0.07) were the risk factors assessed. It was concluded that multiple factors predict the risk of mortality in patients with CP. Pneumonia and other respiratory infections are associated with a high risk of mortality. Cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders, and accidents are strongly linked to mortality in CP patients.