Results of Radiological and Serological Screenings in Individuals Sharing the Same Living Area as Patients with Hydatid Cyst in Afghanistan's State Hospital

Objective: To determine the results of radiological and serological screenings in individuals who shared the same living space as patients with hydatid cyst in a State Hospital of Afghanistan. Methods: Patients presenting with hydatid cyst to a public hospital in Afghanistan were included in this study. Full sampling method was used. Also, the relatives of the patients were called to the hospital and investigated for the presence of hydatid cyst antibodies through direct chest X-ray, upper abdominal ultrasonography and ELISA. Results: During the study period, a total of 214 patients, including 102 male and 112 female, underwent radiological and serological screenings. While cysts were radiologically detected in the liver, lung and spleen in 8, 2 and 1 patient, respectively, the serology was positive in 22 patients. Conclusion: As a result of the study, it was concluded that the patients who shared the same environment as the patients who were diagnosed with hydatid cyst in an endemic region for cyst hydatid disease.

Development of a scale to measure quality of life of overweight women.

PURPOSE: This study presents the results of methodological research that derives evaluation items and tests the validity and reliability of the scale to measure quality of life of the overweight women. METHODS: The scale items were developed by the current researchers directly from the consultation data following a group interviewing process aiming to capture the women's experiences, who are currently receiving primary health care. Pretest interviews were used to ensure that the questions were understood correctly. Six experts determined items for content validity of the scale and the evaluations of experts were scored using a content validity index. The scale is a Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 to 5. The items were tested on a sample of 506 healthy women. The body mass indices of participants were 30 and above. Psychometric analyses included explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and item response theory. Parallel analysis was used to extract factors in EFA. Internal consistency and Spearman Brown split-half test correlation were used for testing reliability. RESULTS: The scale was refined as four final dimensions, comprising 40 items as a whole. The result of Bartlett's Test of Sphericity was found sufficient (χ2 = 14164.92; p < 0.001) and the KMO value was 0.959. This statistically significant value (p < 0.001) indicates that the sampling was sufficient and data had normal distribution. Cronbach's alpha was 0.967. The Spearman Brown coefficient was found to be 0.884. CONCLUSION: It was found that the scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool that can be used to measure the quality of life of overweight women. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Methodological study, Level V.