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INTRODUCTION: The quality of care delivered by healthcare practitioners (HCPs) is crucial in promoting optimal health and quality of life (QOL) for a population. To achieve this, understanding the factors that affect the quality of life of healthcare practitioners is essential for governments to develop sustainable healthcare systems. Developed countries have a major role to play in this aspect, as the misallocation of healthcare providers to the wrong geographic regions can significantly impact their performance. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the factors associated with healthcare practitioners' (HCP) quality of life (QOL) and provide workforce planning with knowledge of the level of QOL among HCPs and its factors in Saudi Arabia in 2021. METHODS: This is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in both rural and urban areas of Saudi Arabia. The study population includes all healthcare practitioners practicing in Saudi Arabia. A probability-stratified random sampling technique was used to recruit healthcare practitioners into the study, with a requirement of at least 380 practitioners to achieve 95% confidence and a 5% margin of error. To assess the quality of life of healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia, the study used a national online self-administered questionnaire that was designed by the research team. The data collection process took place from June 2021 to October 2021, and responses were obtained randomly. For analysis, the study used descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, mean or median, and standard deviation or interquartile range. The statistical significance was set at p<0.05, and independent sample T-tests and Chi-square tests were calculated to determine any significant differences between groups. RESULTS: A total of 439 participants completed the questionnaire and were included in the final analysis. The participants had a mean age of 38.8 years (SD = 10.173), with 232 (52.8%) male and 207 (47.2%) female. Regarding marital status, 28% were single, 68.6% were married, and 3.4% were divorced or widowed. The prevalence of chronic diseases in the cohort was 9.1%, with hypertension being the most commonly reported. Of the participants, 362 (82.5%) were living in a society considered urban, while 77 (17.5%) were living in rural areas. Urban healthcare practitioners expressed higher levels of satisfaction with safety and security, internet availability and speed, and city infrastructure compared to their rural counterparts. However, rural practitioners reported greater satisfaction with the cost of living, and transportation quality was a point of concern for both groups. CONCLUSION: The study shows that people living in urban and rural areas are all satisfied with their living conditions based on many factors mentioned in the results section. This indicates that there is no significant difference. The most important factor that affects satisfaction with living is health status. The rate of satisfaction is very high for all factors, including security and safety, environmental health, city infrastructure, cost of living, internet availability, and sports activity-all of which are related to the city itself. For factors related to the individual, such as emotional support from family and friends, personal relationships, overall health, and body appearance, the rate of satisfaction is also high.
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Background Fluoropyrimidine-based regimens are used for the management of colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cancer in Saudi Arabia. We aimed to study the incidence of hematological toxicities in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidine and fluoropyrimidine-based regimens at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods A retrospective cohort study that included adult colorectal cancer patients who were treated with fluoropyrimidine-based regimens from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was performed. Our primary objective was to determine the incidence of anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidines and fluoropyrimidine-based regimens. Secondary objectives were to assess the grade of hematological toxicities associated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) use and to determine the frequency of unplanned hospital admissions or emergency department (ED) visits after receiving fluoropyrimidine-based regimens. The collected data contained patients' characteristics (weight, height, age, gender, and diagnosis), chemotherapy agents, and hematological toxicity-related findings such as absolute neutrophil count, hemoglobin, platelet count, and number of ED visits or hospital admissions during fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy regimens. Results Of the 570 cycles of the fluoropyrimidine-based regimen received by 68 patients, hematological toxicities were observed in 508 (89.1%) cycles, and grade ≥ 3 grade toxicities were found in 46 (8.1%) cycles. The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the incidence of grade 3-4 neutropenia between patients who received bolus administration of 5-FU and those who did not (8.5% vs. 2.3% respectively, p=0.025). The incidence of grade 3-4 anemia was higher in the bolus group (11.3%) compared to the group where bolus was omitted (4.6%); however, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.059). Furthermore, there was no significant difference among the two groups for grade 3 and grade 4 thrombocytopenia (0.0% with bolus given and 0.7% with bolus omission p=1.00). Conclusion Our retrospective study showed that there have been significantly higher grade 3-4 hematological toxicities observed with bolus administration of 5-FU, which confirms the previous reports.
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Objective: Multiple environmental factors can be linked to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).With an increase in the cases of IBD, the objective of this research is to investigate environmental risk factors for IBD in the Saudi population. Methods: A retrospective multicenter case−control study was performed among IBD children from 2009 to 2021.The variables analyzed to be the possible risk factors included their socioeconomic status, living and demographic characteristics, and lifestyle related to IBD. The questionnaire included a list of IBD risk factors that was given to the control and the patient group. For every variable, the 95% confidence interval (CI) and odds rations were also estimated. Results: There were 335 individuals considered in this study: 168 controls (50.1%) and 167 IBD patients (49.9%). Of these, 93 IBD patients (56%) had CD and 74 patients (44%) had UC. Most of participants were female (72.1%) and were aged above 10 years (51.5%). Vaginal delivery (OR 0.551, 95% CI: 1.59−4.14), age above 10 years (OR 1.040, 95% CI: 1.012−1.069), deficient fruit intake (OR 2.572, 95% CI: 1.59−4.14), no exposure to antibiotics (OR 2.396, 95% CI: 1.51−3.81), appendectomy (OR 2.098, 95% CI: 1.87−2.35), less physical activity (OR 2.033, 95% CI: 1.05−3.93) and gastroenteritis admissions > 2 times/year (OR 0.107, 95% CI: 0.037−0.311) were the risk factors for IBD. These factors depicted a more significant link with CD than UC (p < 0.05). Interestingly, sleep disturbance was estimated to be a CD risk factor (adjusted OR: 3.291, 95% CI = 0.97−11.22). Pets in house was risk factor for UC (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study highlights association between vaginal delivery, age above 10 years, deficient fruit intake, low physical activity, exposure to antibiotics, appendectomy, and frequent gastroenteritis admissions as risk factors for IBD. Knowledge of these risk factors can help pediatricians to prospectively identify patients at risk of environmental exposure.
