Adolescent reproductive health and gender role attitudes in Oman.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the attitudes of Omani adolescents towards the different gender roles and women empowerment with regard to taking household decisions, and to study how they influenced the adolescents' knowledge and attitudes towards some reproductive health issues in a national representative secondary schools-based sample of 1670 boys and 1675 girls. METHODS: In 2001, through a self administrated questionnaire the adolescents answered 2 indices; adolescents Attitudes Toward Gender Roles (ATGR) and adolescents Attitudes Toward Women Empowerment (ATWE) in addition to answering questions on demographic data, environmental factors, and questions assessing their knowledge and attitudes towards reproductive health issues. RESULTS: High scores of ATGR or ATWE were found to significantly predict sound adolescents' reproductive health knowledge or positive attitudes in almost all the logistic regression models. CONCLUSION: The study highlighted the scope of interventions to be initiated for adolescents reproductive health. Changes in attitudes towards gender role have to accompany our endeavors to set up the stage for our future generation's reproductive health.

The relation of smoking to body mass index and central obesity among Omani male adults.

OBJECTIVE: Despite the prevalence that smoking has declined in many countries, there is a large increase in the number of young adults starting to smoke and in per capita cigarette consumption. In some studies smoking was associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and increased waist hip ratio (WHR). Our aim is to study the association of smoking with BMI and WHR among male adults aged 20 years and above in a community based survey as a part of the National Health Survey, 2000. METHODS: A cross sectional survey representing all parts of Oman was designed in the year 2000. A part of the survey was door to door interviews including demographic data and inquiry regarding current and former smoking for male adults aged 20 years and above. In addition, taking the weight, hip and waist measurements, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose for them. RESULTS: The crude prevalence of current smoking was 13.3% among adult males and 4.6% of them were former smokers. The mean BMI was non significantly lower among smokers than never or former smokers. There was no significant difference also regarding WHR. Adjusting BMI by 10 different multiple linear regression models for other co-variates; age, educational level, marital status, having hypertension and total fasting glucose intolerance revealed significant association in 3 of them of BMI with smoking status. Non-significant association was revealed for WHR. CONCLUSION: Current smokers were of low BMI compared to non smokers and ex smokers, and currently light smokers were also of low BMI compared to ex smokers. There was no association of central obesity to smoking status. The association between smoking status and relative weight is modified by social factors as education.

Prevalence and correlates of obesity and central obesity among Omani adults.

OBJECTIVE: Overweight, particularly obesity is a major risk factor for several important diseases, especially hypertension, coronary heart diseases and diabetes mellitus. Our aim is to determine the prevalence of obesity and central obesity among Omani adults aged > or =20 years, and to identify the socio-demographic and health variables that correlate to obesity and central obesity in a community based survey (National Health Survey, 2000). METHODS: A community based cross-sectional survey representing all parts of Oman was designed in the year 2000. A part of the survey was a door to door interviews including demographic data, weight, height, hip and waist measurements, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose and serum cholesterol for adults aged > or =20 years. RESULTS: The crude prevalence of overweight and obesity (body mass index >25 kg/m2) was 47.9% for the whole sample, and 46.2% for males, 49.5% for females. The crude prevalence of central obesity (abnormal weight hips ratio) was 49.3% for the whole sample, 31.5% for males, and 64.6% for females. Obesity and central obesity were less prevalent among younger age groups and highly educated subjects. Both obesity and central obesity increased the odds of having diabetes, hypertension and hyperchlostremia. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of obesity and central obesity is quietly high in Oman. Launching nutritional programs and promotional life style modification programs are recommended.

Analysis of mental health publications from Arab countries in PubMed, 1987-2002.

OBJECTIVE: To perform geographical analysis of mental health publications produced in 22 Arab countries from 1987 to 2002 in PubMed, to compare the ratio of mental health to the total number of citations for each country as well as the percentage of each country`s mental health publication to the total mental health publications of the all Arab countries and to study the fields and types of mental health research publications in Arab countries during this period. METHODS: A MEDLINE search was performed in July 2003 at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut to ascertain the total number of citations for each Arab country followed by another search in the MeSH database of MEDLINE for citations under the psychiatry and psychology category. The 2 search strategies were then combined by "AND" and inspected to validate its attribution to mental health research. Moreover, identifying to which mental health fields the publications of the countries were contributing. RESULTS: The number of mental health research citations published and affiliated to the Arab countries over the last 15 years totalled 338 articles. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia published 37% of the Arab World`s mental health publications. The most dynamic mental health fields are substance abuse and depression accounting for approximately 26% of the total mental health publications. CONCLUSION: Gulf Cooperation Council countries are very prolific in terms of MEDLINE-indexed biomedical as well as mental health research publications. Child psychiatry, especially attention deficit hyperactive disorders and child autism are not gaining much interest.

Notice of Duplicate Publication in: Neurosciences 2007; Vol. 12 (4): 358.

Hypertension in Oman: distribution and correlates.

BACKGROUND: International studies have reported increased prevalence of hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors, Our aim was to study the distribution and the correlates of hypertension (HTN - systolic or diastolic) in a community based survey (National Health Survey, 2000). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of the health status of Omani community was designed. Face to face interview including demographic data, blood pressure measurement, fasting blood glucose and serum cholesterol, weight, height, waist and hip measurement for 7011 Omani subjects with a response rate ranging between about 83% (for fasting blood glucose) to about 91% (for blood pressure measurement). RESULTS: The crude prevalence of HTN was 33.1%, while the age-adjusted prevalence was 38.3%. Older age groups, male gender, lower level of education, non- working, hypercholestremia, being married, obese, smoker, or having abnormal Waist Hip Ratio (WHR), or Total Impaired fasting glucose (TIFG) were found to be associated with hypertension in bivariate analysis. Logistic models were run to identify the adjusted Odds Ratio for the overall sample, for separate genders and age groups. For the overall sample, subjects aged 60 and above were 5.4 times more likely to be hypertensive than those below forty. Female gender was a protective factor in the overall sample, while it increased the risk by 1.4 times among those aged 60+. Obese or centrally obese subjects were also more likely to be hypertensive. Subjects with impaired fasting glucose, diabetes, or hyperchlosteremia were more likely to have hypertension than others in the majority of the logistic regression models. CONCLUSION: Hypertension is considered a major public health problem in Oman. Increasing the awareness of both health care providers and the community is crucial.