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From
the Editor
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It is fifteen years since we started and we
are very pleased with the level and the status
of the journal and we promise our readers and
authors to keep up the standards in the coming.
I wish all our readers, authors and our publisher
a happy start of the year.
A cross sectional study was conducted in Qatar
looking at the prevalence and determinants of
Psychological Morbidity among Arab Diabetic
Patients. A two stage random sample was used
to first select the PHC centers then select
the diabetic patients from each center. The
prevalence of Psychological morbidity was measured
using an Arabic version of the General Health
Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a data extraction
sheet was used to extract the relevant diabetes
characteristics. The study showed that the prevalence
of psychological morbidity among Arabs diabetic
patients was 31.8%. The binary logistic regression
found that the most significant predictors of
psychological morbidity were female gender (OR=2.5,
95% CI=1.5-4.1), using insulin only to control
his disease (OR=3.8, 95% CI=2.1-6.8) and the
presence of other comorbidities (OR=2.4, 95%
CI=1.1-3.8). Moreover the study reported that
71.6% of Arab diabetic patients showed their
willingness to receive psychological therapy
whenever there is a need for it. The authors
concluded that almost one third of Arab diabetic
patients attending primary health care centres
in Qatar have psychological morbidity. The most
significant predictors were female gender, insulin
use, and presence of comorbidities.
A prospective clinical audit was conducted of
120 Yemeni patients (45 males and 75 females),
aged 5-54 years from all patients with different
skin diseases in dermatology clinic (January 2013
- May 2014), treated by NB-UVB irradiation without
being combined with topical steroid or topical
chemotherapy during the course of the study.
Ninety four (78.3%) of patients had complete response
to treatment, 6.7% had partial and 15% had no
response. Mycosis fungoid and atopic dermatitis
had high mean number of session (84.50±0.70),
followed by vitiligo with mean number of session
27.10±23.70. The Lichen planus, Mycosis
and Pityrias had complete response (100%) to treatment,
followed by vitiligo 79.3%, while partial response
appear in patients with alopecia (66.7%) and atopic
dermatitis (22.2%). Patients with chronic renal
failure had no response to treatment in 33.3%,
followed by Parapsoriasis (20%). The authors concluded
that their our study proves that NB- UVB therapy
is an effective and safe tool in the management
skin diseases and considered the first-line phototherapeutic
option for many skin conditions.
A paper from Iraq looked at the use of PowerPoint
presentations in Medical Conferences in Iraq.
(A Qualitative Study) A mixed qualitative study,
using observational approach. A checklist prepared
by investigator, used to predict certain aspects
in presentations, presenters approach as well
as conferences organization. Eight conferences
were included from 4 governorates in Iraq for
the period from November 2009 to December 2011.
A total of 102 PowerPoint presentations included
in the study. The authors concluded that many
problems noticed with presentations in medical
conferences. Organizers need to give more efforts
for logistics, delay in time, presentation duration,
and assure quite environment. Presenters should
give consideration to their facing, voice, pointer
use as well as preparing their PPT slides properly.
A cross sectional study was performed at Family
Medicine and internal medicine departments,
Armed Forces Hospital of Jizan (AFHJ), Saudi
Arabia. To assess pattern and predictors of
glycemic control among type 2 diabetics based
on glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting
plasma glucose (FPG). A sample size of 78 type
2 diabetics was calculated and selected randomly
from the study population. The Socio-demographic
and clinical data were collected using structured
questionnaires. Also, FPG, HbA1c, total Cholesterol,
Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), High Density
Lipoprotein (HDL), serum Triglycerides (TG)
and renal function tests (serum urea and creatinine)
were assessed using the appropriate kits. The
total number of males was 37 (47.4%) and that
of females was 41(52.6%). Their age ranged from
22-90 with a mean of 54.6±13 years. The
mean of HbA1c was 8.79±2.17 gm % and
that FPG was 180.64±42.27mg/dL. The authors
concluded that poor glycemic control and atherogenic
lipid profile are highly prevalent among the
study group necessitating aggressive screening
and treatment for dyslipidemia, and appropriate
management of diabetes.
A paper on what can quality improvement add
to diabetes care from Dubai, discusses the concepts
of quality and how they should be extended to
expand over all medical specialties putting
the goal of patients’ safety as the first
goal in practice. The growing prevalence of
diabetes should be grounds for the question;
Why are the figures not going down although
huge budgets have been directed to decrease
these figures? One of the answers is the lack
of investment on a quality improvement system
integrated with clinical diabetes care.
Chief Editor:
A. Abyad
MD, MPH, AGSF, AFCHSE
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
Ethics Editor and Publisher
Lesley Pocock
medi+WORLD InternationalAUSTRALIA
Email: lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au
Editorial enquiries:
aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
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