From
the Editor
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This is the third issue this year. This issue
span papers from Qatar, Turkey, UAE, Nepal,
Kuwait and Jordan
A paper from Qatar evaluates the prevalence
of Enuresis and its recovery rate among children
in the Western Area of Doha, and evaluated the
different associations between Nocturnal Enuresis
(NE) and medical and psychological conditions,
and assessed the impact of the condition in
children and families. The results indicated
a 36.3% prevalence of Enuresis in children.
Significant associations of medical and psychological
problems such as snoring, brachial asthma and
stressful events were found. Recovery rates
of 26, 24, and 19% were observed after 3 times
follow-up at 6, 12, and 18 months respectively.
This study confirms the prevalence of Nocturnal
Enuresis among children frequenting the primary
health care centers of the Western area of Doha,
and the Medical and Psychological associations
are similar to those of similar studies from
various countries of the Arab countries area.
Health education will encourage the parents
to be aware, deal with this problem and find
appropriate medical advice.
A paper from Jordan evaluates the incidence
of ischiofemoral impingement (IFI) syndrome
among patients who presented for pelvic MRI
as a case of pelvic pain at KHMC. A total of
125 pelvic MRI done between august 2015 and
august 2016, for patients presented as cases
of LBP or pelvic pain at KHMC were reviewed.
Seven patients of the 125 had the full blown
picture of IFI syndrome accounting for around
5 % of patients. Two of them had long standing
unexplained pelvic pain. Five of them had the
changes after history of pelvic surgery or trauma.
The authors conclude that Ischiofemoral impingement
syndrome should be considered in differential
diagnosis of patients with LBP, hip pain or
unexplained pelvic pain especially in patients
with history of pelvic surgery or trauma
A paper from Turkey looked at the aging syndrome.
The authors stressed that Aging syndrome or
accelerated endothelial damage syndrome or metabolic
syndrome is a chronic inflammatory process on
vascular endothelium both at arterial and venous
systems of the body. It terminates with an accelerated
endothelial damage, an accelerated atherosclerosis,
end-organ insufficiencies, early aging, and
death. Male sex, sedentary life style, animal-rich
diet, overweight, obesity, smoking, alcohol,
white coat hypertension, hypertension, impaired
fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance,
diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, dyslipidemia,
chronic infections, chronic inflammations, chronic
depression, cancers, overuse of the body, and
sickle cell diseases may be the major parameters
of the metabolic syndrome. Cirrhosis, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic renal
disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, early
aging, and death may be the main terminal end-points
of the syndrome. As a conclusion, calendar ages
should not be accepted as the real physiologic
ages of patients with the above parameters and
terminal end-points of the metabolic syndrome.
On the other hand, long term underweight in
the absence of any pathology such as anorexia
nervosa, sudden weight loss, malignancies, chronic
infections, chronic inflammations, or chronic
depression may even decelerate the aging by
decreasing insulin resistance, mean arterial
blood pressure, and vascular endothelial damage
and it may be a good property for a long lifespan.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in an
ambulatory healthcare clinic, self-reported
questionnaire was used to assess foot care behaviors,
prevalence of diabetic foot risk factors and
safety of footwear among diabetic patients.
Inlow's 60-second Diabetic Foot Screen was used
to examine foot, ADA risk classification was
used for risk assessment. The total patients
were 74, majority of respondents was local UAE
patients 46(71.88%) with diabetes duration of
8.8 years, mean age was 59.1±10.11 years,
male to female ratio was nearly similar, mean
A1c level was 7.45 ±1.81with only 21
out of 50(42%) patients had their HbA1c controlled
(<7), 80.28% of patients completed at least
elementary school. Frequency patients received
foot care education and foot examination were
60 (81.08%) and 55 (74.32 %) respectively, 42
(55.56%) walked barefoot indoors, 43(56.97%)wore
shoes without socks, 35(47.95%) tested the water
temperature with hand / elbow before taking
a bath or a shower, 50 (68.49%) self-treated
corns or calluses with a blade, 67 (90.54%)
wore sandals, almost all 73(98.93) relied on
feeling the fit of the shoes when buying a new
pair, overall shoes assessment was improper
shoes in 64 (86.49 %) , there were callus formation
in 30(42.26%) ,foot deformity in11(15.28%) ,loss
of sensation by monofilament in 0 to 9 sites
out of 10 in foot 26 (40.55%) ,absent of dorsalis
pedes pulse in 10 (13.89%) and 40 % were classified
at risk category 1 to develop foot ulcer. Foot
care practices are still substandard among diabetic
patients, there was a gap between what patient
receive in foot education by health care provider
and what patients did in real practice, potential
harmful foot care behaviors were high and protective
foot care practice were low, finally there were
one or more risk factor of diabetic foot ulcer
in majority of patients.
A prospective, open label, double arm, observational,
longitudinal registry study was carried in Kuwait
looking at hyperglycemia in pregnancy in Arab
Population. A total of 480 subjects comprising
two equal groups (Group A with a known history
of type 2 diabetes mellitus and Group B with
GDM) were recruited, their obstetric history
captured and followed up on a regular basis
till delivery. Mode of delivery and neonatal
status especially APGAR status at birth, 5 minutes
and 10 minutes were closely monitored and captured
using an eCRF by the study physicians. Statistical
analysis revealed a significant difference in
the obstetric history-parity (p=0.000), previous
abortion history (p=0.007), previous caesarean
sections (p= 0.000) and type of delivery (vaginal,
caesarean, vacuum (p value= 0.000, 0.000 and
0.006 respectively) while there were no statistically
significant variations amongst the neonatal
statuses except for higher birth weight (p=0.02)
and neonatal complications (p=0.033). The authors
concluded that Hyperglycemia with pregnancy
is a steadily increasing problem that can seriously
affect both mother and baby as shown in the
present study , however, the present study did
not show any significant differences in the
weeks of delivery (preterm vs term).
A community based cross-sectional survey was
conducted in Nepal to find the prevalence of
stunting including severe stunting and its determinants
in pre-school children aged 3-4 years in Kharelthowk
VDC, Nepal. A total 464 pre-school children
of rural Kharelthowk VDC (Kavre district), both
males and females of age between 3-4 years were
enrolled in the study. A structured questionnaire
was used to obtain information on socioeconomic
characteristics and life style factors of children.
The prevalence of stunting in pre-school children
was 46.9%. The prevalence of stunting was significantly
higher among male children (51%) than female
children (42.7%). The study revealed that stunting
was significantly associated with inadequate
nutrition intake, infections, poor child care
and socio-economic status of the family. The
authors concluded that the magnitude of stunting
is very high as compared to developed countries.
Thus, proper attention should be given for the
intervention on causes of stunting among pre-school
children in order to avoid further risks in
future.
Chief Editor:
A. Abyad
MD, MPH, AGSF, AFCHSE
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
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