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From the
Editor
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A. Abyad, MD,
MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Chief Editor)
Address correspondence
to:
A. Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Editor)
Abyad Medical Center & Middle East Longevity
Institute
Azmi Street, Abdo Center, 2nd Floor
PO BOX 618, Tripoli LEBANON
Tel & Fax: 961 6 443684/5/6
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
Web: www.amc-lb.com
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This is the second issue this years with
papers from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Libya,
Kuwait, and Nigeria. These papers are alluding
to various aspect of diseases and problems facing
primary care in the World.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is more prevalent in
Asians as compared to White Caucasians. People
with diabetes have a risk of IHD two to five
times greater than that in the non-diabetic
individuals. There is limited data available
in the literature about IHD and its association
with the known risk factors in the Yemeni diabetic
population. Therefore the authors conducted
a comparative study looking at 200 known type-2
diabetics with and without IHD to establish
the relative prevalence of hyperglycemia, dyslipidemias,
hypertension, smoking, obesity and microalbuminuria,
among type 2- diabetics with IHD as compared
to those who did not develop IHD. The authors
concluded that the prevalence of conventional
cardiovascular risk factors is quite significant
in the Yemeni diabetic population.
There are innovative informatics solutions
made for efficient healthcare delivery, and
electronic medical record systems (EMR) is one
of such. A paper from Nigeria looked at the
challenges associated with setting up an electronic
medical record. The authors stressed that implementing
functioning EMRs in environments like theirs
is 'froth' with many practical and peculiar
challenges. Using the experience garnered from
the Wesley Guild Hospital EMR project, this
paper highlights these challenges and how some
of them were overcome. Their aim is to sensitize
other workers interested in doing similar projects
in this environment about the likely challenges
they might face.
A paper from Libya examined the literature
relating to the knowledge and attitudes of patients
and others, and the behaviours (KAB) connected
with genital warts.
GWs are one of the commonest sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) that entail considerable morbidity
in terms of social, psychological and economic
consequences. The author stressed that her review
demonstrates a gap in knowledge among many women
worldwide about genital HPV. This varies according
to ethnicity and socio-economic characteristics,
even if women seemed to be educated.
A cross sectional community based survey paper
from Saudi Arabia to evaluate patients beliefs
of bad news and their perception and attitude
towards breaking bad news. Breaking bad news
is considered one of a physician's most difficult
duties. A validated self administrative questionnaire
in Arabic language was designed and used for
data collection. The study included 1086 participants.
Half of the samples were male and 46% of them
were between 30-39 years old. Almost 75% of
them defined bad news as the diseases that are
highly fatal. Only 50% of the participants had
a satisfactory experience in the way of breaking
bad news. Around 81% of participants insist
on being informed about any news related to
their health. Educational level seems to be
one of the influencing factors (p<0.001).
In general, participants had a good understanding
of the situation and respect honesty. Medical
professionals are urged to learn more about
the importance and the techniques of breaking
bad news to gain patient's satisfaction and
build sound doctor-patient relationships.
A cross-sectional study of 116 out of 120 female
medical students who were selected randomly
in Al Wahda Educational Hospital, Yemen was
conducted to measure the various menstrual dysfunction
manifestations. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
was assessed. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea
was 72.4%. Of those, 14.2% had severe pain.
The prevalence of self-reported PMS was 24.13%.
The absenteeism from college was reported in
42 female medical students (36.2%). The authors
concluded that female medical students during
their study ,had been shown to have several
menstrual cycle problems. Dysmenorrhea, PMS,
and Menorrhagia are commonly reported in this
study. Sickness absenteeism from the college
is the most significant sequel which results
in disruption of the student's training and
academic performance.
Perceived Social Problems Influencing Management
in Primary Care in a Semi-Urban Tertiary Hospital
was studied in Nigeria. Research has shown that
social problems do influence clinical decision
making. Primary healthcare providers, such as
doctors are also prone to social influences
both from self and patients which may affect
clinical patient management.
The survey revealed that 94% of doctors were
influenced by social problems of patients in
the choice of management. 88% of respondents
considered financial status of patients the
most influencing factor, while only 24% regarded
patient loneliness as a factor in clinical decision
making. The authors concluded that in this environment,
perceived social problems of both doctors and
patients do significantly influence choice of
management in 9 out of every 10 doctors in their
consultations and clinical management.
A paper from India assessed the level of awareness
of different diseases and explored the role
of mass media in spreading health awareness
in Aligarh Muslim University campus. A total
of 1040 subjects of different intellectual levels,
who were representative of the AMU community,
participated in this study. These subjects responded
to a structured questionnaire on awareness of
different diseases and sources of information.
Having heard of the different diseases in question
was defined as awareness. About 80 percent of
respondents got information about health from
newspaper and magazines. 71 percent reported
that television/radio is among the best sources
to get information on health related issues.
The study reveals that those exposed to mass
media had reported significant knowledge about
various morbidities and are likely to seek better
health care services. The results underscore
the importance of mass media exposure in prevention
and control of diseases.
In this issue we have also made some changes
to the journal in response to feedback from
our Survey. We have re-introduced an interactive
CME section, as well as a small news section
dealing with breaking medical news in the region.
All articles will now be available as separate
pdf files along with the full pdf which will
now carry cover 'art' - as a gift to our readers.
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