Trichomoniasis Detection Rate Among Female Patients Consulting Different Clinics in Duhok City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Background: Trichomoniasis is a highly prevalent sexually transmitted infection which leads to several public health risks such as urethritis, vaginitis, eventually abortion and sterility and it has been associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Aim of the study: The current cross-sectional study was conducted to measure the rate of Trichomoniasis among female patients consulting different clinics based on direct examination of vaginal swabs, urine samples and cervical discharges specimens.Materials and method: A total of 276 specimens (106 vaginal, 169 urine and 9 cervical) were collected from females aged 18 -45 years consulting four clinics from November, 2022 to May, 2023. The desired patient information was obtained through a designed questionnaire sheet. All specimens processed and examined by direct microscopy following standard protocols. Results were analyzed statistically by Chi-square test and a p value ≥ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The overall rate of positivity was 9.78% (27 out 276). The detection rates by examining vaginal swab wet mount, urine wet mount and cervical wet mount methods were 14.15% (15 out of 106), 6.21% (10 out of 161) and 22.22% (2 out of 9) respectively. There were almost no significant differences between the infection and socio-demographic variables and methods used.Conclusion: The direct microscopy of vaginal swab or urine specimens still has a useful ability to discover positive cases. In order to increase positivity rates additional more sensitive diagnostic techniques such as regular polymerase chain reaction methods for suspected cases are recommended

Association of COVID-19 with Vaccination Status Among Health Science College Students, University of Duhok, 2022

Background and objectives: During the Covid-19 pandemic the community adopts several preventive measures such as; hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing whereas acquiring vaccines was considered to be the most efficient preventive measure. Therefore, this study was designed to calculate its association among health care students. Methods: A 310 students from college of health sciences/ university of Duhok participated through answering an online questioner for identifying the vaccine coverage, its efficacy through (RR) measurement and the hesitancy causes. Results: A high proportion of participants 231 out of 310 (74.5%) were registered for analysis, the vaccination coverage was low (45%) meanwhile the vaccine hesitancy was found to be high (55%) and the main cause was the side effects of the vaccines. Among 46 participants who experienced COVID-19 disease, 35(76.08%) were among those who not get vaccinated while only 11 (23.9%) were among vaccinated students; four from 46(8.6%) students were among those who got the disease before two weeks from vaccination while 7 (15.21%) were among those whose experienced the disease after two weeks from vaccination. The risk ratio or relative risk among who’s got two doses or more of vaccination was estimated to be (0.068) which is lower that among none vaccinated or vaccinated with one dose (0.164). The overall relative risk among vaccinated students was 0.414 CI: (0.183 – 0.936) with a P value < 0.05 which was statistically significant as well as the risk of infection was lowest (0.07) among who wear masks always while it was highest (0.17) among who wear masks occasionally. Conclusion: Health students are advised and encouraged to receive COVID-19 vaccination as well as to wear masks always

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely