The economic burden of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia

ContextThe prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia has been rising. Although the health burden of excess weight is well established, little is known about the economic burden.AimsTo assess the economic burden-both direct medical costs and the value of absenteeism and presenteeism-resulting from overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia.Settings and designThe cost of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia was estimated from a societal perspective using an epidemiologic approach.Methods and materialsData were obtained from previously published studies and secondary databases.Statistical analysis usedOverweight/obesity-attributable costs were calculated for six major noncommunicable diseases; sensitivity analyses were conducted for key model parameters.ResultsThe impact of overweight and obesity for these diseases is found to directly cost a total of $3.8 billion, equal to 4.3 percent of total health expenditures in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Estimated overweight and obesity-attributable absenteeism and presenteeism costs a total of$15.5 billion, equal to 0.9 percent of GDP in 2019.ConclusionsEven when limited to six diseases and a subset of total indirect costs, results indicate that overweight and obesity are a significant economic burden in Saudi Arabia. Future studies should identify strategies to reduce the health and economic burden resulting from excess weight in Saudi Arabia

Stability-indicating methods for the determination of pipazethate HCl in the presence of its alkaline degradation product

Three different accurate, sensitive and reproducible stability-indicating methods for the determination of pipazethate HCl in the presence of its alkaline degradation product are presented. The first method is based on ratio-spectra 1st derivative (RSD1) spectrophotometry of the drug at 305 nm, over a concentration range of 10–70 μg mL−1 with mean percentage recovery of 99.69 ± 1.10. The second method utilises quantitative densitometric evaluation of thin-layer chromatography of pipazethate HCl in the presence of its alkaline degradation product, using methanol: ethyl acetate: ammonia (8:2:0.2, v/v/v) as a mobile phase. Chromatograms are scanned at 251 nm. This method analyses pipazethate HCl in a concentration range of 4–14 μg/spot with mean percentage recovery of 100.19 ± 0.77. The third method is an HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of pipazethate HCl in the presence of its alkaline degradation product. The mobile phase consists of methanol: ammonium sulphate (1%), pH = 5.7, (80:20, v/v). The standard curve of pipazethate HCl shows a good linearity over a concentration range of 5–200 μg mL−1 with mean percentage recovery of 100.67 ± 0.91. These methods were successfully applied to the determination of pipazethate HCl in bulk powder, laboratory-prepared mixtures containing different percentages of the degradation product and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The validity of results was assessed by applying standard addition technique. The results obtained were found to agree statistically with those obtained by a reported method, showing no significant difference with respect to accuracy and precision

Perspectives from NHLBI Global Health Think Tank Meeting for late stage (T4) translation research

Almost three-quarters (74%) of all the noncommunicable disease burden is found within low- and middle-income countries. In September 2014, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute held a Global Health Think Tank meeting to obtain expert advice and recommendations for addressing compelling scientific questions for late stage (T4) research—research that studies implementation strategies for proven effective interventions—to inform and guide the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's global health research and training efforts. Major themes emerged in two broad categories: 1) developing research capacity; and 2) efficiently defining compelling scientific questions within the local context. Compelling scientific questions included how to deliver inexpensive, scalable, and sustainable interventions using alternative health delivery models that leverage existing human capital, technologies and therapeutics, and entrepreneurial strategies. These broad themes provide perspectives that inform an overarching strategy needed to reduce the heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders disease burden and global health disparities