Social Determinants of Health-related Quality of Life in Palestinian Refugees in Jordan

Social Determinants of Health-related Quality of Life in Palestinian Refugees Living Inside and Outside Camps in JordanBackground: Palestinian refugees are the world’s largest and one of its longest standing refugee caseloads. Since 1948, Jordan has received several waves of Palestinian refugees who, with their descendants, count for half Jordan’s population. There is a clear concentration of poverty, household crowdedness, inferior housing standards, and limited healthcare and other services access inside camps, in which 18% of Jordan’s Palestinian refugees reside. The Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is the product of not only individuals’ characteristics, but also the characteristics of the surrounding physical and sociopolitical environment.Objective: Within the context of an integrated HRQOL ecological framework, the dissertation purpose was to (1) describe the state of and gaps in health and social outcomes of Palestinian refugees in Jordan; (2) describe HRQOL, depression and hopefulness to return to Palestine, taking into consideration the influence of age, gender, education and poverty; and (3) compare HRQOL between Palestinian refugees who live inside and outside camps in Jordan, taking into consideration sociodemographic characteristics.Method: The sample of 177 adult Palestinian refugees living in Jordan was recruited from inside of UNRWA’s Al-Baqa’a Palestinian refugee camp (n = 86) and outside of the camp from surrounding communities in Abu Nsair (n = 91). Participants provided sociodemographic information and completed the World Health Organization QOL Brief Questionnaire.Results: Palestinian refugees living in Jordan were depressed and nearly half experienced low HRQOL, particularly if refugees were older and poorer. Participants were ‘very hopeful’ about returning to Palestine in the future. Hopefulness, however, was not significantly associated with HRQOL or depression. Furthermore, refugees living inside and outside of camps in Jordan were significantly different by education, type of health insurance and poverty. Physical health, environment and overall HRQOL were significantly higher for non-camp refugees than camp refugees. Regression analyses indicate poverty and residency, individually and/or in combination, were significant predictors of environment, physical health and social relationships HRQOL.Conclusion: Palestinian refugees in Jordan, especially those who lived inside camps, reported poor HRQOL. Community/public health programs and social policies need to be bolstered or created and implemented to benefit Palestinian refugees in Jordan, particularly inside camps

Attitudes towards COVID-19 Booster Vaccines, Vaccine Preferences, Child Immunization, and Recent Issues in Vaccination among University Students in Jordan

Although COVID-19 vaccines have been available in Jordan for more than a year, Jordan suffers from a low vaccination rate. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards recent issues in vaccination among university students in Jordan. We adopted a cross sectional study design using an online questionnaire distributed in a Jordanian university with a medical school chosen at random. The survey asked about COVID-19 vaccine preferences, factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine preferences, child vaccination, and booster vaccines. A total of 417 students completed the survey. Most respondents (54.7%) preferred the Pfizer vaccine, and 6.2% refused to take any vaccine. Pfizer’s efficacy against new strains is a main factor in preferring Pfizer over other vaccines (p < 0.01). Most respondents (71%) believed that vaccination is crucial to prevent COVID-19 surges from new COVID-19 strains, while 44.6% of respondents believed that children should be included in vaccination campaigns, and 70% believed that booster vaccines required more studies to prove their efficacy. Students had mixed attitudes towards many recent issues concerning COVID-19 vaccination. Studying these factors and attitudes in more depth and in different populations can pave the way towards improving vaccination rates worldwide

Side Effects Reported by Jordanian Healthcare Workers Who Received COVID-19 Vaccines

Background Distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has been surrounded by suspicions and rumors making it necessary to provide the public with accurate reports from trustworthy experts such as healthcare professionals. Methods We distributed a questionnaire in Jordan among physicians, dentists and nurses who received a COVID-19 vaccine to explore the side effects (SE) they encountered after the first or the second dose of one of three vaccines namely: AstraZeneca Vaxzevria (AZ), Pfizer-BioNTeck (PB), and SinoPharm (SP) vaccines. Results A total of 409 professionals participated. Approximately 18% and 31% of participants reported no SE after the first dose and second dose, respectively. The remainder had mostly local side effects related to injection site (74%). Systemic side effects in the form of fatigue (52%), myalgia (44%), headache (42%), and fever (35%) prevailed mainly after the first dose. These were significantly associated with AZ vaccine, and age ≤ 45 years (p = 0.000 and 0.01, respectively). No serious SE were reported. Conclusions We can conclude that SE of COVID-19 vaccines distributed in Jordan are within the common range known so far for these vaccines. Further studies are needed to include larger sample size and longer follow-up period to monitor possible serious and long-term SE of the vaccines

The Preventable Effect of Taekwondo Sport among Cadets and Junior’ Bone Mineral Density: DEXA Assessment

Athletes competing in Taekwondo (TKD), the weight-category sport, tend to rapidly lose weight to achieve the desired body weight for better competitive results. Little is known about the effect of rapid weight reduction on bone mass density (BMD), especially during childhood and adolescence. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of rapid weight loss on BMD among cadets and juniors TKD athletes. A descriptive case series study design was conducted and collected from 28 males and females aged 12–17 years old, with mean age 14.4 ± 1.7. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was used for both BMD and body composition assessment, and laboratory tests were also performed for the total calcium (Ca), TSH, free T4 (FT4), and 25-OH-vitamin D. Results showed normal levels of Ca (82.1%), TSH (96.4%), and FT4 (96.4%), whilst 85.7% had vitamin D deficiency. DEXA results showed that within male athletes, juniors had a wider range of BMD than cadets, while within females, results did not vary, with no statistical difference between both males and females. Our results suggested that children and adolescents’ BMD was positively related to TKD sport regardless of the abnormal weight loss strategies used, as evidenced by laboratory results. Children and adolescents should be conscious and practice TKD sport adopting healthy weight loss behaviors