Smoking Tobacco Prevalence Among College Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

INTRODUCTION: During the last two decades, several studies have been published regarding the prevalence of tobacco smoking among college students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This systematic review and meta-analysis is intended to determine and examine the smoking prevalence in Saudi college students from 2010-2018. METHODS: PubMed, Science Direct, APA PsycNET, Web of Science, and CINAHL were used to search for published articles reporting the smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. After eliminating irrelevant articles, investigators independently assessed the quality of each article, based on Russell & Gregory guidelines. MetaXL software was used to calculate the pooled prevalence among included studies, using the IVhert model. Heterogeneity among the included studies was evaluated, using I2 statistic. Sensitivity analyses were conducted between male and female genders. RESULTS: Of the 295 published articles, 29 articles used a cross-sectional design to determine smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. Most of the studies were conducted in Riyadh at health-science-related colleges; the rest were performed in different cities and colleges. The meta-analysis showed that the pooled estimate of smoking prevalence among college students in the KSA was 17% (95% CI: 11-23%). Saudi male students had a prevalence rate of 26% (95% CI: 24-29%), whereas for Saudi female students the prevalence was 5% (95% CI: 3-7%). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking among Saudi college students was higher than in the majority of regional countries (e.g. Iran). Saudi male students had a higher smoking prevalence than Saudi female college students. Additionally, studies that reported a high prevalence targeted students in specific disciplines. Public health authorities in the KSA should develop a surveillance system that monitors the prevalence of tobacco smoking on campuses. A surveillance system of monitoring tobacco use among Saudi college students could be beneficial in determining the degree of the tobacco problem and in improving current tobacco control programs

Smoking tobacco prevalence among college students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction During the last two decades, several studies have been published regarding the prevalence of tobacco smoking among college students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This systematic review and meta-analysis is intended to determine and examine the smoking prevalence in Saudi college students from 2010–2018. Methods PubMed, Science Direct, APA PsycNET, Web of Science, and CINAHL were used to search for published articles reporting the smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. After eliminating irrelevant articles, investigators independently assessed the quality of each article, based on Russell & Gregory guidelines. MetaXL software was used to calculate the pooled prevalence among included studies, using the IVhert model. Heterogeneity among the included studies was evaluated, using I2 statistic. Sensitivity analyses were conducted between male and female genders. Results Of the 295 published articles, 29 articles used a cross-sectional design to determine smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. Most of the studies were conducted in Riyadh at health-science-related colleges; the rest were performed in different cities and colleges. The meta-analysis showed that the pooled estimate of smoking prevalence among college students in the KSA was 17% (95% CI: 11–23%). Saudi male students had a prevalence rate of 26% (95% CI: 24–29%), whereas for Saudi female students the prevalence was 5% (95% CI: 3–7%). Conclusions Smoking among Saudi college students was higher than in the majority of regional countries (e.g. Iran). Saudi male students had a higher smoking prevalence than Saudi female college students. Additionally, studies that reported a high prevalence targeted students in specific disciplines. Public health authorities in the KSA should develop a surveillance system that monitors the prevalence of tobacco smoking on campuses. A surveillance system of monitoring tobacco use among Saudi college students could be beneficial in determining the degree of the tobacco problem and in improving current tobacco control programs

Tobacco Smoking Prevalence Among College Students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: During the last two decades, several studies have been published regarding the prevalence of tobacco smoking among college students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This systematic review and meta-analysis is intended to determine and to examine the smoking prevalence in Saudi college students from 2010-2018. Methods: PubMed, Science Direct, APA PsycNET, Web of Science, and CINAHL were utilized to search for published articles reporting the smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. After eliminating irrelevant articles, investigators independently assessed the quality of each article, based on Russell and Gregory’s guidelines. MetaXL software was used to calculate the pooled prevalence among included studies, using the IVhert model. Heterogeneity among included studies was evaluated, using I2 statistic. Sensitivity analyses were conducted between male and female genders. Results: Of the 295 published articles, 29 articles used a cross-sectional design to determine smoking prevalence among Saudi college students. Most of the studies were conducted in Riyadh at health science-related colleges; the rest were performed in different cities and colleges. The meta-analysis showed that the pooled estimate of smoking prevalence among college students in the KSA was 17% (95% CI: 11%-23%). Saudi male students had a prevalence rate of 26% (95% CI: 24%-29%), whereas Saudi female prevalence was 5% (95% CI: 3%-7%). Conclusions: Smoking among Saudi college students was higher than in the majority of regional countries (e.g., Iran). Saudi male students had a higher smoking prevalence than Saudi female college students. Additionally, studies that reported a high prevalence targeted students in specific disciplines. Public health authorities in the KSA should develop a surveillance system that monitors the prevalence of tobacco smoking on campuses. A surveillance system of monitoring tobacco use among Saudi college students could be beneficial in determining the degree of the tobacco problem and in improving current tobacco control programs.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/health_sciences/1000/thumbnail.jp

Determinants of Glycemic Control Among Patients with T2Dm in Saudi Arabia: a Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence

Aims: Despite the increased prevalence of diabetes in Saudi Arabia, individuals with T2DM had lack management of the blood glucose which contribute to the economy and well-being; therefore, it was deemed important to address the prevalence and evaluate personal, psychological, and behavioral risk factors related to poor glycemic control among T2DM patients in SA. Methods: Meta-analysis of prevalence and systematic review was conducted following PRISMA flowchart, and scrutinized peer-reviewed articles retrieved from Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINAHL Plus databases. The included articles were assessed using modified STROBE tool, and random effects model used for the meta-analysis. Results: 19 articles were included of which 3 retrospective cohort, 1 case-control, and 15 cross-sectional. The quality of the studies was 3 high, 7 moderate, and 9 low. The pooled prevalence of uncontrolled T2DM, ≥ 7% (53 mmol/mol), was 77.7% and mean (SD) age was 54.2 (11.1). The most examined factors were age, gender, treatment modality, education, diabetes duration BMI, physical activity and diet. The most studied factors established association with HbA1c were diet, diabetes duration, and treatment modality while the least was age, gender and education. Conclusions: Variation was evident among the studies due to the differences in the methodology. The overall quality of the studies was relatively weak, and the findings had limited generalizability. Further studies are needed to address the psychological and behavioral factors with emphasis on a theoretical foundation. Collaboration between the government and healthcare providers is necessary to effectively lessen the burden of diabetes.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/health_sciences/1001/thumbnail.jp

A Comprehensive Review on the Current Vaccines and Their Efficacies to Combat SARS-CoV-2 Variants

Since the first case of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 infection has affected many individuals worldwide. Eventually, some highly infectious mutants—caused by frequent genetic recombination—have been reported for SARS-CoV-2 that can potentially escape from the immune responses and induce long-term immunity, linked with a high mortality rate. In addition, several reports stated that vaccines designed for the SARS-CoV-2 wild-type variant have mixed responses against the variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) in the human population. These results advocate the designing and development of a panvaccine with the potential to neutralize all the possible emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2. In this context, recent discoveries suggest the design of SARS-CoV-2 panvaccines using nanotechnology, siRNA, antibodies or CRISPR-Cas platforms. Thereof, the present comprehensive review summarizes the current vaccine design approaches against SARS-CoV-2 infection, the role of genetic mutations in the emergence of new viral variants, the efficacy of existing vaccines in limiting the infection of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, and efforts or challenges in designing SARS panvaccines

Intussusception and COVID-19 in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Intussusception (ISN) post-COVID-19 infection in children is rare but can occur. SARS-CoV-2 may play a role in the pathogenesis of ISN and trigger immune activation and mesenteric adenitis, which predispose peristaltic activity to “telescope” a proximal bowel segment into the distal bowel lumen. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in ISN children and analyze the demographic parameters, clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes in ISN pediatric patients with COVID-19 illness. Methods: We performed this systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Studies reporting on the incidence of ISN post-SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, published from 1 December 2019 until 1 October 2022, in PROQUEST, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PUBMED, CINAHL, WILEY ONLINE LIBRARY, SCOPUS and NATURE, with a restriction to articles available in the English language, were included. Results: Of the 169 papers that were identified, 34 articles were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis (28 case report, 5 cohort and 1 case-series studies). Studies involving 64 ISN patients with confirmed COVID-19 (all patients were children) were analyzed. The overall pooled proportions of the ISN patients who had PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was 0.06% (95% CI 0.03 to 0.09, n = 1790, four studies, I2 0%, p = 0.64), while 0.07% (95% CI 0.03 to 0.12, n = 1552, three studies, I2 0%, p = 0.47) had success to ISN pneumatic, hydrostatic and surgical reduction treatment and 0.04% (95% CI 0.00 to 0.09, n = 923, two studies, I2 0%, p = 0.97) had failure to ISN pneumatic, hydrostatic and surgical reduction treatment. The median patient age ranged from 1 to 132 months across studies, and most of the patients were in the 1–12 month age group (n = 32, 50%), p = 0.001. The majority of the patients were male (n = 41, 64.1%, p = 0.000) and belonged to White (Caucasian) (n = 25, 39.1%), Hispanic (n = 13, 20.3%) and Asian (n = 5, 7.8%) ethnicity, p = 0.000. The reported ISN classifications by location were mostly ileocolic (n = 35, 54.7%), and few children experienced ileo-ileal ISN (n = 4, 6.2%), p = 0.001. The most common symptoms from ISN were vomiting (n = 36, 56.2%), abdominal pain (n = 29, 45.3%), red currant jelly stools (n = 25, 39.1%) and blood in stool (n = 15, 23.4%). Half of the patients never had any medical comorbidities (n = 32, 50%), p = 0.036. The approaches and treatments commonly used to manage ISN included surgical reduction of the ISN (n = 17, 26.6%), pneumatic reduction of the ISN (n = 13, 20.2%), antibiotics (n = 12, 18.7%), hydrostatic reduction of the ISN (n = 11, 17.2%), laparotomy (n = 10, 15.6%), intravenous fluids (n = 8, 12.5%) and surgical resection (n = 5, 7.8%), p = 0.051. ISN was recurrent in two cases only (n = 2, 3.1%). The patients experienced failure to pneumatic (n = 7, 10.9%), hydrostatic (n = 6, 9.4%) and surgical (n = 1, 1.5%) ISN treatment, p = 0.002. The odds ratios of death were significantly higher in patients with a female gender (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.31–0.79, p = 0.045), Asian ethnicity (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.28–0.48, p \u3c 0.001), failure to pneumatic or surgical ISN reduction treatment (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.05–0.21, p = 0.036), admission to ICU (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.83–1.18, p = 0.03), intubation and placement of mechanical ventilation (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–1.41, p = 0.01) or suffering from ARDS (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.93–1.88, p = 0.01) compared to those who survived. Conclusion: Children with SARS-CoV-2 infection are at low risk to develop ISN. A female gender, Asian ethnicity, failure to ISN reduction treatment (pneumatic or surgical), admission to ICU, mechanical ventilation and suffering from ARDS were significantly associated with death following ISN in pediatric COVID-19 patients

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background: Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods: The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results: NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion: As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population