Knowledge and Awareness of Diabetes Mellitus Disease among High School Students in King Abdulaziz Military City, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Saudi Arabia is considered to be one of the highest countries in the Middle East for the incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM). Data are lacking regarding knowledge and awareness about DM among school students in Saudi Arabia. AIM: The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of DM among high school students within the military city, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was conducted among 278 high school students applying a convenience sampling technique. The sample size was calculated using OpenEpi, Version 3. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the high school students (male and female) after official communication with the school’s dean. The level of knowledge and awareness was categorized into “adequate” and “inadequate” as per each topic/question, and also as per each response/answer. Data entry and analysis were carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Pearson’s Chi-square tests were performed to explore if there is any significant association between the knowledge and awareness level of the high school students and their (i) gender, (ii) age, and (iii) level of education. RESULTS: More than half of the high school students had adequate level of knowledge and awareness about DM in terms of symptoms (67.3%), complications (56.5%), monitoring method (62.6%), lifestyle modifications (63.7%), frequency of routine eye check-up (63.3%), important factors for blood sugar control (79.1%), treatment (56.5%), and management of hypoglycemia symptoms (57.6%). On the contrary, a large number of the students showed inadequate level of knowledge and awareness about the disease in terms of definition (80.6%), major causes (57.9%), effect of high blood pressure (51.8%), frequency of routine blood pressure check-up (55%), rationale of a regular urine test (58.3%), medication for DM (66.9%), and duration of medication (69.8%). However, no significant associations were found between the knowledge and awareness level of the high school students about the definition or major causes of DM and the (i) gender, (ii) age group, and (iii) level of education of the students. CONCLUSION: The level of knowledge and awareness of a considerable number of high school students regarding DM was inadequate, and some of them possessed various misconceptions about this particular chronic disease. Health authorities and school authorities in the region should offer special efforts to improve the level of knowledge and awareness of the students through regular health education campaigns

Budesonide as a first line therapy in autoimmune hepatitis: A systematic review

BackgroundAutoimmune hepatitis (AIH) Is a chronic liver disease with female predominance. Treatment of this condition required usually a long-term corticosteroid therapy.AimsCurrent review aimed to summarize the efficacy of budesonide as a first line treatment in AIH.Methods Pub Med, ‎Google Scholar, and EBSCO ‎ databases were ‎systematically search for relevant articles. The terms ‎ ‎‎autoimmune hepatitis, budesonide, prednisolone and ‎azathioprine ‎were used. out of hundred ‎and six, only ‎five fulfilled ‎the inclusion criteria. Results Out of 106 articles, only 5 included in this review. All patients included in current review were steroid naive. Budesonide in dose of 3 mg trice a day was the used in 2 out of 5 studies both document complete platelet response in 50–80 per cent. Azathioprine was added to budesonide in 3 out of 5 studies, 60 per cent of the budesonide treated patient had a complete platelet response versus 30–40 per cent of prednisolone treated group.ConclusionIn non-cirrhotic AIH patients, budesonide was as effective as prednisolone with fewer steroid related side effects.