This study examined the short (pre-post) and longer-term (post to 10 weeks post) effects of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Shuttle Time program on fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical fitness in Saudi boys and girls. Seventy-six children aged 9–11 years (44 boys, 32 girls; mean ± SD = 10.2 ± 0.9 years) undertook twice weekly Shuttle Time sessions for 6 weeks. Pre, post, and 10 weeks post, FMS was measured using the test of gross motor development 3 and physical fitness was measured via 10 m sprint speed, standing long jump, seated medicine ball throw, and a 6 min walk test (6MWT). There were significant improvements in FMS from pre to post (p = 0.0001) and post to 10-weeks post (p = 0.0001) for both boys and girls. Girls demonstrated a significantly greater magnitude of change in FMS. For 10 m sprint time, seated medicine ball throw, standing long jump, and 6MWT performance, both boys and girls significantly improved from pre-10 weeks post (all p = 0.001). The magnitude of change was greater pre to 10-weeks post for girls for the seated medicine ball throw, but was greater for boys for the standing long jump and 6MWT. In terms of practical applications, the BWF Shuttle Time program is feasible for administration in the Saudi context and is beneficial in developing FMS and fitness for Saudi children aged 8–12 years.
INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization. Control of COVID-19 depends on the potential vaccine and its successful delivery to a large portion of the population to develop herd immunity. All the governments have made a robust plan to distribute the vaccine to their people, but many countries could not achieve adequate vaccination coverage. Hence, this study explores people's beliefs and barriers to vaccination and provides valuable inputs to the government to attain adequate vaccination. OBJECTIVE: To know the knowledge level about the COVID-19 vaccine among the residents of KSA. To find out the various concerns (beliefs) about COVID-19 and its vaccine among the residents of KSA. To estimate the vaccine acceptance and understand the barriers to accepting the COVID-19 vaccine among residents of KSA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A web-based, cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2021 in a restricted environment on the adult (>18 years) residents of Saudi Arabia. The minimum calculated sample was 685; 796 study samples were finally studied to minimize the sampling error. Snowball sampling was used to select the study samples, after meeting the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: A total of 796 people responded. Only 782 (98.2%) were finally considered after excluding the incomplete information forms. The selected participant's age ranges from 18 years to 80 years. Almost 723 (92%) of the study group knew COVID vaccines. Most of the participants, 370 (47%), preferred USA-manufactured vaccine followed by Saudi Arabia 217 (28%). A total of 259 (33.1%) participants were hesitant to receive the vaccine. Out of 782, half of the participants, 386 (50%), believed the COVID vaccine will prevent the infection. CONCLUSION: The government must implement appropriate culturally accepted interventional vaccination educational campaigns to remove the beliefs, worries regarding the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, to increase vaccine acceptance rates.
Bayapa Reddy Narapureddy,1 Khursheed Muzammil,1 Mohammad Yahya Alshahrani,2 Ali G Alkhathami,2 Abdullah Alsabaani,3 Abdullah M AlShahrani,4 Adam Dawria,1 Nazim Nasir,4 Lingala Kalyan Viswanath Reddy,5 Mohammad Mahtab Alam6 1Department of Public Health, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Khamis Mushayt, King Khalid University, Abha, 62561, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Abha, King Khalid University, Abha, 9088, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Khamis Mushayt, King Khalid University, Abha, 62561, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Saudi Electronic University, Abha, 62561, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Applied Medical Science, Abha, King Khalid University, Abha, 62561, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Bayapa Reddy NarapureddyDepartment of Public Health, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Khamis Mushayt, King Khalid University, Abha, 62561, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaTel +966-55714527Email bapureddy@kku.edu.saIntroduction: COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization. Control of COVID-19 depends on the potential vaccine and its successful delivery to a large portion of the population to develop herd immunity. All the governments have made a robust plan to distribute the vaccine to their people, but many countries could not achieve adequate vaccination coverage. Hence, this study explores people's beliefs and barriers to vaccination and provides valuable inputs to the government to attain adequate vaccination.Objective: To know the knowledge level about the COVID-19 vaccine among the residents of KSA. To find out the various concerns (beliefs) about COVID-19 and its vaccine among the residents of KSA. To estimate the vaccine acceptance and understand the barriers to accepting the COVID-19 vaccine among residents of KSA.Materials and Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional study was conducted from April to June 2021 in a restricted environment on the adult (> 18 years) residents of Saudi Arabia. The minimum calculated sample was 685; 796 study samples were finally studied to minimize the sampling error. Snowball sampling was used to select the study samples, after meeting the inclusion criteria.Results: A total of 796 people responded. Only 782 (98.2%) were finally considered after excluding the incomplete information forms. The selected participant's age ranges from 18 years to 80 years. Almost 723 (92%) of the study group knew COVID vaccines. Most of the participants, 370 (47%), preferred USA-manufactured vaccine followed by Saudi Arabia 217 (28%). A total of 259 (33.1%) participants were hesitant to receive the vaccine. Out of 782, half of the participants, 386 (50%), believed the COVID vaccine will prevent the infection.Conclusion: The government must implement appropriate culturally accepted interventional vaccination educational campaigns to remove the beliefs, worries regarding the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, to increase vaccine acceptance rates.Keywords: COVID-19, public willingness, vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine acceptance, Saudi Arabia
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to 1) determine the prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among both governmental and private primary Saudi school children, 2) measure the gender difference of ADHD prevalence, and 3) determine any association between the socio-demographic characteristic of the parents of children with ADHD. METHODS: This is an observational cross-sectional study of 1000 primary school children belonging to 1(st), 2(nd) and 3(rd) grade. The selected students were screened by the ADHD rating scale using multistage sampling technique. The first stage was selection of 20 schools from all Riyadh regions by simple randomization. The second stage was choosing children whom serial numbers were multiples of five in each class. The ADHD rating scale was filled by both parents and teachers along with a socio-demographic questionnaire for the parents. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of ADHD was 3.4%. ADHD manifestations affect boys more than girls. In addition, ADHD was more frequent among children of illiterate mothers. Finally, ADHD was significantly more prevalent among first grade children. CONCLUSION: This epidemiological study filled the data gap of ADHD prevalence in Riyadh. The study's findings go in line with many nearby and global studies.
The success of COVID-19 vaccination depends on individual's vaccine acceptance. There has been misinformation on the media that doubts its effectiveness, safety, and long-term risk. Such controversy could affect the acceptance toward the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. The objective of this study was to assess the factors influencing the acceptance and hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted. An online survey was conducted with four parameters: Demographics, medical history, knowledge and information sources about COVID-19 and vaccine, and hesitancy/acceptance of vaccinations. Bivariate analysis between several survey items and the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine was conducted using Chi-square test. Logistic regression was used to assess to what degree each variable affects the acceptance and the hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Approximately 64% show a desire to accept the vaccine while 18.3% were extremely hesitant to take the vaccine. Non-demographic factors that were associated with the acceptance toward the COVID-19 vaccine were the source of health information about COVID-19 (OR:1.63; 95% CI:1.07–2.47), perception toward whether the vaccine is effective on other variants of the virus (OR:7.24; 95% CI:4.58–11.45), previous uptake of the influenza vaccine (OR:1.62; 95% CI:1.07–2.47), and potential mandatory of vaccination in order to travel internationally (OR:16.52; 95% CI:10.23–26.68). This study provides an insight into factors – other than the sociodemographic – influencing the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia. The government should address the COVID-19-related misinformation and rumors to increase acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination.
BACKGROUND: Numerous studies worldwide have reported COVID-19 in children; however, the clinical symptoms and consequences of COVID-19 in children have only been reported in a few studies in Saudi and gulf region. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 infection in children and the therapeutic interventions used. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 96 patients with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection aged ≤14 years who were admitted to a tertiary governmental care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between March 2020 and November 2020. Data on children with COVID-19, including demographics, comorbidities, symptoms, imaging and laboratory results, therapies, and clinical outcomes, were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 96 children admitted with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, 63.8% were aged ≤ 3 years, 52.1% were male, 56.2% had an unknown source of infection, and 51% had no comorbidities. Most cases had severe infection (71.88%) as they required oxygen, 10.42% of whom were critical. The most common symptoms were respiratory-related (98%), and the common physical sign was fever (49%). High D-dimer (90.7%) and C-reactive protein (72.09%) levels were found in most cases. Oxygen (71.88%) was the most commonly used treatment. Most patients were discharged home and fully recovered (97.92%). We reported two deaths (2.08%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that the majority of the admitted children with COVID-19 were ≤3 years of age (52.1%) and infected with an unknown source (56.2%). Moreover, the majority of the cases had severe COVID-19 infection as they required oxygen (71.88%), although they had favorable outcomes. However, some cases were critical and resulted in death. Future studies will be crucial to better understand the disease spectrum and potential therapeutic options for COVID-19 in children.
PURPOSE: The COVID-19 outbreak has caused governments to put pandemic-related guidelines requiring compliance and understanding by healthcare professionals to mitigate its spread uncontrollably. We studied pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVD-19 outbreak compared with other healthcare workers during the pandemic in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: We surveyed pharmacists' socio-demographics (n=50) compared with other healthcare professionals (n=378) during lockdown starting in June 2020. We measured respondents' level of knowledge (n=10 questions, maximum score of 10), attitude (n=17 questions, maximum score of 80), and their practices (n=16 questions, maximum score of 80) towards COVID-19 infection. RESULTS: Median knowledge score was 8 (25th–75th percentiles: 7–9), attitude score 76 (70–80) and practice score 74 (68–78). Good knowledge predictors were >20 years working experience [OR: 2.05 (95% CI: 1.03–4.06); P=0.04] and >50% working in clinical practice [OR: 1.72 (95% CI: 1.12–2.66); P=0.01], in inverse relationship with paramedical professions [OR: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.45 (0.28–0.72)); P=0.001] and working in a university hospital [OR: 0.51 (95% CI: 0.33. 0.81); P=0.004]. Availability of pharmaceutical information and treatment options was associated with good attitude [OR: 2.19 (95% CI: 1.04–4.59); P=0.039] and acquaintance as primary information sources negatively associated with good attitude [OR: 0.34 (95% CI: 0.15–0.8); P=0.013]. Good practice predictors were female gender [OR: 3.84 (95% CI: 2.37–6.24); P<0.001], military hospital employment [OR: 2.32 (95% CI: 1.25–4.31); P=0.008], USA [OR: 3.41 (95% CI: 1.03–11.22); P=0.044] or UK [OR: 8.86 (95% CI: 1.91–41.07); P=0.005] qualifications, and information on supportive measures [OR: 2.2 (95% CI: 1.36–3.56); P=0.001]. CONCLUSION: Health workers displayed good knowledge about COVID-19, while profession and working experience predicted adequate knowledge, positive attitude, or practice towards disease management.
Maha M AlRasheed,1 Amani H AlShahrani,1 Sara A AlMuhaini,1 Hadeel A AlKofide,1 Tariq M Alhawassi,1,2 Ahmed Aldemerdash,1 Omar A Alhaj,3 Nicola L Bragazzi,4 Haitham A Jahrami5,6 1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2Medication Safety Research Chair, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences,University of Petra, Amman, Jordan; 4Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Departments and Statistics, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; 5Ministry of Health, Manama, Bahrain; 6College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, BahrainCorrespondence: Maha M AlRasheed Tel +966 11 4678707Fax +966-11-4677480Email mahalrasheed@ksu.edu.saPurpose: The COVID-19 outbreak has caused governments to put pandemic-related guidelines requiring compliance and understanding by healthcare professionals to mitigate its spread uncontrollably. We studied pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVD-19 outbreak compared with other healthcare workers during the pandemic in Saudi Arabia.Methods: We surveyed pharmacists' socio-demographics (n=50) compared with other healthcare professionals (n=378) during lockdown starting in June 2020. We measured respondents' level of knowledge (n=10 questions, maximum score of 10), attitude (n=17 questions, maximum score of 80), and their practices (n=16 questions, maximum score of 80) towards COVID-19 infection.Results: Median knowledge score was 8 (25th– 75th percentiles: 7– 9), attitude score 76 (70– 80) and practice score 74 (68– 78). Good knowledge predictors were > 20 years working experience [OR: 2.05 (95% CI: 1.03– 4.06); P=0.04] and > 50% working in clinical practice [OR: 1.72 (95% CI: 1.12– 2.66); P=0.01], in inverse relationship with paramedical professions [OR: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.45 (0.28– 0.72)); P=0.001] and working in a university hospital [OR: 0.51 (95% CI: 0.33. 0.81); P=0.004]. Availability of pharmaceutical information and treatment options was associated with good attitude [OR: 2.19 (95% CI: 1.04– 4.59); P=0.039] and acquaintance as primary information sources negatively associated with good attitude [OR: 0.34 (95% CI: 0.15– 0.8); P=0.013]. Good practice predictors were female gender [OR: 3.84 (95% CI: 2.37– 6.24); P< 0.001], military hospital employment [OR: 2.32 (95% CI: 1.25– 4.31); P=0.008], USA [OR: 3.41 (95% CI: 1.03– 11.22); P=0.044] or UK [OR: 8.86 (95% CI: 1.91– 41.07); P=0.005] qualifications, and information on supportive measures [OR: 2.2 (95% CI: 1.36– 3.56); P=0.001].Conclusion: Health workers displayed good knowledge about COVID-19, while profession and working experience predicted adequate knowledge, positive attitude, or practice towards disease management.Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, pharmacists, knowledge, attitudes, practices
