Globally, burns are the most devastating injuries, causing more than 120,000 deaths annually, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigated the epidemiologic and clinical ...characteristics and outcomes of burn patients. This retrospective study was conducted at the Duhok Burn and Plastic Surgery Hospital between 2014 and 2023. The data collected included demographic characteristics of the patients, burn etiology, location of burn, degree of burn, and hospitalization duration. The study included 713 cases, with the majority (41.37%) in the 0-17 age group. Mortality increased with age, and housewives had the highest mortality rate (54.91%). Urban residents had a higher mortality rate (40.81%) than rural residents (28.80%). Winter and spring had higher rates of burn patients (31.84% and 29.17%). Most burns occurred at home (90.88%), with flame (70.97%) and scald (25.11%) as the primary causes. Hospitalizations were mostly 1-14 days (83.73%), and second and third-degree burns were common (47.27% and 50.07%). About 75.74% of patients suffered upper limb injuries. In 2023, there was a slightly higher burn rate (16.27%) compared to previous years.Burns were most frequently suffered by children, particularly during winter and spring at home. The primary causes were flame and scald injuries. Females were more prone to flame injuries, while males experienced a higher incidence of scald injuries. Among the affected groups, housewives had the highest mortality rate, and this elevated risk was linked to their advancing age.
Background: Adherence to medications is a main concern to hypertension control and incidence of CVD complications. This study aimed to measure the level of medication adherence of hypertensive ...patients after one month follow-up.
Methods: An observational one-month follow-up study was conducted in 93 hypertensive patients in Kurdistan Region.
Results: Patients’ mean age was 55.03 (25-85 years). The mean value of the MARS score of adherences was 7.68 out of 10. The mean values of dimensions of adherence were 3.20 of 4 (medication adherence behavior), 2.92 of 4 (attitude toward taking medication), and 1.55 of 2 (negative side effects and attitudes to medication). We found that the males, single and married, urban, those with no chronic disease, and those with higher levels of education were more likely to adhere to medication. The patients with shorter disease duration and treatment had higher adherence scores. The patients with no experience of the medication side effects had higher levels of medication adherence (8.80 vs. 7.00; P<0.0001) and patients who took fewer tablets/day.
Conclusions: We observed high-adherence level among hypertensive patients. Prolong disease duration, long treatment duration, increase number of tablets/days, and increase number of comorbidities may significantly decrease the medication adherence rate.
College students experience various types of sleep disorders that impact daily functioning. Previous studies have focused on the effect of one sleep disorder.
Examine factors that might relate to ...several sleep disorders and the impacts of sleep disorders on the daily functioning in medical students.
Cross-sectional study.
Medical college.
A random sample of medical students from a public university was invited to participate in a cross-sectional study using the structured SLEEP-50 self-reported questionnaire. The sleep disorders covered by the questionnaire were insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, sleep walking, circadian rhythm sleep disorder, nightmares, narcolepsy, and factors impacting sleep, effects of sleep complaints on daily functioning, and sleeping duration.
Sleep duration, sleep disorders.
Of 317 participants, 165 (50.2%) reported having less than 7 hours sleep and apart from hyper-somnia, had various kinds of sleep disorders. Various factors such as having no pleasure and entertainment, feeling sadness, alcohol drinking, amount of sleeping hours, smoking, age, a noisy or light bedroom, and substance abuse were related to different sleep disorders. Moreover, students with sleep disorders felt tired arising, felt sleepy during the day, were easily irritated, had difficulty in concentration, had concerns about amount of sleep, and slept badly at college.
Insufficient sleep is a common issue in medical students and a number of sleep disorders were found. The results suggest that sleep disorders could have negative impacts on the daily functioning of students.
The study findings may not be generalizable because sociocultural characteristics of the sample may differ from the general population.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are considered the leading factor of morbidity and mortality across the world. This study aimed to identify the modifiable risk factors of CVDs in the Kurdistan Region. ...In this retrospective cross-sectional study, the patients who visited and were diagnosed with any type of CVDs and treated in a main private cardiac center in Duhok governorate in Kurdistan Region were included between the years 2018 and 2023. The study found a similar percentage of male and female patients. The percentage of old patients was significantly increased from 18-19 to ≥70. The most preventable modifiable risk factors among cardiac patients were hypertension (86.17%), physical inactivity (60.59%), diabetes (40.15%), and dyslipidemia (56.31%). The less preventable modifiable risk factors were alcohol (4.01%) and cigarette smoking (14.43%). Males had a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking (24.63% vs. 4.38%; P<0.0001) and female patients had a higher prevalence of hypertension (91.25% vs. 81.02%; P<0.000), diabetes (44.43% vs. 35.80 %; P=0.0007) and dyslipidemia (59.15% vs. 53.43%; P=0.0257). In terms of family history of heart disease, the middle age group had a higher prevalence compared to younger and older age groups. Diabetes and cigarette smoking was more prevalent among older age groups, while dyslipidemia was more prevalent among younger and older age groups. Alcohol, physical inactivity, and hypertension were similar among age groups. Hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and physical inactivity were the most prevalent risk factors for CVDs in this region. The older patients had significantly higher rates of some of these risk factors.
BackgroundPrevious studies conducted in Iraqi Kurdistan have reported that parent’s decisions to circumcise their daughters are based on religious or cultural beliefs. Despite the widespread practice ...of female genital mutilation (FGM), the effectiveness of educational strategies to change attitudes towards FGM has not been examined in this region. The present investigation examined the effectiveness of a short-term educational intervention to change the attitudes of parents and religious leaders towards FGM.Methods192 Mullahs (religious leaders), 212 Mokhtars (traditional leaders) and 523 parents in rural areas in Iraqi Kurdistan were invited to participate in a pre- and post-test community-based interventional study in 2017. The Health Belief Model informed the intervention, and participants’ attitudes were compared across two stages of the study.ResultsThe attitudes of Mullahs, Mokhtars and parents substantially changed from a position of supporting female circumcision to expressing a wish to abandon the practice and not cut their future daughters (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.42; OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.04 and OR 0.13, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.18, respectively).ConclusionsThe present study suggests that brief educational interventions can be an effective strategy for changing the attitudes of parents and public leaders towards FGM. Health education is a useful strategy for changing attitudes. However, such interventions must be delivered alongside other strategies to ensure a multifaceted approach to addressing complex social dynamics. A comprehensive public health approach is, therefore, necessary that includes legal measures, community-based action and an appropriate health system approach.
Objective: The role of nurses’ shift-rotations in predicting adverse patient events has received little attention. The effect of fatigue on patient safety as a primary factor and the impact of ...shift-working on fatigue as a secondary factor in hospital-based nurses was investigated in the present study.Methods: In this cross-sectional study set in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2018, 71 nurses (Range: 20-44 years) were recruited purposively who worked in rotating shifts, in four multi-specialty hospitals.Results: The mean age of the nurses was 30.24 years (SD: 4.81; range: 20-44 years). The majority of nurses worked in the public sector (63.4%). The nurses worked in morning shift (26.8%) and shift-rotations (39.4%) for between 7.75 and 9.13 hours. In addition, 59.4% and 18.3% of nurses reported that they injured “sometimes” and “frequently” (respectively) patients in their care either directly or indirectly. Similarly, 19.7% of them reported that these were medication errors “sometimes” and “frequently.” Patient information was recorded incompletely or incorrectly sometimes by 18.3% and frequently by 35.2%. Also, 36.6% and 31.0% of them reported that they delayed care to patients frequently and sometimes, respectively. The mean values of physical and psychological fatigue were 8.77 of 21 and 3.42 of 12, respectively. The physical and psychological fatigue were escalated in case of lower total psychological well-being (p = .009 and p = .018, respectively). The study showed that single-shift working is a predictor of delayed patients care; 95.3% vs. 60.7%; p < .001).Conclusions: Hospital administrators must be aware that nurses are not able to work effectively on short roosters or extended shifts. Protocols for better nurse health surveillance and social support in respect to 24 hours shift work must be prioritized in order to avoid mental and physical significant impairment on nurses and adverse outcomes for their clients.
Background: There is limited information on zinc deficiency in pregnant women. The present study aimed to assess the serum zinc (S. zinc) levels and its relation to iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in ...pregnant women. Patients and Methods: In this case-control study, S. zinc concentrations of 34 individuals diagnosed with IDA, 20 non-iron deficiency anemic pregnant women, and 32 non-anemic apparently healthy individuals were measured. Results: S. zinc was significantly lower in the IDA group (49.59 ng/dL) compared to the healthy controls (55.78; P = 0.018). The individuals in three groups were comparable in the number of persons with zinc deficiency. The study showed that S. zinc has a positive correlation with Hb (r = 0.281, P = 0.011). In addition, S. zinc had a positive correlation with hematocrit (HCT, r = 0.305, P = 0.005) and a negative correlation with serum iron (S. iron, r = 0.242, P = 0.029). Conclusions: This investigation showed that the patients with IDA have a significantly lower concentration of S. zinc and it was substantially positively correlated with Hb, red blood cell, and HCT and negatively with S. iron. Further studies are still needed to evaluate the benefits of zinc and iron supplementation in IDA patients.
There is growing evidence of the potential benefits of wet-cupping therapy in reducing physiological pain severity in migraine; however, the role of this therapy on mental pain is unclear in this ...process. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of wet-cupping therapy on physiological and mental pains in patients with migraine. In this study, 72 migraine patients were treated with wet-cupping therapy and followed up after 1 month.
The severity of physiological and mental pain was measured before therapy, 10 minutes and 1 month following therapy.
The study showed that patients in the wet-cupping therapy had a significantly lower mean value of physiological (0.42 vs 3.39; P < .001) and mental pain (1.60 vs 3.06; P < .001) compared to the patients in the control group, respectively. The mean value of the physiological was significantly decreased from 6.97 (baseline) to 0.73 (10 minutes) and 0.63 (1 month; P < .001) in the wet-cupping therapy patients, and the mean value of mental pain from 3.76 (baseline) to 0.71 (10 minutes) and 1.71 (1 month; P < .001). The mean values of physiological and mental pains were significantly reduced (from 7.80-3.39; P < .001) and (from 3.48-3.06; P = .0044), respectively. The level of physiological pain severity was significantly decreased with a decreasing level of mental pain severity at the posttest within the control (r = 0.5471; P = .0002) and the wet-cupping therapy (r = 0.3814; P .0412).
This study showed that the physiological pain was controlled by the mental pain in the wet-cupping therapy.
Objective
Poor dietary habits are considered to be the second-leading risk factors for mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in the world. Dietary patterns are different based on ...cultural, environmental, technological, and economic factors. Nutritional deficiencies of energy, protein, and specific micronutrients have been shown to contribute to depressed immune function and increased susceptibility to infections. We aimed to explore the relation of dietary factors with global infection and mortality rates of COVID-19 in this study.
Design
In the current ecological study, the countries that had national dietary data from the Global Dietary Databases of the United Nations and Coronavirus disease statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) were included. The countries that had Coronavirus disease statistics from the WHO were consecutively checked for the recent data of the dietary factors.
Setting
World.
Participants
158 countries across the world.
Measurements
infection and mortality rates of COVID-19; dietary factors.
Results
The median crude infection and mortality rates by COVID-19 were 87.78 (IQR: 468.03) and 0.0015 (IQR: 0.0059), respectively. The two highest percentage of the crude infection rate were between 0 and 500 (75.9%) and 500–1000 (8.9%) per one million persons. The regression analysis showed that the crude infection rate has been increased by raising consuming fruits (Beta: 0.237; P=0.006) and calcium (Beta: 0.286; P=0.007) and was decreased with rising consuming beans and legumes (Beta: −0.145; P=0.038). The analysis showed that the crude mortality rate was increased by raising consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (Beta: 0.340; P<0.001). Whereas, the crude mortality rate by COVID-19 has been decreased by increasing fruits consuming (Beta: −0.226; P=0.047) and beans and legumes (Beta: −0.176; P=0.046).
Conclusion
The present study showed the higher intake of fruits and sugar-sweetened beverages had a positive effect on infection and mortally rates by COVID-19, respectively. In contrast, the higher intake of beans and legumes had a negative effect on both increasing infection and mortality rates.
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