Background: due to their demanding lifestyle, sleep deprivation is common amongst the medical students. A study, which followed 1,007 young adults at a health maintenance organization for 3.5 years, found that a history of insomnia predicted new-onset depression, also other psychiatric disorders. Another study showed that sleeping disorders and insomnia are negatively associated with academic performance in medical students in Saudi Arabia. The relationship between sleeping disorders among medical students in Saudi Arabia; about anti-insomnia medications is insufficiently addressed in the literature. This study aimed to assess the relationship between sleep habits and sleep duration with academic performance in the medical students. Objectives: this study aimed to determine sleep pattern disorders among medical students, as well as, the use of anti-insomnia medications and alsoto define the relation regarding the academic performance among the sample medical students in Saudi Arabia. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study which was conducted among the medical students at three different medical schools, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from May 2014 to December 2014.. A self-administrated randomized questionnaire was developed and designed in the Arabic language in the form of multiple choices and short answers, concerning age, gender, educational level, grade point average GPA, financial status, total sleep hours per day, mid-day naps duration, quality and latency of sleep and using of antiinsomnia medications. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was also involved in the questionnaire. Results: out of 276 received questionnaires, 237 questionnaires were completed. Out of those 237 subjects, 92 subjects were female students (38.7%), and 145 were male students (60.9%). The mean age was 22 ±2.37. Regarding GPA, 122 participants got below average GPA, 28 participants got average GPA, 62 participants got an average GPA, while 25 participants got an excellent GPA (51.3%, 11.8%, 26.1%,10.5% respectively). 127 of the participants were used medications to help them to sleep, and 9.7% used it occasionally, whereas 110 of the participants did not use any medication. Out of 127 participants who used the medications, 92.5% of them agreed that medications they took were helpful and effective.Conclusion: this study showed a significant relationship between the use of anti-insomnia medications and the academic performance of medical students, further committee and education should be established by the universities and faculties to enhance the student's awareness to the issue of the chronic use of anti-insomnia medications at first and to apply a perfectly healthy environment with less stress and condensed classes and exams.

PURPOSE: To present the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) for glaucoma management and their determinants among adult Saudi patients. METHODS: The study was conducted between January and June 2017. Glaucoma patients from the ophthalmology clinic were interviewed. Demographics and disease-related information were noted. The questionnaire included four K questions, seven A questions, and six P squestions. The correct response of questions were summed for K, A, and P, and the percentile was calculated. K and P scores were graded as excellent (more than >75%), good (51%–75%), poor (26%–50%), and very poor (≤25%). If A score was >50%, it was termed as positive. RESULTS: We interviewed 263 adult glaucoma patients. Their mean age was 61.6 ± 14.2 years. The excellent grade of knowledge about glaucoma and its management was 63 (24% [95% confidence interval (CI) 18.8–29.1]). Poor grade of knowledge was 95 (36.1% [95% CI 30.3–41.9]). The attitude toward glaucoma and its management was positive in 89 (33.8% [95% CI 28.1–39.6]). The practice to manage glaucoma was of excellent grade in 10 (3.8% [95% CI 1.5-6.1]). The overall excellent grade of KAP glaucoma patients was 17.9% (13.2–22.5). Good practice for glaucoma management was associated with a history of glaucoma surgery ( P < 0.001), longer duration of glaucoma ( P = 0.02), and young age ( P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Low KAP about glaucoma disease and medication among Saudi glaucoma patients is a matter of concern. Strategies are needed to improve the KAP of glaucoma patients.

Objectives: To determine the level of awareness of medical law among healthcare practitioners and to identify factors that influence that level of awareness in Saudi Arabia. Methods:This cross-sectional study was carried out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2020-2021 via a survey including 750 healthcare practitioners, from different specialties including all regions in Saudi Arabia. Participants included consultants, senior registrars, interns, and residents.Results: Majority of enrolled healthcare practitioners had poor awareness of medical law (approximately 97%). Only 1.5% had adequate awareness of medical law, and only 1.5% had moderate awareness. Factors associated with increased medical law awareness were the age group between 25 and 34, being from the Original Article central region, and having a clinical practice for less than 10 years p-value of <0.05. Conclusion:Awareness of medical law among healthcare practitioners is limited in Saudi Arabia. Professional medico-legal education should be part of required competencies for undergraduate and postgraduate levels of medical education. Health care practitioners must be educated with laws and regulations of practicing health professions in the country.

Introduction. In the U.S., tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) is the only approved thrombolytic drug to re-canalize occluded arteries in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). With timely administration, tPA may improve the patient prognosis. The percentage of AIS patients that receive tPA in the U.S., however, varies from 3.0% to 8.5%. Further, there is scarce information on the impact of tPA and short-term mortality among Floridians hospitalized with AIS. This study investigates factors associated with in-hospital mortality among patients admitted to Florida hospitals with AIS who received tPA compared to those who did not receive the thrombolytic. Methods. This is a secondary analysis of the Florida Stroke Registry for 2008-2012. We assessed the association between tPA administration and in-hospital mortality utilizing logistic regression to estimate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to diagnose for collinearity. Results. A total of 133,052 ischemic stroke patients (51.9% women, average age 71.7±14.4 years) comprised our study sample. Approximately 5% (6,357) of AIS patients received tPA. After adjusting for potential confounders, AIS patients who received tPA were twice as likely to die than AIS patients not receiving tPA (OR=2.0; 95% CI= 1.8-2.2). AIS patients 90 years or older were five times more likely to die than AIS patient < 60 years (OR=5.0; 95% CI 4.4-5.7). Women were less likely to die compared to men (OR=0.9; 95% CI=0.87-0.99). Factors significantly increasing the likelihood of in-hospital mortality among AIS patients receiving tPA included being admitted to teaching hospitals (OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.5-1.7), lack of health insurance coverage (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.8-2.3), extended hospitalization length of stay > 6 days (OR=1.2, 95% CI= 1.1-1.2), and not being assigned emergent priority at admission (OR=2.7, 95% CI= 2.5-2.9). Conclusion. Our findings suggest that the likelihood of in-hospital mortality among Floridian patients with AIS is twice as higher among those receiving tPA than those AIS patients not receiving the thrombolytic. Increasing age, being a man and admitted to a teaching hospital, lack of health insurance, extended length of stay, and not receiving emergent priority at admission also increased the likelihood of in-hospital dead for AIS patients after receiving tPA.