Objective: The objective of this study was to test the parental self-medication attitude and practice toward their children in Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Non-probability convenient random sampling method was used to select the participants. A total of 750 parents from different cities in the Saudi Arabia were involved in the study. Results: The obtained response rate was 80%. The majority of participants were used to treat their children by western medicines. Most of respondents self-medicated their children in the month previous to the study period. The most common reported self-treated symptom was fever, although the most frequently used medicines were paracetamol and antibiotics. The attitude to treat fever was higher in males than in females (P = 0.021). The initial response for most participants in case of self treatment failure was to consult physicians in public hospitals; education level of participants showed significant difference (P = 0.041). The main reasons for self-medication were long waiting time in the clinics and high consultation fees. Occupation showed a significant differences (P = 0.008).

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Objectives This work investigated the impacts of food habits and lifestyle on the prevalence of overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) among health sciences students (HSS) at Taif University, KSA. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 228 HSS in a university setting using a food frequency questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) was used to assess weight gain, and waist circumference (W_C) was employed for the assessment of abdominal adiposity. Results The prevalences of OW and OB were 25.9% and 10.9%, respectively, with an overall prevalence of 36.8%. All demographic variables had an insignificant ( P > 0.05) effect on W_C. There were significant links between gender, academic year and discipline and BMI ( P < 0.05). Smoking, stress, duration of TV viewing, daylight and night sleep had an effect on BMI and W_C but were statistically insignificant ( P > 0.05). Breakfast, light meals, eating with a family, fast food, and regular and diet soft drinks had insignificant impacts on BMI ( P > 0.05). A considerable relationship was observed between consumption of liver and BMI ( P < 0.05), while meat, egg, milk, fruit and vegetable, and grain intake had no significant effect on BMI ( P > 0.05). All varieties of foods had no significant impact on W_C ( P > 0.05). Conclusions The prevalence of OW and OB was 36.8%. The participants' gender, academic year, discipline, and liver intake had a significant impact on BMI. All other tested variables showed a nonsignificant relationship with W_C.

The current study was aimed to assess Saudi school students' knowledge, attitude and practice about medicines. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used anonymously among 15-20 year-old adolescents attending tertiary schools in Taif City, KSA. A total of 1022 students completed the questionnaires. Only 15.4% of the respondents knew the medicines' uses. Most of the students 79.6% affirmed that they used to take medicines after consulting physicians, and 45.1% of the students thought that tablet size affects the medicine's efficacy. More than half of the students knew that high temperatures affect the efficacy of medicines, there was a significant difference between rural and urban areas (P = 0.005). Physicians (50.6%) and community pharmacists (15.7%), were the main students' reliable sources of information about medicines. The majority of the students 70.5% were interested in learning more about medicines. The younger students ⩽18 years wish to learn more than the older ones (P < 0.014). The study showed that Saudi school students aged 15-20 years old have poor knowledge, misconception and negative attitudes about medicines. Low level of knowledge may expose adolescents to health-related problems. Educational efforts are important to improve students' practice toward medicines.