Background: Eye injury is a leading cause of monocular blindness and is second only to cataract as the commonest cause of visual impairment. Injury is the commonest reason for eye-related emergency department visits. Aim: To assess population awareness regarding eye injuries first aids in Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used targeting all accessible population in Aseer region, Southern of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from participants using electronic pre-structured questionnaire. The tool will cover participants' socio-demographic data, participants' history of eye injury, awareness and practice regarding different types of eye injuries first aids. Results: The survey included 1213 participants who completed the questionnaire. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to 60 years old with mean age of 22.3 ± 11.9 years old. About 69% of the participants reported for having constant eye pain, 68.3% reported in case of Foreign Body (FB) in the eye, 66.9% reported for torn eye lid. Regarding signs of scratch eye, 64.2% reported for feel FB inside, 58% reported for eye pain and 55.2% reported for blurred vision. Exact of 25.7% of participants reported that they should blink several times in case of getting eye scratch, whereas 77.8% reported that they should rub the eye to try to remove any foreign object, 36.3% preferred to use the soothing eye drop. Conclusions In conclusion, the study revealed that public awareness regarding eye injury first aid in Aseer region was poor especially for chemical injuries. Physician role should be augmented and health education campaigns are advised.

Complications of urinary tract infections (UTIs) like kidney failure and septicaemia develop once infections spread from the upper urinary tract to other parts of the body by haematogenous dissemination and they pose great health and economic burden to the countries. This retrospective study was conducted among 132 patients with bacterial UTIs in the inpatient department of tertiary care hospital in Abha, Saudi Arabia. During the study period, Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia) along with other 15 different bacteria were isolated. A significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed between the male and female children population in different age groups. We observed fever (84.09%) as a major symptom (P < 0.05), and seizure (9%) was reported as a major concomitant condition among UTI cases. Around 31.82% of E. coli was found to be the most common uropathogens in pediatric cases followed by 25% in K. pneumoniae. E. coli was observed to be more susceptible (92.86%) to amikacin, ceftriaxone, levofloxacin, ertapenem, gentamycin, meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam, tigecycline, and ceftazidime. However, meropenem, tigecycline, and amikacin were observed to be effective in 100% of cases of K. pneumoniae. Meanwhile, cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed drug category among different classes of drugs. Almost 99% of pediatric cases, based on their age, were admitted to the ward, and drugs were administered intravenously. We concluded that microbiology laboratory evidence on the causative organisms and choice of treatment together allows tailoring appropriate treatment regimens in conjunction with clinical experiences.

Background: Worldwide, CKDs are the 12th cause of death and the 17th cause of disability, respectively. About 10-13% of the general population had one of the chronic kidney diseases counting more than 500 million persons worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment of CKD will play an important role in delaying CKD progression [12]. Aim: The current study aims to determine the prevalence and awareness of CKD among the general population and its determinants in Southern region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used targeting all accessible population in Southern Saudi Arabia (including four regions, Aseer region, Albaha region, Najran region, and Jazan region), aged18 years or more and accepting to participate in the study. Data were collected from participants using an online pre-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire covered the following data: participants’ socio-demographic data, participants’ awareness, and participants’ perception towards CKDs, preventive measures and risk. The questionnaire was uploaded online using social media platforms by the researchers and their friends during the period from 20 March 2021 to 20 June 2021. Results: A total of 1317 participants fulfilling the inclusion criteria completed the study questionnaire. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 69 years with a mean age of 34.1 12.9 years old. Exactly 255 (19.4%) reported that they had a family member with CKD and 130 (9.9%) of the study respondents had DM, 98 (7.4%) had hypertension, while 20 (1.5%) complained of CKD. Exactly 93% of the study participants had heard about CKDs and 80.8% correctly defined the diseases as a kidney condition that was unable to filter waste, toxins, and fluids from the body. A total of 84.3% reported that chronic kidney disease progresses to kidney failure and 42.9% agreed that chronic kidney disease may not have any symptoms until advanced. The most reported source of knowledge were social media (56%), followed by mass media (22.3%), work (22.1%), books (20.3%), health education campaigns (15.8%), and others (31%). Conclusion: In conclusion, the current study revealed that public awareness in Southern region of Saudi Arabia about CKD and its risk factors is low in contrast to their perception towards the disease and its associated risk. Having information from scientific sources such as books, health education campaigns or study was associated with high awareness level. Key words: Chronic kidney disease, awareness, perception, population, Saudi Arabia, risk factors

Background Chronic kidney disease patients on haemodialysis (HD) experience negative consequences in the quality of life (QOL), which is affected by factors such as perceived social support and spirituality/religiosity. The purpose of the study was to assess perceived social support, religiosity, and QOL among HD patients in Aseer, Saudi Arabia. Results A total of 162 HD patients were included in the study. Patient ages ranged from 18 to 64 years with mean age 44.6 ± 11.9. Duration of HD was <5 years among 41.4% of patients, and ≥10 years in 21%. Perceived social support was high among 79.6% of patients. Religiosity score ranged from 26 to 52 (out of 65) with mean score 36.6 ± 5.2. There was a significant correlation between perceived social support, religiosity, and the life satisfaction domain of QOL (P<0.05). Conclusions High perceived social support alongside high religiosity had a significant effect on patients’ life satisfaction domain of health-related QOL (HRQOL). Therefore, social support and religiosity assessment are important in HD patient care. Further studies should assess the benefit of religious/spiritual counselling as part of a holistic multi-disciplinary approach.

Objectives: Vaccination is the provision of a vaccine to initiate immunity trough stimulating immune system to develop protection from a certain disease. When a sufficiently large proportion of a population has been vaccinated, herd immunity initiated. The effectiveness of vaccination has been widely studied and verified. Although the harsh vaccine safety systems, some parents remain minded regarding the safety of the childhood vaccines and immunization schedule. These hesitations pushed some parents to not allow their children to receive some or all the scheduled vaccines.  The aim of the study is to assess the general population awareness regarding vaccines and to detect prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in Aseer region, southern of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used targeting all parents in Aseer region. Data were collected using structured questionnaire which developed by the researchers after intensive literature review and expert’s consultation. The questionnaire data included parents’ socio-demographic data, parents’ awareness regarding child vaccines safety and efficacy, parents’ attitude and adherence to children vaccination and hesitancy towards vaccines. Results: The survey included 796 participants whose ages ranged from 18 to 55 years old. Two thirds (63.4%) of the participants were females. Regarding vaccination adherence and hesitancy among participants, more than three quarters were completely adherent to the child vaccination schedule and only 3.9% were non adherent. As for participants awareness regarding child vaccination safety and efficacy, 89.3% of the respondents agreed on that vaccination keep child healthy, 84.2% reported that child vaccine is safe and effective, 83.4% said that all Saudi scheduled vaccines are effective. Conclusion: In conclusion, the study revealed that vaccine hesitancy among participants was not low and should be considered irrespective of their high awareness level. The recorded antivaccine action was mostly related to vaccines safety not efficacy. Keywords: Vaccine hesitancy, antivaccine movement, parents, awareness, adherence