There has been a decline in the mortality rate among infants and children under five years of age in the last decade in many developing countries. This has led to a shift in focus to look beyond survival to the prevention or reduction of impairment and promotion of children's health. With the apparent rise in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the Arab countries the development of an Arabic tool for early diagnosis and intervention was sought as part of an effort to better understand the prevalence of this disorder. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) was chosen. The study was conducted in nine Arabic speaking countries. The final analysis included 228 children (122 screened positive for ASD). The sensitivity (0.86), the specificity (0.80) and positive predictive value (0.88) were very similar to Robins et al. study (2001). Maternal health problems during pregnancy and labour were found to be more significant for ASD mothers than their control. In addition, child health problems were more evident among ASD subjects as reported by their parents with significant differences from controls. The limitation of the study is that the sample size is not large enough to generalize the results to all countries of the region. The strength of the study is that it is the first known study where Arab countries undertook a collaborative mental health study using the same tool for screening for a specific disorder.

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Objective: The aims of this study were to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among adult patients with diabetes attending primary health care diabetes clinics in Kuwait and to examine the factors associated with the HRQOL of patients with diabetes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 503 patients with diabetes attending 26 primary health care diabetes clinics in Kuwait. A self- administered questionnaire on participants’ socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, in addition to the Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire (DSMQ) to assess patients’ diabetes self-management (DSM), was used. The SF-12 was employed to assess the HRQOL, producing the following 2 outcomes: physical health composite (PHC) and mental health composite (MHC). Results: The mean age of participants was 52 ± 0.8 years, and 53.1% were males and 49.0% were Kuwaitis. The median DSM sum score was 6.5. Male patients with diabetes showed a significantly better median DSM sum score than female patients with diabetes. The overall median score of HRQOL was 61.7/100, with a better median PHC versus MHC score of quality of life (66.7/100 and 56.7/100, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed a significant direct association between DSM and better primary health composite and MHC scores. It also showed that female gender and reporting 2 or more diabetic complications were significantly associated with a poor PHC. Conclusions: Kuwaiti patients with diabetes showed a modest level of HRQOL. Patients’ DSM, gender, and diabetes complications were significant independent correlates to HRQOL. Appraisal of the HRQOL of patients with diabetes as an essential component of diabetes management in clinical settings is suggested. Further studies to examine the impact of good DSM on HRQOL improvement are needed.

The study aimed to assess gender differences among Kuwaiti adolescents in healthy living choices that impact the risk of obesity. A cross-sectional multistage cluster design was employed with a representative sample of 2672 students aged 13-15 years who completed a self-administered Global School-based Student Health (GSHS) survey. The study found that around 48.0% of adolescents were overweight and obese. More boys than girls were obese (28.2% vs. 22.3%, p < 0.0001). However, boys were more likely than girls to report healthy food choices regarding fruit (38.1% vs. 33.2%), and vegetables (21.8% vs. 16.7%). Only 20.7% of adolescents reported physical activity for more than 60 min/day, predominately by boys rather than girls (30.8% vs. 10.5%, respectively, p < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that male gender, skipping breakfast and physical inactivity were significantly correlated with the risk of overweight and obesity among adolescents. These results suggest that lifestyle education for promoting healthy body masses targeting adolescents should take gender into account.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity is alarmingly high among elderly Kuwaitis. The associated disease burden is substantial. Stakeholders should address the problem and launch national extensive health-promoting campaigns targeting perceptible lifestyle changes.