Background:Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is considered as the main cause of death worldwide. Identifying the links among CVDs risk factors can help decrease CVD-related deaths.Aim:To assess the prevalence of risk factors for CVD and their relationships among the Tabuk City population in Saudi Arabia.Methods:A cross-sectional design was used; 432 participants in the Tabuk region were included in this study.Results:The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) was 5.6%, the prevalence of hypertension (HTN) was 11.1% and obesity and overweight together were 69.9%. Mean Body Mass Index (BMI), HTN, and DM increased with age. There was a correlation between BMI with HTN (r=.200, p<.001), BMI and DM (r=.149, p<.001) and DM and HTN (r=.366, p<.001).Conclusion:Public awareness may help in reducing the prevalence of CVD.

Introduction: This study aimed to determine the effect of a hand hygiene (HH) and awareness campaign on knowledge and compliance with HH practices among health-care workers working staff in the main intensive care units and also to evaluate the rates of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) before and after the intervention. Methods: A prospective, interventional, pre–post design was utilized and carried out in three phases: the first stage was a 1-month preintervention stage to develop the foundation of the compliance rate of handwashing; the second stage was the interventional handwashing campaign; the third stage was the postintervention stage to improve the compliance rate of handwashing. Two instruments were used in this study: the HH Knowledge Questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization to assess HH knowledge and the Handwashing Questionnaire developed to evaluate HH washing. Results: HH knowledge has been increased from preintervention (M = 11.84, standard deviation [SD] = 2.41) to postintervention (M = 18.80, SD = 2.93), and the effective compliance with HH practice was as low as 49% in June 2017 to 75% in February 2018. In addition, the HAI rate was dropped from 13.2% in June 2017 to 9% in February 2018. An inverse association was recognized between HH compliance and HAI rates. Conclusions: These results recommend that reasonable approaches can decrease the HAI rate of intensive care units. A nationwide handwashing interventional program can be employed in all hospitals.

BackgroundPIs add quality and safety to the drug treatment process, through records and their subsequent assessment.PurposeTo analyse the PIs made during the process of validating e-prescriptions at a regional hospital.Material and methodsA prospective, observational study of PIs made between August 2011 and August 2014 during the process of validating e-prescriptions by a software application (Silicon), in line with the adaption to Spain of the medication errors classification system of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. The sections analysed were: wrong medicine, dose omission, incorrect dose, length of treatment, inadequate monitoring and other errors that included therapeutic duplication and exchange, the frequency, speed, route and technique of administration, preparation/handling and/or conditioning, and pharmaceutical method.Results413 PIs were recorded: 16.5% medicines errors (22% inappropriate/wrong drug for treatment intended), 8.8% dose omission (80% without a prescription stating the medicine required), 26.3% incorrect dose (59.6% dose higher than stipulated), 3.9% length of treatment (69% longer than necessary), 21% inadequate monitoring (94.1% no clinical review) and 24% other errors (30% frequency of administrative error). 52.8% of the PIs were for women. Average age: 65.8. Service areas: 38% internal medicine, 14.5% orthopaedic, 12% general surgery, 10.7% infectious diseases, 7.4% respiratory, 5.5% digestion, other areas with fewer occurrences. Medicines: n = 107 home treatment, n = 19 acenocoumarol, n = 11 serum therapy, n = 13 omeprazole, n = 8 amoxicillin/clavulanic and digoxin, n = 7 furosemide, n = 6 amlodipine and n = 5 metamizole and amphotericin B liposomal.ConclusionThe results show that home treatment accounted for most PIs, which has led to the development of a medicines reconciliation project. Acenocoumarol (high risk drug according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices) was the drug that generated most PIs, and incorrect dose was the most frequent error. The PI analysis quantified and provided information on the medicines that required intervention, in order to minimise drug-related administration errors.ReferenceNo conflict of interest.

BackgroundThe development of new direct acting antivirals (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) represents an evolution in the treatment. As HIV-HCV coinfection is common, evaluation of DAAs’ effectiveness and drug interactions with antiretroviral therapy (ART) is useful in this population.PurposeTo assess the effectiveness of DAAs and drug interactions with ART in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients.Material and methodsRetrospective observational study, including HIV/HCV-coinfected patients who started DAAs (August 2015 to August 2017).Data were obtained from outpatient software, electronic health records or interview with patients.Effectiveness was assessed by achievement of virological response (week 4 of treatment, end of treatment and post-treatment week 12).Interactions between DAAs and ART were evaluated by using the University of Liverpool Drug Interaction database.ResultsSixty-six HIV/HCV-coinfected patients (21.2% females), mean age 50.1 years (40–57; SD 3.9). HCV genotype distribution: 1a (40.9%), 4 (22.7%), 3 (18.2%), 1b (16.7%) and 2 (1.5%). 37.9% had cirrhosis and 15.2% were pretreated HCV patients. Median baseline HCV viral load was 1,942,570 IU/mL.DAA regimens were mostly sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (63.6%), daclatasvir +sofosbuvir (19.7%) and ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir+dasabuvir (10.6%). Length of HCV treatment was 12 weeks in 89.4%.Before starting DAAs, patients were receiving ART, being triple-drug in 66.7%. Most common ART was: NRTI/NtRTI+NRTI/NtRTI+boosted PI (30.3%), NRTI/NtRTI+NRTI/NtRTI+NNRTI (13.6%), NRTI/NtRTI+NRTI/NtRTI+integrase inhibitor (12.1%), boosted PI (10.6%) and NRTI/NtRTI+boosted PI (9.1%).Thirty-nine potential interactions and five contraindications between DAAs and ART were identified, mostly only required monitoring. In 12 cases, the prescription of DAAs supposed a modification in ART and in one case a dose adjustment for the DAA.At the analysis date, 58 patients had finished treatment, three were still receiving DAAs and five had discontinued it. 63.6% had a rapid virological response (undetectable serum HCV RNA level at week 4 of treatment). Regarding patients who completed DAA regimens, 92.1% had undetectable viral load at the end of treatment. Of 54 patients who had reached post-treatment week 12, 50 had sustained virological response, two presented detectable viral load (resistance mutations were found) and two had missed data.ConclusionDAAs have shown a high effectiveness in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. In this population, an appropriate revision and management of drug interactions with ART is essential.No conflict of interest

Conclusion and relevance Almost half of citizens and physicians currently disagree with vaccination in pharmacies in the Czech Republic. The physicians' main concern is the inability of pharmacists to deal with adverse drug reactions. For citizens, the major disadvantage is locating PBV in a pharmacy.