There is a little information about dementia in Saudis. This is a retrospective chart review study from1995-2010. to describe the demographic characteristics and the risk factors of dementia, the prevalence of different types of dementia, and the current clinical practice of dementia in Saudi tertiary care hospital. A total of 418 demented patients (236 males, 182 females) their mean age was 78.8. Prevalence of diabetes 32%, hypertension 71.53%, dyslipidemia 30.05% and depression 24.41%. Clinically 64.37% of patients had memory impairment, 54.25% had confusion and 34.63% had personality changing. The commonest type of dementia was mixed dementia 18.37% followed by Alzheimer disease15.87%. 16.10% of patients had received cholinesterase inhibitor and 9.78% had received memantine. Infection was the commonest cause of frequent admission (40%) Mortality rate was 77.99%. The commonest cause of death was infection (38.34%) followed by cardiovascular causes like stroke (23.34%) and cardiac diseases (17.48%). Conclusion: (1) Mixed dementia is the commonest type of dementia in Saudis due to high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases risk factors. (2) High prevalence of depression among demented Saudi patients. It requires early recognition and treatment. (3) Demented patients have frequent admissions and long stay in hospital which makes the economic cost is very high. (4) Mortality rate among demented patients is high and the outcome of dementia is expected to be poor. The underlying message of this study is to increase awareness of the public and health system about the impact of dementia in Saudis and the need for prevention strategies, trained physicians and more research.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is mainly secondary to infectious, neoplastic or inflammatory diseases. To increase the body of knowledge on this diagnosis in the region, we collected information on all patients admitted to our institution with FUO in a 13-year period.METHODS:We conducted a retrospective chart review of all immunocompetent males and females aged 13 years and older admitted between January 1995 and June 2008 who fulfilled the criteria for FUO. Data collection included demographics, laboratory investigations, imaging studies, procedures and discharge diagnoses. For true FUO, we recorded the duration of follow-up and the outcome.RESULTS:The 98 patients who met the criteria included 44 males and 54 females with a mean (SD) age of 41.3 (18.5) years and range of 14 to 85 years. The most frequent diagnostic etiology was infectious in 32 (32.7%). Seventeen (17.3%) patients were undiagnosed or had true FUO. Of 9 patients followed up, 8 recovered and 1 expired. The mean duration of follow-up was 20.6 months (range, 0-168 months).CONCLUSION:Infectious diseases, especially TB, continue to be the leading etiology of FUO in our area. Our data did not identify any predictor of certain FUO diagnoses except for older age and neoplastic etiology. True FUO patients generally did well. Reporting local experience is important in guiding clinicians about the epidemiologic patterns of FUO in their regions.

Purpose To measure the associations of diet, psycological distress, and lifestyle factors with premenstrual symptoms (PMSx) in women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Patients and Methods An interview-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on 1831 women aged 18–50 years seen in primary healthcare centers and teaching institutes in Riyadh from December 2015 to June 2016. Question topics included sociodemographics, physical activity, smoking, and dietary habits information. PMSx were assessed using a symptom checklist with 6 domains: anxiety/mood changes; abdominal/back/joint pain; increased appetite/weight gain, breast pain/tenderness, severe headache, and ≥3 PMS symptoms (any). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to provide adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for factors associated with each PMSx domain. Results Except for breast pain, drinking >5 cups of Arabic coffee was associated with increased odds of anxiety/mood [aOR 2.44 (95% CI 1.44, 4.12)], pain [1.83 (1.13, 2.98)], appetite/weight gain [1.66 (1.10, 2.50)], headache [1.57 (1.00, 2.56)] and ≥3 symptoms [1.50 (1.07, 2.11)]. A significant association was noted between sugar intake and anxiety/mood symptoms [1.53 (1.07, 2.19)] and abdominal/back pain symptoms [1.84 (1.17, 2.88)]. Increased severity of psychological distress was associated with all symptom domains: anxiety/mood [2.75 (1.92, 3.94)]; pain [1.45 (0.92, 2.28)]; appetite/weight gain [2.01 (1.53, 2.65)]; breast pain [2.19 (1.68, 2.88)]; headache [1.86 (1.37, 2.54)] and ≥3 symptoms [3.52 (2.49, 4.95)]. Low physical activity was significantly associated with odds of breast pain symptoms [1.29 (1.04, 1.59)]. Smokers were 3.41 (1.19, 9.77) times as likely to report any ≥3 symptoms compared to nonsmokers. Conclusion Several potentially modifiable factors, such as diet and stress, were positively associated with PMSx. Thus, we suggest that increasing women’s awareness of healthy lifestyles, particularly diet and stress reduction, may help to reduce the occurrence of premenstrual symptoms.

Establishing educational and counseling programs for postmenopausal women, their spouses, and other family members could improve social support and hence quality of life of postmenopausal women. Effective preventive strategies to deal with modifiable risk factors, such as obesity and work stress, should also be implemented.

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