The GA2LEN survey for chronic rhinosinusitis prevalence studies: Arabic translation, cultural adaptation, and validation

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common disease that significantly impacts quality of life. Its prevalence varies between different geographical areas. This study aimed to validate the Arabic version of the EPOS criteria in the GA2LEN questionnaire to use it as a tool to estimate the prevalence of CRS in Arab countries. Methods: This is multicentric cross-sectional validation study. The original English EPOS criteria used in the GA2LEN survey (four main questions and two additional questions) were translated into Arabic. The study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University Hospital – Riyadh and Qatif Central Hospital – Qatif in the period between October 2020 and August 2021. Groups of CRS and non-CRS patients were selected randomly from databases of the hospital and asked to participate in the study through phone calls. Sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values were calculated for the Arabic questionnaire. Results: Of 200 subjects contacted to complete the questionnaire, 128 agreed to participate and completed the survey. The Arabic version of the GA2LEN questionnaire was found to be reliable with high sensitivity and specificity. The reliability of the questionnaire increased when we added the question, “Has a doctor ever told you that you have chronic sinusitis?” to the main four questions. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 93.9%, 59.6%, 71.25%, and 90.2%, respectively. Conclusions: The Arabic version of the EPOS criteria in the GA2LEN questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for epidemiological studies to estimate the prevalence of CRS.

Knowledge and Interest in Treating Gingival Recession among Dental Practitioners in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND

Gingival recession is an enigma among clinicians due to multiple etiological factors and various treatment modalities.

AIM

Objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and interest among dental practitioners regarding the treatment of gingival recession.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A survey was conducted to assess knowledge of gingival recession and interest and satisfaction of dental practitioners in periodontics. This survey was circulated among 250 dental practitioners throughout four months. The structured questionnaire consisted of 9 questions assessing the knowledge and interest of dental practitioners in periodontics; gingival recession per se.

RESULTS

Majority of the participants were general dentists. Among them, 46.23% had a habit of reading dental journals. Most of the participants had an opinion that improper tooth brushing (42.71%) is an important cause of the gingival recession. Only 34.17% had information about Miller's classification of gingival recession. Regarding general indication of root coverage procedures, 28.64% answered aesthetics was the most common indication. 39.7% mentioned that traumatic occlusion was a risk factor for gingival recession. A group of 29.65% mentioned that accidental toothbrush trauma leads to gingival recession.

CONCLUSION

The knowledge of gingival recession among the study participants was adequate. More specifically, the interest of participants in periodontics was 5.39 and satisfaction in treating periodontal cases was 5.47.

Knowledge of community pharmacists about the risks of medication use during pregnancy in central region of Saudi Arabia

Background

Community pharmacists (CPs) are the most accessible health care provider to the public, and they have huge duties to improve medication use especially among the pregnant women in their community. The objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge of CPs about the medication safety during pregnancy.

Methods

A prospective cross-sectional survey was carried out over practicing community pharmacists in a capital of Saudi Arabia (SA). Pharmacists were asked about the safety of each medicine during pregnancy. It involved both prescription-only medications (POM) and over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Both descriptive and analytic statistics were utilized. For descriptive analysis, results were expressed as numbers, percentages and mean (±SD and 95% CI).

Results

The response rate was (71.1%). Most of the respondents (69.6%) believed that alprazolam is not safe while 22% of respondents believed that it is used on basis of risk-benefit assessment. Also, most of CPs (65.2%) said that amoxicillin is safe, but a very few of CPs (11.7%) knew that tetracycline should be used only if potential benefits may outweigh the risk. Among non-prescribed analgesics, majority of CPs (92.6%) knew that acetaminophen is safe. About dietary supplements, 48.4% of CPs reported that Vitamin A supplements are not safe. There was significant difference observed between age groups of CPs in scores of knowledge test (P = 0.001).

Conclusion

Community Pharmacists are the most accessible health care providers who can help pregnant women with their medications use there are still gaps in knowledge where educational interventions are needed.