Background: Cyberbullying is becoming common in inflicting harm on others, especially among adolescents. This study aims to assess the prevalence of cyberbullying, determine the risk factors, and assess the association between cyberbullying and the psychological status of adolescents facing this problem in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 355 students, aged between 12–18 years, through a validated online questionnaire to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of cyberbullying and assess psychological effects based on cyberbullying questionnaire and Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) questions. Results: The participants in this study numbered 355; 68% of participants were females compared to 32% were males. Approximately 20% of the participants spend more than 12 h daily on the Internet, and the estimated overall prevalence of cyberbullying was 42.8%, with the male prevalence slightly higher than females. In addition, 26.3% of the participants were significantly affected in their academic Performance due to cyberbullying. Approximately 20% of all participants considered leaving their schools, 19.7% considered ceasing their Internet use, and 21.1% considered harming themselves due to the consequences of cyberbullying. There are essential links between the frequency of harassment, the effect on academic Performance, and being a cyber victim. Conclusions: Cyberbullying showed a high prevalence among adolescents in the Jazan region with significant associated psychological effects. There is an urgency for collaboration between the authorities and the community to protect adolescents from this harmful occurrence.

Tobacco smoking has a significant role in health deterioration worldwide; it can lead to many dangerous diseases. Tobacco smoking among medical students is common worldwide, but the prevalence and determinants vary from one community to another. Data from medical students in Saudi Arabia is limited. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and determinants of smoking among medical students at the College of Medicine, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study using a self-administered electronic survey was conducted to estimate tobacco smoking’s prevalence and characteristics among medical students at Jazan University. The survey includes information on the gender, academic year, academic performance, type of tobacco smoking, and age of onset of the participants’ tobacco smoking. Other data, like the prevalence of passive smoking and social factors, were considered, too. The sample size was 354, 51.7% males and 48.3% females, students with a response rate of 38.02%. The prevalence of smoking among medical students was 12.4%, while passive smoking prevalence was 39.9% of all medical students. The research shows that 18.6% of male and 5.9% of female medical students were active smokers. Regarding the type of tobacco, we found that 47% of male smokers used waterpipe, while the percentage among female smokers using waterpipe reached 77.8%. The age of onset of smoking for 34.9% of the smokers was between 18 and 21 years old. The prevalence of smoking is inversely proportional to the GPA. Additionally, 71.1% of the smokers did not have a smoker friend, and only 13.3% of the smokers were motivated to quit. University age is critical for smoking habits, and the smoking cessation rate was low. More campaigns should be done in universities to increase smoking cessation awareness, and smoking cessation clinics should be activated at universities.

Observational studies report inverse associations between educational attainment and depression/anxiety risks, but confounding hinders causal inference. This study aimed to assess potential causal relationships using Mendelian randomization (MR). Two-sample MR analysis was conducted using genetic instruments for education, smoking, body mass index, and physical activity from published genome-wide association studies. Depression and anxiety data came from the UK Biobank ([UKB] 117,782 individuals) and FinnGen (215,644 individuals) cohorts. Inverse variance weighted regression determined associations between exposures and mental health outcomes. Increased educational attainment was causally associated with reduced risks of depression (odds ratio [OR] = 0.99 per year, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.990–0.996, P < .001) and anxiety (OR = 0.99, CI: 0.98–0.991, P < .001) in both cohorts. Smoking initiation conferred higher risks of depression (UKB OR = 1.05, CI: 1.03–1.06, P < .001; FinnGen OR = 1.20, CI: 1.10–1.32, P < .001) and anxiety (FinnGen only, OR = 1.10, CI: 1.01–1.21, P < .05). Likewise, maternal smoking history associated with greater depression (UKB OR = 1.15, CI: 1.10–1.35, P = .027) and anxiety susceptibility (FinnGen OR = 3.02, CI: 1.67–5.46, P = .011). Higher body mass index elevated depression risk in both cohorts. Physical activity showed no clear associations. This MR study provides evidence that education may causally reduce mental health disorder risk. Smoking, obesity, and low activity appear detrimentally linked to depression and anxiety. Improving access to education could offer effective strategies for lowering population psychiatric burden.

Saudi Arabia has succeeded in having one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 worldwide due to the government’s initiatives in taking swift action to control both the spread and severity of the virus. However, Covid-19 can serve as a test case of the expected response of the new healthcare system under Vision 2030. This study used data from the thirteen present administrative regions of KSA to simulate the variations in ICU admission as a quality indicator in the five business units proposed by a new Model of Care. We determined the rates of ICU admission for patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) from March to mid-July 2020. The final sample included 1743 inpatients with moderate to severe COVID-19. Patient characteristics, including demographics, pre-existing chronic conditions, and COVID-19 complications, were collected. Business units (BUs) were compared with respect to the relative odds of ICU admission by using multiple logistic regression. After keeping patient and clinical characteristics constant, clear BU differences were observed in the relative odds of ICU admission of COVID-19 patients. Inpatient admission to ICU in our total sample was almost 50%. Compared to the Central BU, the Northern and Western BUs showed significantly higher odds of ICU admission while the Eastern & Southern BUs had significantly lower odds. ICU use for COVID-19 patients differed significantly in KSA healthcare BUs, consistent with variations in care for other non-COVID-19-related conditions. These differences cannot be explained by patient or clinical characteristics, suggesting quality-of-care differences. We believe that privatization and the shift to fewer administrative BUs will help lessen or eliminate altogether the present variations in healthcare service provision.

Background Overweight and obesity are excessive fat accumulations linked with many health problems, including heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Multiple studies have demonstrated that beliefs about overweight, obesity and self-efficacy play essential roles in the success of interventions for obesity management. Objectives This study aimed to identify the perceptions of university students of overweight and obesity using the health belief model (HBM) and to analyse their association with the body mass index (BMI) categories of the students. Design A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study and a multistage sampling technique were used to ensure the recruitment of students from selected colleges of Jazan University—Saudi Arabia. Setting Six colleges of Jazan University were randomly selected to ensure equal representation of health sciences, sciences and humanities colleges. Participants A total of 579 students completed an online survey between January and April 2023. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measures were demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. Secondary outcome measures were behavioural intentions relating to obesity management. Results This study demonstrated that gender and self-reported family history of obesity were significantly correlated with the BMI categories of the students (p <0.001). Students in the underweight category showed the highest mean score for perceived severity (3.62 ±0.08). Perceived self-efficacy in exercise and diet was significantly associated with BMI categories, with adjusted ORs of 2.82 (2.10 to 3.79) and 1.51 (1.09 to 2.09), respectively. Perceived barriers to healthy eating and regular physical activity were significantly related to the behavioural intentions of obesity management. Multivariate logistic regression showed that perceived severity, perceived cues to action, perceived barriers and self-efficacy in dieting and exercise were significant predictors of behavioural intentions for the management of obesity. Conclusion This study underscores the need for tailored health promotion strategies that consider the perceptions and beliefs of people about the management of obesity.