Introduction. Obesity is becoming the most common health problem of the 21st century, as it will contribute significantly to the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in developing countries. The main objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence of obesity and overweight among adults attending primary health care settings, southwestern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods. The studied population was composed of adults visiting primary health care centres in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a representative sample of 1681 adult patients. Obesity and overweight were defined according to the WHO standards. Statistical analysis was conducted using the statistical package SPSS 17.0. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of obesity and overweight in the studied population. Results. Data on body mass index (BMI) measurement was recorded for 1649 out of 1681 participants (98.1%). The overall mean weight was 74.1 ± 15.81 kg; and that for men was 77.69 ± 16.14 kg vs. 69.37 ± 14.02 kg for women with significant statistical difference of p < 0.001. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was, respectively, 38.3% and 27.6%. Smoking was not significantly associated with obesity, whereas hypertension was significantly associated with obesity. The risk of overweight or obesity significantly increased from the highest to the lowest monthly income; it passed from 1.67 CI 95% = [1.24-2.25] within the category 5000-7000 SAR to 2.23 CI 95% = [1.71-2.90] within the category less than 5000 SAR. Conclusion. Our study showed high prevalence of overweight and obesity which should be considered as a public health concern to be followed by specific interventions at the community level with multidisciplinary activities starting from childhood as a primordial prevention program.

Background: Self-medication (SM) is a customary practice around the globe. Appropriate SM comes with many advantages, yet irrational SM is a concern and could lead to adverse drug events and poor health outcomes. Methods: This college-based cross-sectional study was carried out from January to March 2021 among Najran University undergraduate medical students to investigate the prevalence and practice of, and attitudes towards SM. Data were collected using a bilingual self-administered online questionnaire, which was categorized into sections, such as socio-demographic details, attitude towards SM, and practice of SM during the last six months, along with students’ opinions and suggestions regarding SM. The three-item scale was used to assess the students’ attitude. IBM SPSS was used to perform the cross-tabulation, chi-squared test, and binary logistic regression. Results: Overall, 205 undergraduate medical students (58.6%) responded to the survey. The overall prevalence of SM was 60%, of which 25% used antibiotics as SM drugs. Headache (65.9%), fever (30.2%), cold/flu (31.2%), and gastric acidity (28.3%) were common illnesses for which SM was sought, using analgesics and NSAIDs (52.7%), antipyretics (13.7%), and antacid (12.7%) medications. Among the reasons for SM, the illness being minor and quick relief were frequently reported. To rationalize and improve the practice of SM, about half (48.3%) of the students suggested spreading awareness and education regarding the implications of SM and dispensing the medications with prescriptions (46.8%). Conclusion: Overall, the attitude towards SM was satisfactory. The prevalence of SM during the last six months was 60%, and antibiotics were used by 25% of students. A significant negative correlation was observed between attitudes towards and practice of SM. Although medical students of Najran University displayed responsible behavior towards SM, efforts should be made to educate them about the adverse consequences of SM, especially with antibiotics.

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the leading malignancy among women in Najran, Saudi Arabia. However, not much is known about the public’s awareness of BC. This study explored the general knowledge, early warning signs, risk factors and sources of information about BC. Methods: An online-based, anonymous, self-rating, cross-sectional and survey-based study was conducted from March-2019 to April-2019. Three-hundred female students and/or faculty from College of Medicine, Najran University (Najran, Saudi Arabia) participated in the study. Results: A total of 232 students (77.3%) and 68 faculty (22.7%) responded to the survey. Our study showed that nulliparity (83.8%) and early menarche before 12 years of age (29.7%) were the most pertinent obstetric risk factors of BC. Conversely, lack of physical activity (66.3%) and family history of BC (18%) were the most substantial non-obstetric risk factors of BC. According to pre-defined criteria, while the surveyed research subjects demonstrated ‘good’ general knowledge about BC (75.3%), they unfavorably exhibited ‘poor’ knowledge about the warning signs of BC (94.3%). The predictors of ‘good’ overall knowledge (general knowledge plus signs knowledge about BC) included age, marital status, educational level and family history (all p<0.05, two-tailed Chi-square test). Apart from the campaigns’ educational materials (43%), the top source of knowledge about BC was internet (33%), whereas the lowest ones were healthcare professionals (11.3%) and training workshops (7.3%). Conclusions: The surveyed research subjects harbored risk factors of BC and demonstrated ‘poor’ knowledge about the warning early signs of BC. We call for rigorous and well-crafted educational campaigns geared toward improving the awareness level of BC among women in Najran province.

To investigate the frequency and factors associated with inadequate self-care behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 355 patients with T2DM, using multistage cluster sampling, attending the Najran University Hospital and Primary health care centres in Najran, Saudi Arabia, from January to May 2019. The assessment of self-care behaviors was conducted using the 16-item diabetes self-management questionnaire (DSMQ). The majority (85.1%) of the patients with T2DM were uncontrolled, 42% were obese, and 5.9% were morbidly obese. Based on DSMQ criteria, the majority of patients (90.1%) had poor self-care behaviors. The mean sum of DSMQ was 5.04 out of 10. Among the DSMQ subscales, health care use had the highest mean score of 5.63, followed by glucose management with a score of 5.12, while dietary control had lower mean scores of 4.96 and physical activity had 4.46, all were inadequate. Being married (OR=2.178, p=0.035) and having DM for more than 5 years (OR=2.711, p<0.006) were the significant independent factors associated with poor self-care behavior. Inadequate self-care behavior is widely prevalent in Najran city, Saudi Arabia. All the DSMQ subscales were poorly managed by most of the diabetic patients. Furthermore, being married and having a longer DM duration are the significant independent factors associated with poor self-care behaviors.

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that endanger the health and enforced social distancing for the whole world. Social distancing may generate stress, anxiety, and depression. Understanding the psychosocial consequences of COVID19 during social distancing may help decision-makers to take suitable decisions that help in increasing awareness. Evaluate the psychosocial consequences of COVID-19 pandemic during the social distancing period and explore the relationship between social media use and psychological stress during COVID-19 outbreak among Najran city population. Research design is descriptive correlational research design. A snowball sampling technique, was used to recruit participants live in Najran city during the COVID-19 pandemic (1508 participant). A statistically significant differences (P<0.05) are observed between Saudi and non-Saudi participants in all social aspects assessed except for time spent on social media. In addition, a high mean of depression, stress, and anxiety subscale scores are observed in non-Saudi compared to the Saudi participants with statistically significant differences (p=0.000). As well as high DASS-21 total scores in non-Saudi compared to the Saudi participants. Also, there are positive statistically significant correlations (≤0.05) between participants' time spent in social media and their depression, stress, anxiety, and total DASS scores during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings of the present study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic generates stress, anxiety and depression among Najran population especially, non-Saudi. This poor psychological condition is exaggerated with prolonged social media use. COVID-19 also has negative impact on social wellbeing and use of social media cannot replace direct contact with friends. The current study results may be utilized to formulate interventions that enhance psychosocial health and resilience during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Background: Unhealthy lifestyles have been linked to increased cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases. University students have been reported to adopt unhealthy lifestyles and undesirable eating choices.Objectives: The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of healthy eating habits; determine the prevalence of physical activity habits; to estimate the smoking habits among male health sciences college students at Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.Methods: The present questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study (convenient sample) was carried out among undergraduate male students enrolled in the health sciences colleges at Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia, from 1st May to 31st May, 2019. Around 500 students were recruited and were requested to answer a self-administered questionnaire about eating habits, physical activity, and tobacco smoking habits. Descriptive results were summarized in percentage and frequency. Cross tabulation using chi-square test was performed to measure the impact of demographic variable on eating pattern, physical activity and smoking behavior. Pearson's correlation was done using two tailed tests to determine the type of relationship between different variables. The SPSS (version 26) was used to perform statistical analysis.Results: A total of 454 complete responses from the male students from Najran University were obtained. The majority (74%) were aged 21 years and above, unmarried (94.9%), had healthy BMI (47.4%), and suffered mild (41.4%) to moderate (32.4%) levels of stress during the previous month. The study findings showed a low daily frequency of consumption of vegetables and fruits. There was a low prevalence of daily consumption of vegetables (16%) and fruits (9%). More than 10% of all students reported no consumption of fruits and vegetables. Students who felt severely stressed during the previous month were significantly not eating any vegetables (p= 0.022) and fruits (p< 0.001), and had high salt intake (p= 0.045). Married participants had a significantly (p= 0.03) higher servings of vegetables per day. Furthermore, 32.15% of participants were not practicing 30 min of physical activity 5 days per week. The study showed a low prevalence (47.57%) of physical activity among the participants. However, none of the participants' variables were significantly associated with routine physical activity. In addition, the study showed a relatively high prevalence of smoking (25.77%) among Najran university male students. The participants' age (p0.01), overall health (p= 0.02) and level of stress (p= 0.001) experienced during the last month were significantly associated with the length of exposure to secondhand smoke. Whereas, smoking any kind of tobacco daily (25.77%) was significantly (p= 0.005) related to the age of participants. A high number of participants aged 21 years and above (52.72%) were significantly (p= 0.019) exposed to secondhand smoke.Conclusion: To conclude, the study findings showed a low daily frequency of consumption of vegetables and fruits, a relatively high prevalence of smoking and a low level of awareness regarding the health risks of smoking; and a large number of participants were physically inactive among male university students. Intervention programs in university students should concentrate on improving nutrition attitudes and knowledge toward good diet, tobacco-smoking cessation strategies, and structured intervention programs to encourage physical activity. However, these interventions should be pilot-tested for feasibility and acceptability before implementation.