Asthma prevalence among adults in Saudi Arabia

Asthma prevalence among adults in Saudi Arabia

Section A

Introduction

Healthy living may not necessarily refer to the absence of an illness but also the presence of a maladaptive condition, such as health anxiety. Since HA causes patients to engage in a perpetual cycle of seeking reassurance about their health, it is critical that extensive researches are conducted to address the issue. As such, studies concerned with assessing the characteristics of HA symptoms are fundamental in filling the knowledge gap about health anxiety. Based on this fact, this paper aims to discuss the significance of the study by MacSwain et al. (2009), who investigated the relationship between gender and elements of IMHA.

Summary

Health anxiety refers to persistent worry about one’s health. According to the international model of health anxiety (IMHA), HA causes insecurity over health and the need to be reassured. However, HA victims never stop worrying about their health even after reassurance, leading to a vicious cycle of worry. As a result, MacSwain et al. (2009) aimed at exploring the role of gender in aspects of IMHA. The methods of this study involved 950 participants, 674 women, and 276 men. The multidimensional inventory of hypochondriacal traits (MIHT) measured reassurance, alienation, worry, and absorption. Results indicated non-normality in the data. The coefficient alpha for both groups (men and women) was reliable (alpha >0.75). Also, the baseline models fitted the data well, and alienation was higher in women than men. The level of reassurance-seeking and worry was also relatively higher in women than in men. However, there were no gender differences in the mean levels of alienation or absorption. In conclusion, MacSwain et al. (2009) supported the applicability of IMHT across women and men. Therefore, this present study helped in clarifying gender differences in the IMHA and other HA models.

Discussion

The major results of the study by MacSwain et al. (2009) are based on the structure of the Interpersonal Model of Health Anxiety (IMHA). IMHA proposes that health anxiety results from persistent worry over one’s health and a vicious cycle of seeking reassurance. A similar approach of using the IMHA model to assess reassurance, concern, absorption, and alienation was used by Anagnostopoulos and Botse (2016).2 Thus, the two studies confirm that IMHA is a satisfactory model of analyzing the prevalence of health anxiety.

The study by MacSwain et al. (2009) hypothesized that more women than men would express higher rates of reassurance-seeking and worry. Their findings confirmed that, indeed, women showed higher levels of fear and anxiety than men. Similarly, another study that was conducted by Bahrami et al. (2011) also validates this hypothesis. According to the results of the survey by Bahrami et al., thoughts of anxiety, fear, or worry are more prevalent in girls than boys.3 As such, it is satisfactory to consider the study by MacSwain et al. as reliable and consistent with other studies.

Conclusion

Although anxiety affects both men and women, the study by MacSwain et al. (2009), which hypothesized that the rate of worry over one’s health was higher in women than men, indicated that gender plays a role in determining health anxiety. Since there was consistency between the findings of MacSwain et al. study and other researches, it is satisfactory to conclude that women experience more significant levels of worry and anxiety than men. However, further research is needed to determine the factors that lead women to engage more in the persistent cycle of worry.

References

Section B

Asthma prevalence among adults in Saudi Arabia

Introduction:

It is widely known that millions of people around the world have asthma. Asthma’s prevalence varies in different parts of the world because of differences in climatic conditions and also due to dissimilarities in tools used to measure asthma’s prevalence. In this study, Al Ghobain et al. (2018) examined the frequency of asthma and its particular symptoms among Saudi adults (20 to 44 years old) using the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

Methods:

The participants in the study were both male and female adults from Riyadh, whose ages ranged from 22 to 44 years old. The data was collected from April to June 2016 using the Arabic version of the (ECRHS). Moreover, they used the cluster method for sampling of the target groups. The Participants were found to have asthma if they answered “yes” to questions such as whether they were taking medicine for asthma. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was employed in analyzing data.

Results:

Out of the recruited 2405 participants who filled the ECRHS questionnaire, (52.4%) were males, and (47.6%) were females. The data revealed that about a fifth (21.7%) of the participants experienced wheezing/whistling in the last year, whereas 18.2% had wheezing or whistling with no cold. Furthermore, 33% of the participants experienced chest congestion, 31% had breath shortness, and 43% had severe coughing. It was also found that women participants suffer more from all these symptoms compared to men. Besides, nasal allergies were present in a third of the participants, while a quarter of the participants were tobacco smokers. Also, smoking among male participants was higher compared to female participants. To sum up, the residence had no significant impact on being asthmatic or non-asthmatic, while asthmatics had a higher risk of nasal allergies compared to non-asthmatics.

Discussion and Conclusion:

The study findings indicate that the prevalence of asthma among Saudi adults is high. The distinctive characteristic of this study is the first to employ the ECRHS questionnaire in examining the frequency of asthma among Saudi adults. The study also indicated that the occurrence of asthma in Saudi Arabia is higher than in European countries, probably due to the frequent dust storms that pollute the air. Also, as explained by the authors, the lack of significant differences between asthmatics and non-asthmatics could be explained by the presence of factories in the southern part of Riyadh, which balances out with the numerous dust-storms in the northern part of Riyadh. In summary, as discussed in this research paper, the frequency of asthma in Riyadh is extreme because it is linked to environmental factors more than being genetically related. Therefore, the authors recommend awareness programs for both health professionals, patients, and affected people in terms of early diagnosis and follow-up plans for adults diagnosed with asthma.