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Editorial
Editor: Abdulrazak Abyad This is the second issue this
year and has a number of interesting themes. A Cross
sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence
of diabetic foot among diabetic patients attending a
primary care clinic at a teaching hospital, in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. The study showed that the prevalence of
diabetic foot among 224 diabetic patients attending
a primary care clinic was 6.2% and 1.3% of diabetic
patients had amputated foot. About half of the diabetic
patients were 60 years and above. The authors concluded
that the prevalence of diabetic foot is common among
diabetic patients attending the primary care clinic,
which emphasized the importance of improving the quality
of diabetic care, especially in the elderly, to reduce
diabetic foot complications and to reduce the burden
of amputation on elderly patient's life, family, community,
and health services.
The development of geriatrics
and gerontology in Egypt is discussed in a paper on
the development of Geriatrics and the Gerontology Department
at the Faculty of Medicine- Ain Shams University, Cairo,
Egypt. The author stressed that the one of the results
of modern civilization is the increase in number of
old people. The Egyptian National Census had shown increased
prevalence of old aged where the prevalence increased
from 5.1% in 1950 to 6.27% in 2006, and it is expected
to reach 11.5% in 2025 and to increase to 20.8% in 2050.
This means that 20 million Egyptians will be categorized
as elderly by that time, which is a big number that
resembles the population of a full nation in some parts
of the world. The Geriatrics and Gerontology Department
at Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University is the
only academic and clinical department in the Egyptian
teaching hospitals and probably all around the Middle
East. The department is a pioneer in being the first
department to offer a master degree and doctoral degree
in geriatric medicine connected to a specialized residency
program and clinical training courses.
A paper from Iran using survey
methodology aimed at analyzing factors affecting social
contribution of the elderly in urban affairs management
in the city of Tehran.
The results of the survey showed
a significant correlation between knowledge and education,
confidence in municipality, usefulness, self-efficacy
and participation, and the hypotheses were confirmed.
The authors concluded that self-efficacy and knowledge
about urban affairs management are the variables which
have the most effect on social participation.
Nooritajer M looked at the relationship between family
support and glycemic control in the elderly suffering
type 2 diabetes mellitus. It was a descriptive co-relational
study, of 150 elderly suffering diabetes type 2. A self-reported
questionnaire was used for gathering information. Results
showed a significant relationship between family support
and glycemic control (p<0/0001). The author concluded
that this research added further evidence about the
impact of family support on the health of older adults
with diabetes. These findings suggest using family centered
health career interventions and collaboration of family
members in the care of the elderly with type 2 diabetes.
A cross-sectional survey
of Kuwaiti households was conducted among 2,487 persons
aged 50+ attempting to ascertain the association between
co-residence and the prevalence of self-reported depressive
symptoms among Kuwaiti men and women aged 50+. The mean
depressive symptoms score was 10.97. Women had a significantly
higher mean score than men. Those with no co-resident
children were 2.2 times more likely to report higher
depressive symptoms than those with 3+ children. Those
with three illnesses were more likely (3.6 times among
men and 2.1 times among women) to report higher depressive
symptoms than their counterparts without any illness.
The authors concluded that co-habitation with a larger
number of children was inversely associated with depressive
symptoms experience.
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