Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
<i>Background and objective</i>: Headache is more common among students and may be a crucial indication of mental health; it can have a detrimental impact if left untreated, especially on students, and may affect their academic performance. Thus, this study aimed to assess the headache t...
| Հիմնական հեղինակներ: | , , |
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| Ձևաչափ: | Հոդված |
| Լեզու: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Շարք: | Medicina |
| Խորագրեր: | |
| Առցանց հասանելիություն: | https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/59/9/1522 |
| _version_ | 1827725385766273024 |
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| author | Abdullah M. Alobaid Wajid Syed Mahmood Basil A. Al-Rawi |
| author_facet | Abdullah M. Alobaid Wajid Syed Mahmood Basil A. Al-Rawi |
| author_sort | Abdullah M. Alobaid |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <i>Background and objective</i>: Headache is more common among students and may be a crucial indication of mental health; it can have a detrimental impact if left untreated, especially on students, and may affect their academic performance. Thus, this study aimed to assess the headache trends among undergraduate first responders for medical emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. <i>Method</i>: A cross-sectional study was undertaken over three months in 2023 to analyze headache patterns among emergency medical services (EMS) students using prevalidated questionnaires. The data were collected via convenience sampling and processed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 26 program (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). <i>Results</i>: The current findings show that the majority 90.6% (<i>n</i> = 164) of the participants had at least one episode of headache in the last week. With regard to the number of days students had a headache during the last week, 21.5% (<i>n</i> = 39) of them reported 2 days, while 18.8% (<i>n</i> = 34) reported 1 day only. About slightly less than half (48.6% (<i>n</i> = 88)) of students reported that the usual site of the headache was frontal, followed by temporal 27.1% (<i>n</i> = 49), and 23.3% (<i>n</i> = 42) reported orbital. When students were asked whether a headache aggravates their routine activity, 40.3% agreed with this statement, and 44.2% of students reported that a headache causes them to avoid their routine activity (reading writing, attending college). The majority of the students considered taking analgesics (60.8%), followed by sleeping (26.5%), caffeine (14.4%), and herbal and alternative remedies (7.7%) for the relief of headaches. Although headache episodes were significantly associated with routine activities (reading writing, attending college) (<i>p</i> = 0.018, <i>t</i> = 2.282) daily activities (walking, running) (<i>p</i> = 0.022, <i>t</i> = 2.307). The findings showed that fourth-year EMS students were found to have higher headache pain intensity scores compared to other students (<i>p</i> = 0.046). Similarly, the pain intensity was significantly higher among the students between 1–3 and >7 episodes of headaches (<i>p</i> = 0.001) <i>Conclusion</i>: The findings of this study revealed that Saudi emergency medical services students suffer from headaches. However, the current findings revealed variation in the headache pain intensity scores concerning the year of study. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:28:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-069dbaa2be164ddca9f6bc977e9ca2ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1010-660X 1648-9144 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:28:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medicina |
| spelling | doaj.art-069dbaa2be164ddca9f6bc977e9ca2ba2023-11-19T11:51:08ZengMDPI AGMedicina1010-660X1648-91442023-08-01599152210.3390/medicina59091522Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaAbdullah M. Alobaid0Wajid Syed1Mahmood Basil A. Al-Rawi2Department of Accident and Trauma, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz College for Emergency Medical Services, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Optometry, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia<i>Background and objective</i>: Headache is more common among students and may be a crucial indication of mental health; it can have a detrimental impact if left untreated, especially on students, and may affect their academic performance. Thus, this study aimed to assess the headache trends among undergraduate first responders for medical emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. <i>Method</i>: A cross-sectional study was undertaken over three months in 2023 to analyze headache patterns among emergency medical services (EMS) students using prevalidated questionnaires. The data were collected via convenience sampling and processed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 26 program (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). <i>Results</i>: The current findings show that the majority 90.6% (<i>n</i> = 164) of the participants had at least one episode of headache in the last week. With regard to the number of days students had a headache during the last week, 21.5% (<i>n</i> = 39) of them reported 2 days, while 18.8% (<i>n</i> = 34) reported 1 day only. About slightly less than half (48.6% (<i>n</i> = 88)) of students reported that the usual site of the headache was frontal, followed by temporal 27.1% (<i>n</i> = 49), and 23.3% (<i>n</i> = 42) reported orbital. When students were asked whether a headache aggravates their routine activity, 40.3% agreed with this statement, and 44.2% of students reported that a headache causes them to avoid their routine activity (reading writing, attending college). The majority of the students considered taking analgesics (60.8%), followed by sleeping (26.5%), caffeine (14.4%), and herbal and alternative remedies (7.7%) for the relief of headaches. Although headache episodes were significantly associated with routine activities (reading writing, attending college) (<i>p</i> = 0.018, <i>t</i> = 2.282) daily activities (walking, running) (<i>p</i> = 0.022, <i>t</i> = 2.307). The findings showed that fourth-year EMS students were found to have higher headache pain intensity scores compared to other students (<i>p</i> = 0.046). Similarly, the pain intensity was significantly higher among the students between 1–3 and >7 episodes of headaches (<i>p</i> = 0.001) <i>Conclusion</i>: The findings of this study revealed that Saudi emergency medical services students suffer from headaches. However, the current findings revealed variation in the headache pain intensity scores concerning the year of study.https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/59/9/1522headacheintensityphotophobiaphotophobiaanalgesics |
| spellingShingle | Abdullah M. Alobaid Wajid Syed Mahmood Basil A. Al-Rawi Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Medicina headache intensity photophobia photophobia analgesics |
| title | Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| title_full | Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| title_short | Evaluation of Headache Trends among Undergraduate First Responders for Medical Emergencies at Saudi University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| title_sort | evaluation of headache trends among undergraduate first responders for medical emergencies at saudi university in riyadh saudi arabia |
| topic | headache intensity photophobia photophobia analgesics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/59/9/1522 |
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