MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study done in Baghdad on 112 patients who attended Al-Zahraa Allergic Center. Their demographic characteristics, total IgE, eosinophil counts and PCR result for COVID-19 were determined.
RESULTS: The means for IgE and eosinophils were 245.7±260.1IU/ml and 444.5±117.1cells/microliter sequentially. Around 32.1% had high IgE level (i.e., atopic) and 11.6% had COVID-19. Among the atopic patients, 33.3%, 30.5% and 36.2% had atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma respectively. More than half (58.3%) of them were male, 55.5% aged <45 years, 36.2% were retired or had no job, 69.5% were graduated from secondary school or more and 88.8% lived in urban areas. There is no significant association in IgE level between those with and without COVID-19, which means that exposure to SARS Cov2 virus could not be a trigger or exacerbation for atopic diseases. Also, there was no association between atopic patients with COVID-19 and those without it regarding type of atopy, age, sex, occupation, education, type of living area.
CONCLUSIONS: Atopy is not a risk factor for COVID-19.
METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A total of 116 items associated with sociodemographic characteristics (7 items), professional development (3 items), organisational culture's support for the NCP (2 items), knowledge (27 items), attitudes (39 items), practices (20 items), and perceived barriers to implementing the NCP (14 items) were generated for potential inclusion in the KAPB-NCP questionnaire. The questionnaire was reviewed online by an expert panel for its content validity. An in-depth review was conducted by the research team for evaluating the overall comprehensiveness of the questionnaire.
RESULTS: In total, 87 of 100 items of the KAPB sections showed an excellent content validity index (CVI; k* >0.74), whereas 10 showed a satisfactory CVI (k*=0.60-0.74). Only 3 items had a low CVI (k* <0.40). According to the expert panel revisions and the in-depth review, 72 items were incorporated into the questionnaire.
CONCLUSIONS: The KAPB-NCP questionnaire is a content-valid instrument that can assess NCP KAPB.
METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 112 healthy men and women from 3 main ethnic group (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) who were aged 18-60 years. The participants were categorized into normal body mass index (BMI), overweight and obese groups according to WHO criteria for BMI in Asian populations (18.5 kg/m2