Ahmed Ashour
Umm AlQura University, KSA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Diabetes Metab
Diabetes is a major health problem in Saudi Arabia with prevalence of 30%, which is within the highest reported figures in the world. Cigarette smoking is considered as a modifiable risk factor for type II diabetes and the risk of developing type II diabetes is 30â??40% higher for active smokers than non-smoker. All-cause mortality and morbidity is increased in smokers with diabetes. Limited research has been done on smoking among patients with type II DM in Saudi Arabia and there is also scarcity of evidence on smoking cessation therapies for patients with type II DM. Therefore, it is essential to assess smoking rates amongst diabetic patients in the KSA. Applying evidence based medicine in the management of smoking to help smokers quitting is one of major steps to help smokers with diabetes. A recent systematic review concluded that there is scarcity of evidences for interventions for smoking cessation for patients with type II DM targeting cigarettes smokers. Based on the outcomes and recommendations of this systematic review, we will conduct a randomized clinical trial on nicotine patch that will be combined with behavioural intervention for smoking cessation for diabetic patients in the KSA. This project would be a golden chance to train local health care professionals on applying evidence based medicine in smoking cessation and sorting public health problems. Our hypothesis is to investigate the effectiveness of transdermal patch (nicotine replacement therapy or NRT) combined with/without telephone counselling sessions (behavioural intervention) in Saudi type II diabetic smokers. Current regular smokers of 10 cigarettes or more daily and other inclusion criteria will be invited to take part in randomized open-blind controlled clinical trial for smoking cessation amongst patients with type2 DM.
Ahmed Ashour completed my MS degree at the age of 28 years from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science University and started PhD studies at Strathclyde University School of Medicine. I am also a faculty member at Umm AlQura University.
Email: amashour@uqu.edu.sa