Publications by authors named "Mirza Hassan"

Background And Aim: This cross-sectional analytic study, conducted in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Clinic of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) for 12 months, aimed to evaluate the precision of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in identifying hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct problems, and emotional difficulties in children and adolescents in an Arab-speaking population.

Method: The study involved 139 participants aged 4 to 17 years drawn from new referrals to CAMH services. SDQ scores were compared with the gold standard clinical diagnosis obtained through diagnostic interviews based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria.

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This is the protocol for an evidence and gap map, which aims to map the existing evidence on the effectiveness of social accountability interventions in low- and middle-income countries. This map will help users identify the size and quality of the evidence base, guide strategic program development, and highlight gaps for future research. The map will cover studies published after 2000, including systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, non-experimental designs, and before-after designs.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on understanding the prevalence and clinical characteristics of ADHD in adult patients at a hospital in Oman over a 5-year period.
  • Out of nearly 40,000 hospital visits, 1.77% were by adults with ADHD, with the highest prevalence observed in 2021 and more cases among men, particularly those under 20.
  • The findings highlight that inattention was the most common subtype of ADHD, and the study adds valuable insights into how ADHD manifests in adult populations compared to other psychiatric conditions.
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Reports from different parts of the world suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown and social distancing measures have heralded unprecedented mental health challenges among children and adolescents. To date, there is a dearth of studies emerging from the Arabian Gulf, where the majority of its population are children and adolescents. The study aims to examine the prevalence of anxiety-related symptoms and their covariates among children and adolescents in an Arabian Gulf country, Oman.

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Oman has been recognised as the leading country in terms of recent developments in public health. However, there is a shortage of mental health services, which poses challenges for people seeking such services, particularly those from rural areas. This often results in delayed treatment and longer periods of untreated mental illness.

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Objectives: This study aimed to investigate parental attitude towards psychotropic drugs' use for children's mental disorders.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2020 to March 2021 at the Department of Behavioural Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman. A questionnaire was used to determine parents' opinions and attitudes about use of psychotropic medications on their children and, in a small proportion, other caregivers if the child attended with them.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze the trends in psychiatric emergencies and self-harm cases at emergency departments (EDs) during the pandemic, comparing data from one year into the pandemic with earlier periods.
  • A total of 8,174 psychiatric presentations involving children and adolescents were studied, showing a significant increase in both psychiatric and self-harm presentations in March to April 2021 compared to previous years.
  • The results indicated a rise in self-harm cases, particularly among females, highlighting the need for effective follow-up services and attention to mental health issues in pediatric populations.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on estimating how common depression was among Omani children and adolescents during COVID-19 lockdowns and identifying risk factors for depression.
  • Conducted in May 2020, the research involved 445 participants (72.1% parents, 27.9% children/adolescents) who completed a mood questionnaire, revealing that 13.9% displayed depressive symptoms.
  • Key findings showed that factors like increased food intake and longer smartphone use were linked to depressive symptoms, while engaging in additional entertainment activities could help reduce the risk of depression.
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Objectives: Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is typically considered a condition affecting children, there is evidence that children diagnosed with ADHD continue to suffer from this condition after the age of 18. This study aimed to describe the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of adult ADHD patients in Oman and evaluate their association with the disorder's different subtypes.

Methods: This retrospective study included adult patients with ADHD from the outpatient clinic at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman.

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Objective: This study aimed at examining the effectiveness of treating children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who present with irritability, aggression, and disruptive behavior at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) in Muscat, Oman, with risperidone, and to note any sex-based differences among this cohort.

Method: This was a retrospective study conducted at the Department of Behavioral Medicine at SQUH over two years from January 2017 to December 2018. This study included all children aged 3 to 18 years attending the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) outpatient clinic with a diagnosis of ASD, based on the DSM-5 criteria, and comorbid disruptive behavior, who had been prescribed risperidone.

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Objectives: Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in children and comorbid depression is common. This study aimed to assess the frequency of depressive symptoms along with demographic and clinical factors in children diagnosed with epilepsy in a tertiary care institution in Oman.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2016 and August 2018 and included children (n = 75) aged 6-12 years old attending the epilepsy clinic at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman.

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Application of chemical substances as stress pre-treatment factors may positively influence androgenetic responses in cereal and other crops. AgNO is an anti-ethylene compounds that played a significant role in combination with other chemicals for anther culture responses in cereal and other crop plants. For this study two local wheat cultivars .

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To examine the differences in hospital emergency psychiatric presentations for self-harm of children and adolescents during the covid-19 lockdown in March and April 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. Retrospective cohort study. We used electronic patient records from 23 hospital emergency departments in ten countries grouped into 14 areas.

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Myocarditis is the inflammation of the myocardium and is a challenging diagnosis owing to the heterogeneity in its etiology, pathogenesis and clinical presentations. It often presents as an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) mimic and hence may pose both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to treating physicians to reliably differentiate between these two entities. In this case, we discuss a young male whose initial presentation of chest pain was dubious of the acute coronary syndrome but detailed history, physical examination and by careful selection of non-invasive investigations including echo and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), led to a diagnosis of acute myocarditis.

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Cyanotic congenital cardiac anomalies increase the risk of thrombosis. In pediatric congenital heart disease, the diagnosis of pulmonary artery thrombosis is rare. We reported an 11-year-old male child who developed progressive shortness of breath over six months.

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As the Covid-19 pandemic spread in 2020, the government of Bangladesh ordered a lockdown and promised a program of relief. Citizens complied at first, but soon returned to economic and social life; relief proved slow and uncertain, and citizens could not rely on government assistance. The government tacitly and then officially permitted the lockdown to end, despite a rising Covid-19 caseload.

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Brain tumors are serious pathologies that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality, and early detection and diagnosis may result in favorable outcomes for patients. We present the case of a 27-year-old male who was referred to the Department of Behavioural Medicine of the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Muscat, Oman, in 2019, due to worsening of his depressive symptoms. Depression was the only initial symptom of the patient's solitary fibrous tumor, and surgical resection of the tumor followed by radiotherapy resulted in the complete remission of his psychiatric symptoms.

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Aim: To explore the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among parents/primary care providers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Design And Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among a systematic random sample of parents/caregivers of children with diagnosis of ASD in Muscat, Oman. Depressive symptoms were quantified using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

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Objective: the study assessed the prevalence of burden of care among caregivers of children with ADHD in Oman. A related aim is to explore the predictors of the burden of care, subtypes of ADHD, and socio-demographic factors.

Method: Arabic version of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) was administered to 117 caregivers of drug-naive children with ADHD.

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Schizophrenia is a serious long-term mental disorder which usually presents in adolescence or early adulthood. However, poor adherence to oral antipsychotics can lead to relapse and rehospitalisation. We report an adolescent male with schizophrenia who was referred to the South London & Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, London, UK, in 2015 due to worsening psychotic symptoms.

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Oman is an emerging economy which has witnessed rapid development and demographic shift over the past four decades. With such changes, the country has witnessed a surge in the number of young people with various mental health problems. Despite the increasing need for mental health services for the young, there is a scarcity of such services in Oman due to severe shortage and maldistribution of facilities.

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Objective: Despite the rising incidence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is a dearth of studies examining the rate of school dropout and its correlates in non-Western populations.

Methods: Medical records were scrutinized to identify Omani children diagnosed with ADHD from 2006 to 2014 in a tertiary care hospital in Oman. The persistence of ADHD symptoms, school performance and dropout, as well as sociodemographic characteristics were examined.

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