Publications by authors named "Somaia Dashti"

Background: A direct consequence of global warming, and strongly correlated with poor physical and mental health, food insecurity is a rising global concern associated with low dietary intake. The Coronavirus pandemic has further aggravated food insecurity among vulnerable communities, and thus has sparked the global conversation of equal food access, food distribution, and improvement of food support programs. This research was designed to identify the key features associated with food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic using Machine learning techniques.

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Introduction: Tobacco smokers are at high risk of developing severe COVID-19. Lockdown was a chosen strategy to deal with the spread of infectious diseases; nonetheless, it influenced people's eating and smoking behaviors. The main objective of this study is to determine the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on smoking (waterpipe and cigarette) behavior and its associations with sociodemographic characteristics and body mass index.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The COVID-19 pandemic led to lifestyle changes that worsened existing gender inequalities, affecting food consumption and dietary diversity among Arab men and women from 10 countries.
  • - A study involving over 12,400 participants revealed that women experienced a larger decline in dietary diversity during the pandemic compared to men, with overweight individuals also showing significant changes in their eating habits.
  • - The findings suggest an urgent need for gender-sensitive strategies to tackle issues related to weight gain and dietary diversity during crises like pandemics.
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Insufficient physical activity is considered a strong risk factor associated with non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on physical (in)activity behavior in 10 Arab countries before and during the lockdown. A cross-sectional study using a validated online survey was launched originally in 38 different countries.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the Eastern Mediterranean Region's food system's fragility posing severe challenges to maintaining healthy sustainable lifestyle. The aim of this cross-sectional study ( = 13,527 household's family members, mean age: 30.3 ±11.

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