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A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims

The Hajj mass gathering annually attracts over two million Muslim pilgrims worldwide to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We aimed to establish demographics and health profiles for the South African pilgrims performing the 2017 Hajj. Methods: This is a longitudinal survey-based study conducted on 1...

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Autores principales: Mushi, Abdulaziz, Yassin, Yara, Khan, Anas, Alotaibi, Badriah, Parker, Salim, Mahomed, Ozayr, Yezli, Saber
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8036399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33807142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073607
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author Mushi, Abdulaziz
Yassin, Yara
Khan, Anas
Alotaibi, Badriah
Parker, Salim
Mahomed, Ozayr
Yezli, Saber
author_facet Mushi, Abdulaziz
Yassin, Yara
Khan, Anas
Alotaibi, Badriah
Parker, Salim
Mahomed, Ozayr
Yezli, Saber
author_sort Mushi, Abdulaziz
collection PubMed
description The Hajj mass gathering annually attracts over two million Muslim pilgrims worldwide to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We aimed to establish demographics and health profiles for the South African pilgrims performing the 2017 Hajj. Methods: This is a longitudinal survey-based study conducted on 1138 adult South African pilgrims in two phases (during and post-Hajj). Data on demographics, vaccination status, underlying health conditions, pre-Hajj training, health promotion, travel history, and health issues during and post-Hajj were collected using pre-designed questionnaires. Results: Participants had a mean age of 49.2 years (SD = 13.3; range 18–81), with a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. The majority of pilgrims were married (88.2%), of Indian/Asian background (73%), and literate (>99%). Nearly all pilgrims were vaccinated against meningococcal disease and yellow fever, but only 23.7% were vaccinated against Influenza. Hypertension, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol levels were the most common underlying health conditions reported by 22.6%, 13.2%, and 11.5% of pilgrims, respectively. One month after return to South Africa, nearly 65% of pilgrims reported illness during Hajj, while 40% reported falling ill post event upon return to South Africa. Nevertheless, only a few were admitted to hospitals (12 during Hajj and 15 post-Hajj). Among ill pilgrims, respiratory symptoms were the most commonly experienced symptoms during (70.2%) and post-Hajj (82.2%). Other symptoms such as walking-related symptoms include symptoms directly related or mainly caused by walking (e.g., leg pain, sore feet, blisters on the feet), dehydration, and gastrointestinal tract symptoms reported during Hajj. Medication to treat respiratory symptoms and antibiotics were the most commonly used medications during and post-Hajj. Having an underlying health condition was an independent predictor of falling ill during or post Hajj. Conclusion: Our study indicates that a sizable proportion of South African pilgrims are elderly with underlying health conditions and most contract respiratory tract infections during and post Hajj. Our study highlights the need for systematic collection of prospective pilgrims’ demographics and health data and more attention to post-Hajj health follow-ups of pilgrims.
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spelling pubmed-80363992021-04-12 A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims Mushi, Abdulaziz Yassin, Yara Khan, Anas Alotaibi, Badriah Parker, Salim Mahomed, Ozayr Yezli, Saber Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The Hajj mass gathering annually attracts over two million Muslim pilgrims worldwide to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We aimed to establish demographics and health profiles for the South African pilgrims performing the 2017 Hajj. Methods: This is a longitudinal survey-based study conducted on 1138 adult South African pilgrims in two phases (during and post-Hajj). Data on demographics, vaccination status, underlying health conditions, pre-Hajj training, health promotion, travel history, and health issues during and post-Hajj were collected using pre-designed questionnaires. Results: Participants had a mean age of 49.2 years (SD = 13.3; range 18–81), with a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. The majority of pilgrims were married (88.2%), of Indian/Asian background (73%), and literate (>99%). Nearly all pilgrims were vaccinated against meningococcal disease and yellow fever, but only 23.7% were vaccinated against Influenza. Hypertension, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol levels were the most common underlying health conditions reported by 22.6%, 13.2%, and 11.5% of pilgrims, respectively. One month after return to South Africa, nearly 65% of pilgrims reported illness during Hajj, while 40% reported falling ill post event upon return to South Africa. Nevertheless, only a few were admitted to hospitals (12 during Hajj and 15 post-Hajj). Among ill pilgrims, respiratory symptoms were the most commonly experienced symptoms during (70.2%) and post-Hajj (82.2%). Other symptoms such as walking-related symptoms include symptoms directly related or mainly caused by walking (e.g., leg pain, sore feet, blisters on the feet), dehydration, and gastrointestinal tract symptoms reported during Hajj. Medication to treat respiratory symptoms and antibiotics were the most commonly used medications during and post-Hajj. Having an underlying health condition was an independent predictor of falling ill during or post Hajj. Conclusion: Our study indicates that a sizable proportion of South African pilgrims are elderly with underlying health conditions and most contract respiratory tract infections during and post Hajj. Our study highlights the need for systematic collection of prospective pilgrims’ demographics and health data and more attention to post-Hajj health follow-ups of pilgrims. MDPI 2021-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8036399/ /pubmed/33807142 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073607 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Mushi, Abdulaziz
Yassin, Yara
Khan, Anas
Alotaibi, Badriah
Parker, Salim
Mahomed, Ozayr
Yezli, Saber
A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title_full A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title_fullStr A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title_full_unstemmed A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title_short A Longitudinal Study Regarding the Health Profile of the 2017 South African Hajj Pilgrims
title_sort longitudinal study regarding the health profile of the 2017 south african hajj pilgrims
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8036399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33807142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073607
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