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Background : All-cause mortality consisting of several heterogeneous subgroups does not have a well-defined set of risk factors. Despite the well-described role of oral hygiene on mortality, the association between the condition of the existing dentition and mortality remains unclear. Therefore, we embarked on the current study to assess the association of oral hygiene self-care (OHS) with all-cause mortality. Methods : We assessed whether edentulism and the levels of OHS are associated with all-cause mortality in 476 subjects without missing values participating in the KOHH study using proportional hazard models. We designated the edentulous group as OHS0, and poor, fair, and good OHS groups as OHS1, OHS2, and OHS3, respectively. The self-reported OHS was validated against clinical measures of oral inflammation and dental cleanliness, i.e., gingival bleeding and plaque indices. We, then, compared all-cause mortality at three levels of OHS (poor, fair, good) to that of the edentulous group. To test whether the association of OHS to all-cause mortality was mediated by inflammation, we adjusted for CRP. Results : The validity of self-reported OHS was good demonstrating an inverse association with gingival inflammation and plaque index in a dose-response manner. The group with good OHS lived significantly longer, with a 50% lower risk of all-cause mortality. The Hazard ratio (HR) = 0.50 (95% confidence limit: 0.25-0.99), p = 0.045, in a model adjusted for age, smoking, body mass index, and education. Adjusting for CRP attenuated the association of OHS to all-cause mortality slightly, suggesting that this association was mediated, at least in part, by inflammation. In the final model, the poor OHS group exhibited HR = 0.98 (0.51-1.89), p = 0.95. The HR and p -value so close to 1 suggested poor OHS has a similar risk to edentulism. Conclusions : OHS was associated with reduced risk for all-cause mortality: the better OHS, the lower the risk for all-cause mortality. Poor oral hygiene showed a similar risk for all-cause mortality to edentulism.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) manifestations range from mild to severe life-threatening symptoms, including death. COVID-19 susceptibility has been associated with various factors, but studies in Qatar are limited. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between COVID-19 susceptibility and various sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, including age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, education level, dietary patterns, supplement usage, physical activity, a history of bariatric surgery, diabetes, and hypertension. We utilized logistic regression to analyze these associations, using the data of 10,000 adult participants, aged from 18 to 79, from Qatar Biobank. In total, 10.5% ( n = 1045) of the participants had COVID-19. Compared to non-smokers, current and ex-smokers had lower odds of having COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.44-0.68 and OR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.57-0.86, respectively). Vitamin D supplement use was associated with an 18% reduction in the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 (OR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.69-0.97). Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ), a history of bariatric surgery, and higher adherence to the modern dietary pattern-characterized by the consumption of foods high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrates-were positively associated with COVID-19. Our findings indicate that adopting a healthy lifestyle may be helpful in the prevention of COVID-19 infection.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) describes a group of bone marrow malignancies with variable morphologies and heterogeneous clinical features. The aim of this study was to systematically appraise the published clinical, laboratory, and pathologic characteristics and identify distinct clinical features of MDS in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We conducted a comprehensive search of the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases from 2000 to 2021 to identify population-based studies of MDS epidemiology in MENA countries. Of 1935 studies, 13 independent studies published between 2000 and 2021 representing 1306 patients with MDS in the MENA region were included. There was a median of 85 (range 20 to 243) patients per study. Seven studies were performed in Asian MENA countries (732 patients, 56%) and six in North African MENA countries (574 patients, 44%). The pooled mean age was 58.4 years (SD 13.14; 12 studies), and the male-to-female ratio was 1.4. The distribution of WHO MDS subtypes was significantly different between MENA, Western, and Far East populations ( n = 978 patients, p < 0.001). More patients from MENA countries were at high/very high IPSS risk than in Western and Far East populations (730 patients, p < 0.001). There were 562 patients (62.2%) with normal karyotypes and 341 (37.8%) with abnormal karyotypes. Our findings establish that MDS is prevalent within the MENA region and is more severe than in Western populations. MDS appears to be more severe with an unfavorable prognosis in the Asian MENA population than the North African MENA population.