title: Demography and diagnosis of patients encountered at Qassim University Polyclinics, Central Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide current data on the demography and diagnosis of patients encountered at the Internal Medicine Outpatient Department of Qassim University Polyclinics (QUP), Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted at QUP, Qassim, KSA, during the period November 2014 and December 2015. The record files of the study patients who were sampled by convenience method, were reviewed and analyzed. A standardized questionnaire was designed by the authors to collect data from the patients' records. Percentage descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 115 patients were studied. Males were 61.8%. The age range was 1.5-83 years (mean 42.3). The predominant age group was 31-60 years (59.4%). The identified top 5 diseases were: hypertension 40 (34.7%), diabetes mellitus 39 (33.9%), dyslipidemia 17 (14.7%), vitamin D deficiency 13 (11.3%), and arthritic disease 6 (5.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-communicable diseases, in the present study, were the common causes for patients to attend QUP, Qassim, KSA. Changing lifestyle of the population is one possible explanation for such a trend. Prospective studies are advisable toward an in-depth understanding of this trend.
authors: College of Medicine, Qassim University, Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. E-mail. 341100476@qumed.org.
authors: Meshari M
authors: MM
authors: Al-Harbi
authors: Hassan A
authors: HA
authors: Al-Mogbel
authors: Abdalla M
authors: AM
authors: Al-Amro
authors: Abdulaziz A
authors: AA
authors: Al-Mofadhi
authors: Ahmed F
authors: AF
authors: Al-Homaid
authors: Salman H
authors: SH
authors: Al-Harbi
authors: Sami A
authors: SA
authors: Al-Rosaini
authors: Turki A
authors: TA
authors: Al-Suhaibani
authors: Abdelmageed
authors: A
authors: Imam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D003933:Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010361:Patients; D012529:Saudi Arabia