Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Health Management, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Saudi Arabia.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jan 13;10:1028361. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1028361. eCollection 2022.
The identification of current gaps in high-impact medical research in Saudi Arabia has international significance due to the trend of collaborative research in the field of health and medicine and the focus on knowledge-sharing. The purpose of this study is to assess the current focus, gaps, and priorities in health research in Saudi Arabia.
We employed a mixed-method research approach to achieve research objectives. (1) a systematic review of scientific research studies that are published between January 2020 to January 2022 in the top fifty Q1 medical science journals (2) a cross-sectional survey collected data from professionals employed in various organizations including the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education (MoE), health organizations and universities, and the health industry. The close-ended survey questions inquired about the broad and specific areas of ongoing health research projects by these researchers and organizations in Saudi Arabia.
The literature search on databases identified Science Direct ( = 741), Pub Med ( = 244) and Google Scholar ( = 15,600). After screening, ( = 26) original studies were selected for detailed evaluation and synthesis. Among these ( = 7) studied infectious diseases, ( = 7) cancer, and cardiac disease ( = 5). These studies focused on the etiology, treatment management and therapy outcomes of these health conditions. The survey was completed by ( = 384) respondents from these organizations. Most of the ongoing research projects focus on clinical sciences (27%) followed by basic sciences (24%) and public health research (24%) and a limited number of researchers were involved in healthcare management (2%) and informatics (2%). Most research focused on kidney and liver disorders (80%), obesity (74%), diabetes (74%), hormonal diseases (64%), and infectious disease (66%); it is equally important to design and fund research in some of the neglected areas including reproductive health (3%), physical and mental disabilities (1%).
Findings suggest that current gaps in original research from Saudi Arabia are in healthcare service quality, reproductive health, physical and mental disabilities and health informatics. Researchers and funding agencies and international collaborative projects should prioritize these areas.
由于健康和医学领域合作研究的趋势以及知识共享的重视，确定沙特阿拉伯具有高影响力的医学研究中的当前差距具有国际意义。本研究的目的是评估沙特阿拉伯健康研究的当前重点、差距和优先事项。
我们采用混合方法研究方法来实现研究目标。（1）系统审查了 2020 年 1 月至 2022 年 1 月期间在 Q1 医学科学期刊排名前 50 位的科学研究论文；（2）通过横断面调查收集了来自不同组织的专业人员的数据，这些组织包括卫生部（MoH）、教育部（MoE）、卫生组织和大学以及卫生行业。这些研究人员和组织在沙特阿拉伯进行的正在进行的健康研究项目的广泛和具体领域的封闭式调查问题。
在数据库中对文献进行搜索，确定了 Science Direct（=741）、Pub Med（=244）和 Google Scholar（=15600）。经过筛选，选择了（=26）项原始研究进行详细评估和综合。其中（=7）项研究传染病，（=7）项癌症和心脏病（=5）。这些研究侧重于这些健康状况的病因，治疗管理和治疗结果。这些组织的（=384）名受访者完成了调查。正在进行的大多数研究项目都侧重于临床科学（27%），其次是基础科学（24%）和公共卫生研究（24%），只有少数研究人员参与医疗保健管理（2%）和信息学（2%）。大多数研究都集中在肾脏和肝脏疾病（80%），肥胖症（74%），糖尿病（74%），荷尔蒙疾病（64%）和传染病（66%）上；在一些被忽视的领域（生殖健康（3%），身体和精神残疾（1%））中进行设计和资助研究也同样重要。
研究结果表明，沙特阿拉伯原始研究中的当前差距在于医疗服务质量，生殖健康，身体和精神残疾以及健康信息学。研究人员，资助机构和国际合作项目应优先考虑这些领域。
