Arabic-speaking male immigrants' perceptions of preventive initiatives: An interview study

Background

Arabic-speaking men are a sparsely investigated population in health promotion and disease prevention. This may hamper their ability to achieve the highest obtainable health due to less accessibility and acceptability of preventive measures.

Aim

We explored Arabic-speaking (Palestinian, Iraqi and Somali) male immigrants' perceptions of preventive initiatives in general and such initiatives for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in particular to understand how to address inequalities in engagement in prevention.

Methods

This qualitative study employed content analysis of semistructured interviews with 60–66-year-old Arabic-speaking men living in Denmark. Supplementary, structured data, for example, health data, were collected. From June to August 2020, 10 men were interviewed.

Findings

Preventive initiatives were found ethically and culturally acceptable alongside personally and socially relevant; they were perceived as humanitarian and caring for the participants' health, respecting of their self-determination and enabling their empowerment. Thus, the participants entreated that their fellow countrymen be assisted in achieving the prerequisite coping capabilities to address inequality in access, perceived acceptance and relevance. This led us to define one main category ‘Preventive initiatives - Caring and humanitarian aid empower us’ with the underlying subcategories: ‘We are both hampered and strengthened by our basic assumptions’ and ‘We need help to achieve coping capabilities enabling us to engage in preventive initiatives’.

Conclusion

Prevention was perceived as acceptable and relevant. Even so, Arabic-speaking men may be a hard-to-reach group due to their basic assumptions and impaired capabilities for engaging in prevention. Addressing inequality in accessibility, acceptability and relevance in regard to prevention may be promoted through a person-centred approach embracing invitees' preferences, needs and values; and by strengthening invitees' health literacy through efforts at the structural, health professional and individual levels.

Public Contribution

This study was based on interviews. The interviewees were recruited as public representatives to assist us in building an understanding of Arabic-speaking male immigrants' perceptions of preventive initiatives in general and preventive initiatives for CVD in particular.     

Impact of acute coronary syndrome on clinical outcomes after revascularization with the dual-therapy CD34 antibody-covered sirolimus-eluting Combo stent and the sirolimus-eluting Orsiro stent

Objectives

To compare the efficacy and safety of the dual-therapy CD34 antibody-covered sirolimus-eluting Combo stent (DTS) and the sirolimus-eluting Orsiro stent (O-SES) in patients with and without acute coronary syndrome (ACS) included in the SORT OUT X study.

Background

The incidence of target lesion failure (TLF) after treatment with modern drug-eluting stents has been reported to be significantly higher in patients with ACS when compared to patients without ACS. Whether the results from the SORT OUT X study apply to patients with and without ACS remains unknown.

Methods

In total, 3146 patients were randomized to stent implantation with DTS (n = 1578; ACS: n = 856) or O-SES (n = 1568; ACS: n = 854). The primary end point, TLF, was a composite of cardiac death, target-lesion myocardial infarction (MI), or target lesion revascularization (TLR) within 1 year.

Results

At 1 year, the rate of TLF was higher in the DTS group compared to the O-SES group, both among patients with ACS (6.7% vs. 4.1%; incidence rate ratio: 1.65 [95% confidence interval, CI: 1.08–2.52]) and without ACS (6.0% vs. 3.2%; incidence rate ratio: 1.88 [95% CI: 1.13–3.14]). The differences were mainly explained by higher rates of TLR, whereas rates of cardiac death and target lesion MI did not differ significantly between the two stent groups in patients with or without ACS

Conclusion

Compared to the O-SES, the DTS was associated with a higher risk of TLF at 12 months in patients with and without ACS. The differences were mainly explained by higher rates of TLR.