Saleh Al Damegh, Hamza Abdul Ghani, Fayek El Khwsky, Khalid Kalantan, Ahmed Al Taweel.
Evaluation of Pre - entrance chest radiography in students and employees of a Saudi University.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;12(8):465-7.

Objective: A baseline study to assess the usefulness of routine chest radiography in students and employees at the time of entrance. Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Data was collected over a period of one academic year at primary health care (PHC) clinics of King Khalid and King Abdul Aziz University Hospitals, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: All 2,016 subjects, comprising 1,566 newly enrolled students and 450 candidates for employment were first clinically examined for signs of respiratory disease and then x-ray chest was done. Subjects with abnormal findings on x-ray were then further evaluated for presence or absence of disease. Results: Out of 2,016 individuals examined 1,988 (98.6%) were healthy (no abnormality seen on x-ray chest). Only 28 (1.4%) individuals had abnormal x-ray chest, along with the history of chest problems. Out of these, only 7 had no signs of lung or heart disease on clinical examination. Conclusion: Radiation to body is hazardous and on top of it responsible for a lot of economic losses. Hence, chest radiography should be carried out only in cases where history and/or clinical signs and symptoms of disease are present. This way we can protect individuals from unnecessary exposure to the harmful radiations and also save economic loss to the country.

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