Abstract: Introduction: Every year 2-3 million pilgrims with different background and most of them are elderly from 184 countries in the world congregate in the holy place ‘Haram’ at Makkah in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. During the pilgrimage, they come across a great deal of rough and tough environment, physical hassle and mental stress. Due to the hardship of travel, fluctuation of weather, continuous walking during religious rites at specific time and sites, many pilgrims injury, feel tired, sick, and exhausted. These may also create complications and overburden the physiological functions including heart, chest, abdominal, and kidney of those who suffer from chronic diseases. Besides the problem of diseases, crowds could cause some other significant problems including missing and lost pilgrims, injuries, and even death. Objective: To determine the common health problems e.g. diseases and emergency incidents encountered by pilgrims during Hajj was the main objective of this study. Methods: An extensive literature review to determine the common health problems and emergency incidents during Hajj was conducted through a systematic literature review. Numerous scholarly databases were used to search for articles published related to health problems and emergency incidents during Hajj from 2008 to 2016. Eligible articles included case reports, experimental and non-experimental studies. Only thirty articles out of two hundred and sixty articles had met the specific inclusion criteria. Results: The analysis revealed that respiratory diseases include pneumonia, influenza, and asthma (73.33%) were the main health problems encountered by the pilgrims during Hajj followed by heat stroke or heat attack, sunlight effects (16.67%), cardiovascular disease, heart disease (10%). The analysis also revealed that emergency incidents include traffic accidents, and trauma was 3.33%. Notwithstanding the information given above, according to the analysis, the common health problems during Hajj are mainly divided into two categories: non-communicable diseases (62.5%) and communicable diseases (37.5%). IBM’s statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used to analysis the result. Conclusion: Both communicable and non-communicable health issues are the most common health problems encountered by pilgrims during Hajj. But, due to lack of existing studies associated with this research area, a definite conclusion could not be made. However, our findings demonstrated the necessity of new research to find solutions to pilgrims’ health problems during Hajj.

Shah Murtaza Rashid Al Masud, Asmidar Abu Bakar and Salman Yussof, “Determining the Types of Diseases and Emergency Issues in Pilgrims During Hajj: A Literature Review” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), 7(10), 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2016.071011

@article{Masud2016,
title = {Determining the Types of Diseases and Emergency Issues in Pilgrims During Hajj: A Literature Review},
journal = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
doi = {10.14569/IJACSA.2016.071011},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2016.071011},
year = {2016},
publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
volume = {7},
number = {10},
author = {Shah Murtaza Rashid Al Masud and Asmidar Abu Bakar and Salman Yussof}
}