AIM: To investigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on self-management, pain, and physical function in older adults awaiting TKA in Malaysia.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study has the data of participants, who matched the criteria and scheduled for TKA for the first time, extracted from the TKA registry in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Mukhriz. Data on pain status, and self-management, physical frailty, and instrumental activities daily living were also collected. Multiple linear regression analysis with a significant level of 0.05 was used to identify the association between waiting time and pain on physical frailty and functional performance.
RESULTS: Out of 180 had deferred TKA, 50% of them aged 50 years old and above, 80% were women with ethnic distribution Malay (66%), Chinese (22%), Indian (10%), and others (2%) respectively. Ninety-two percent of the participants took medication to manage their pain during the waiting time, while 10% used herbs and traditional supplements, and 68% did exercises as part of their osteoarthritis (OA) self-management. Thirty-six participants were found to have physical frailty (strength, assistance with walking, rising from a chair, climbing stairs, and falls questionnaire score > 4) which accounted for 72%. Increased pain was associated with physical frailty with odds ratio, odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.46 (1.04-2.05). This association remained significant even after the adjustment according to age and self-management.
CONCLUSION: While deferring TKA during a pandemic is unavoidable, patient monitoring for OA treatment during the waiting period is important in reducing physical frailty, ensuring the older patients' independence.
RESULTS: The results showed that compared to sub-elite athletes, elite athletes had lower scores on the DASS-21 (p = .001) and its subscales of depression (p = .003), anxiety (p = .007), and stress (p
AIM: To explore mental illness stigmatisation in Malaysian adults.
METHOD: A systematic literature review was conducted using thematic analysis to synthesise and categorise evidence. Five key themes emerged, providing insight into mental health stigmatisation.
FINDINGS: Cultural beliefs, limited knowledge of mental health and lack of education on mental health were factors influencing stigmatisation. Stigmatisation significantly affected the wellbeing and functioning of people with a mental illness. Interventions such as contact-based education effectively reduce stigmatising attitudes manifested by healthcare providers.
CONCLUSION: Establishing mental health literacy, encouraging patient contact, promoting mental health awareness and strengthening mental health policies could reduce mental illness stigmatisation and its impact in Malaysia. Future research is warranted to investigate the impact on physical wellbeing and anti-stigmatising strategies targeting the general public.
METHODS: Cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 farming households from November 2021 to February 2022. Data was collected using a face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaire. Stata version 14 software was used to analyze data. Factors associated with the prevalence of diarrhea was identified using binary logistic regression. Multivariable analysis was carried out to determine an adjusted odds ratio at a confidence level of 95% and level of significance at 0.05.
RESULTS: The overall prevalence of under-five children diarrheal cases was 22.3%. The odds of diarrhea are associated with a multitude of variables. Major wastewater-related determinants associated with diarrhea are body washing with irrigation water [AOR: 37.7, 95%CI (3.1, 358)], contaminated cloth with irrigation water [AOR:10.8,95%CI(0.6, 205)], use of protective clothing during farm work [28.9,95%CI (3.9, 215)], use of farm work cloths at home [AOR: 31.7, 95%CI (4.4, 226)], and bringing unwashed farm tools to home [94 (5.7, 1575)].
CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of under-five children diarrheal disease among wastewater irrigation households was strongly associated with factors related to occupational exposure. Thus, to decrease childhood diarrheal among urban agriculture farmers, appropriate precautions need to be taken.
METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to collect information from 502 Nepalese migrant workers in the arrival section of Tribhuvan International Airport from May to June 2019 using purposive sampling. Workers with a minimum work experience of 6 months and above were included in the study. A structured questionnaire with socio-demographic items was used along with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and WHO (five) wellbeing scale for measuring the subjective psychological wellbeing and screening for depression.
RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents was 32.97 years. Majority (41.8%) of the respondents had work experience in Qatar and 63.7% had work experience of 1-5 years. The results suggested that 14.4% had mild to severe depression while 4.4% had a moderate level of anxiety. The WHO5 wellbeing index score suggested that 14.1% of the respondents had a score below 13, which is suggestive of poor psychological wellbeing. Further, the country of work (p = 0.043), sleeping hours (p = 0.001), occupation (p = 0.044), working hours (p = 0.000), water intake (p = 0.010) and anxiety level (p = 0.000) were found to be significantly associated with depression score. Similarly, sleeping hours (p = 0.022), occupation (p = 0.016), working hours (p = 0.000), water intake (p = 0.010), and anxiety level (0.000) were significantly associated with the WHO5 wellbeing score.
CONCLUSIONS: Nepalese migrant workers in the Gulf countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain) and Malaysia bear an important burden of psychological morbidities. This highlights the need to prioritize the migrant worker's mental health by Nepal as well as Gulf countries and Malaysia.
METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study utilizing data from the National Cardiovascular Disease (NCVD)-PCI registry. The data collected (N = 28,007) were split into training set (n = 24,409) and testing set (n = 3598). Four predictive models (logistic regression [LR], random forest method, support vector machine [SVM], and artificial neural network) were developed and validated. The outcome on risk prediction were compared.
RESULTS: The demographic and clinical features of patients in the training and testing cohorts were similar. Patients had mean age ± standard deviation of 58.15 ± 10.13 years at admission with a male majority (82.66%). In over half of the procedures (50.61%), patients had chronic stable angina. Within 1 year of follow up mortality, target vessel revascularization (TVR), and composite event of mortality and TVR were 3.92%, 9.48%, and 12.98% respectively. LR was the best model in predicting mortality event within 1-year post-PCI (AUC: 0.820). SVM had the highest discrimination power for both TVR event (AUC: 0.720) and composite event of mortality and TVR (AUC: 0.720).
CONCLUSIONS: This study successfully identified optimal prediction models with the good discriminatory ability for mortality outcome and good discrimination ability for TVR and composite event of mortality and TVR with a simple machine learning framework.
METHODS: A total of 612 participants were recruited. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) examined construct validity of the ACSID-11. Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω were used to assess reliability of the ACSID-11. Pearson correlations examined relationships between ACSID-11 domains and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS9-SF) scores.
RESULTS: The CFA supported validity of the Thai version of the ACSID-11 and a four-factor structure. Specific domains of the Thai ACSID-11, particularly gaming, were positively and significantly correlated with IGDS9-SF scores.
CONCLUSIONS: Data indicate that the Thai version of the ACSID-11 is a valid and reliable instrument to assess major types of specific internet use disorders. Additional studies are needed to further examine the validity and reliability of the Thai ACSID-11.