MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2008, 142 newly diagnosed patients with AR were seen and underwent skin prick testing with 90 patients completing the study.
RESULTS: Intermittent mild and moderate/severe AR were evident in 10% and 21.1% of the patients, while persistent mild and moderate/severe were seen in 20% and 48.9%, respectively. Rhinitis and asthma co-morbidity occurred in 28.8% with asthma incidence significantly higher in persistent AR (P = 0.002). There was no significant association between AR severity, city living and asthma co-morbidity. Nasal itchiness and sneezing were the main presenting complaints and were more common in intermittent AR (P <0.05). Sleep disturbance was associated with moderate-severe AR (P <0.05). Polypoidal mucosa was associated with asthma co-morbidity (P <0.05). Monosensitivity reaction occurred in 12.2% of patients and was associated with fungi sensitivity (P <0.05). Majority of patients were oligosensitive (52.8%) and polysensitive (34.4%) and were significantly associated with moderate-severe persistent AR (P <0.01). The highest positive skin prick reaction and the largest average wheal diameter were for the house dust mites and cat allergen (P <0.05).
CONCLUSION: Our results reflected the AR profiles in our country, which was comparable with typical profiles of the neighbouring country and other Mediterranean countries with a similar temperate climate.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Translated versions of the QLQ-C30 were obtained from the EORTC. A cross sectional study design was used to obtain data from patients receiving treatment at two teaching hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Malaysian Chinese version of QLQ-C30 was self-administered in 96 patients while the Karnofsky Performance Scales (KPS) was generated by attending surgeons. Statistical analysis included reliability, convergent, discriminate validity, and known-groups comparisons. Statistical significance was based on p value ≤0.05.
RESULTS: The internal consistencies of the Malaysian Chinese version were acceptable [Cronbach's alpha (α≥ 0.70)] in the global health status/overall quality of life (GHS/QOL), functioning scales except cognitive scale (α≤0.32) in all levels of analysis, and social/family functioning scale (α=0.63) in patients without a stoma. All questionnaire items fulfilled the criteria for convergent and discriminant validity except question number 5, with correlation with role (r = 0.62) and social/family (r = 0.41) functioning higher than with physical functioning scales (r = 0.34). The test-retest coefficients in the GHS/QOL, functioning scales and in most of the symptoms scales were moderate to high (r = 0.58 to 1.00). Patients with a stoma reported statistically significant lower physical functioning (p=0.015), social/family functioning (p=0.013), and higher constipation (p=0.010) and financial difficulty (p=0.037) compared to patients without stoma. There was no significant difference between patients with high and low KPS scores.
CONCLUSIONS: Malaysian Chinese version of the QLQ-C30 is a valid and reliable measure of HRQOL in patients with colorectal cancer.
AIM: The main aim of the present study was to design a new tool called neck pain functional limitation scale (NPFLS) for measuring disability related to neck pain and observe its reliability, concurrent validity and criterion validity.
SETTING AND DESIGN: This study was performed at the institutional hospital.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 157 subjects (neck pain group) and 25 control subjects (control group) without neck pain were recruited for this study. NPFLS was framed as a new tool for this study, which consisted of 5 domains - pain intensity, activities of daily living, social activities, functional activities and psychological factors. Neck Bournemouth questionnaire (NBQ) was used as a gold standard to measure the concurrent validity and criterion validity of the NPFLS.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Criterion validity and concurrent validity between the neck Bournemouth questionnaire (NBQ) and NPFLS scores were tested statistically using Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation test. The reliability was tested by examining the internal consistency to calculate the Cronbach's alpha value for each item in NPFLS.
RESULTS: No significant difference between NPFLS and NBQ was observed using Mann-Whitney U Test, with P value greater than 0.05 (P= 0.557). Besides that, NPFLS had a high concurrent validity (r= 0.916) and good internal consistency with high Cronbach's alpha value of (r= 0.948), which demonstrated strong correlation between the items of NPFLS and NBQ.
CONCLUSION: NPFLS demonstrated good reliability, high concurrent validity and criterion validity in this study. NPFLS can be used to assess neck pain and disability among patients with neck pain.
METHOD: Participants completed a questionnaire battery, which included the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, Beck's Depression Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Satisfaction With Life Scale.
RESULTS: Life satisfaction was negatively and significantly correlated with suicidal attitudes, loneliness and depression; and positively with health, which was negatively and significantly correlated with depression and loneliness. Self-concept was negatively correlated with loneliness and depression, depression was positively and significantly correlated with loneliness. Mediational analyses showed that the effects of loneliness and life dissatisfaction on depression were fully mediated by health.
CONCLUSION: Even though less satisfied, and particularly lonelier, individuals are more likely to report higher levels of depression, this is only the case because both higher loneliness and life dissatisfaction are associated with poorer health. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in developing nations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 93 patients recruited from University Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using a self-administered method. Tools included QLQ-C30, QLQ-CR29 and Karnofsky Performance Scales (KPS). Statistical analyses included Cronbach's alpha, test-retest correlations, multi-traits scaling and known-groups comparisons. A p value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS: The internal consistency coefficients for body image, urinary frequency, blood and mucus and stool frequency scales were acceptable (Cronbach's alpha α ≥ 0.65). However, the coefficients were low for the blood and mucus and stool frequency scales in patients with a stoma bag (α = 0.46). Test-retest correlation coefficients were moderate to high (range: r = 0.51 to 1.00) for most of the scales except anxiety, urinary frequency, buttock pain, hair loss, stoma care related problems, and dyspareunia (r ≤ 0.49). Convergent and discriminant validities were achieved in all scales. Patients with a stoma reported significantly higher symptoms of blood and mucus in the stool, flatulence, faecal incontinence, sore skin, and embarrassment due to the frequent need to change the stoma bag (p < 0.05) compared to patients without stoma. None of the scales distinguished between patients based on the KPS scores. There were no overlaps between scales in the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR29 (r < 0.40).
CONCLUSIONS: the BM version of the QLQ-CR29 indicated acceptable psychometric properties in most of the scales similar to original validation study. This questionnaire could be used to complement the QLQ-C30 in assessing HRQOL among BM speaking population with colorectal cancer.
METHODS: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study on spina bifida children aged 5-20 years, attending the paediatric spina bifida clinics of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre Kuala Lumpur and Hospital Tuanku Jaanku Seremban. Scores were obtained using the validated disease specific Parkin QOL questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to investigate factors that were determinants for these outcomes. Results were expressed as beta coefficient and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
RESULTS: A total of 54 children and adolescents aged between 5-20 years completed the questionnaires. Presence of neurogenic bowel (p=0.003), neurogenic bladder (p=0.041), shunt (p=0.044), non-ambulators (p=0.007) and being the only child in the family (p=0.037) were associated with lower QOL scores. Multivariate analysis showed presence of neurogenic bowel (β=0.375, 95%CI: 0.00, 0.15) and being the only child in the family (β=0.250, 95%CI: 0.04, 0.17) explained 22.1% of the variance in the QOL mean percentage scores.
CONCLUSION: Being a single child in the family was the only socio-demographic variable associated with lower QOL scores. Although several clinical factors appeared to contribute significantly to QOL in spina bifida children, the presence of neurogenic bowel had the greatest impact.
METHODS: A total sample of 300 subjects aged 6 to 23 months was recruited from urban suburbs of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Compliance with each IYCF indicator was computed according to WHO recommendations. Dietary intake based on two-day weighed food records was obtained from a sub-group (N = 119) of the total sample. The mean adequacy ratio (MAR) value was computed as an overall measure of dietary intake adequacy. Contributions of core IYCF indicators to MAR were determined by multinomial logistic regression.
RESULTS: Generally, the subjects showed high compliance for (i) timely introduction of complementary foods at 6 to 8 months (97.9%); (ii) minimum meal frequency among non-breastfed children aged 6 to 23 months (95.2%); (iii) consumption of iron-rich foods at 6 to 23 months (92.3%); and minimum dietary diversity (78.0%). While relatively high proportions achieved the recommended intake levels for protein (87.4%) and iron (71.4%), lower proportions attained the recommendations for calcium (56.3%) and energy (56.3%). The intake of micronutrients was generally poor. The minimum dietary diversity had the greatest contribution to MAR (95% CI: 3.09, 39.87) (p = 0.000) among the core IYCF indicators.
CONCLUSION: Malaysian urban infants and toddlers showed moderate to high compliance with WHO IYCF indicators. The robustness of the analytical approach in this study in quantifying contributions of IYCF indicators to MAR should be further investigated.
METHODS/DESIGN: Three hundred and twenty premenopausal women working in a public university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be randomized to receive either vitamin D supplement (50,000 IU weekly for 8 weeks and 50,000 IU monthly for 10 months) or placebo for 12 months. At baseline, all participants are vitamin D deficient (≤ 20 ng/ml or 50 nmol/l). Both participants and researchers will be blinded. The serum vitamin D levels of all participants collected at various time points will only be analysed at the end of the trial. Outcome measures such as 25(OH) D3, HOMA-IR, blood pressure, full lipid profiles will be taken at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Health related quality of life will be measured at baseline and 12 months. The placebo group will be given delayed treatment for six months after the trial.
DISCUSSION: This trial will be the first study investigating the effect of vitamin D supplements on both the cardiometabolic risk and quality of life among urban premenopausal women in Malaysia. Our findings will contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the role of vitamin D supplements in the primary prevention for cardiometabolic disease.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12612000452897.
AIM: Aging-associated CI can impair the ability of individuals to perform a VF test and compromise the reliability of the results. We evaluated the association between neurocognitive impairment and VF reliability indices in glaucoma patients.
METHODS: This prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in the Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Kuala Pilah, Malaysia, and included 113 eyes of 60 glaucoma patients with no prior diagnosis of dementia. Patients were monitored with the Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer using a 30-2 SITA, standard protocol, and CI was assessed using the clock drawing test (CDT). The relationships between the CDT score, MD, pattern standard deviation, Visual Field Index (VFI), fixation loss (FL), false-positive values, and FN values were analyzed using the ordinal regression model.
RESULTS: Glaucoma patients older than 65 years had a higher prevalence of CI. There was a statistically significant correlation between CDT scores and glaucoma severity, FL, FN, and VFI values (rs=-0.20, P=0.03; rs=-0.20, P=0.04; rs=-0.28, P=0.003; rs=0.21, P=0.03, respectively). In a multivariate model adjusted for age and glaucoma severity, patients with lower FN were significantly less likely to have CI (odds ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-0.93) and patients with higher MD were more likely to have CI (odds ratio, 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-1.16); false positive, FL, pattern standard deviation, and VFI showed no significant correlation.
CONCLUSION: Cognitive decline is associated with reduced VF reliability, especially with higher FN rate and overestimated MD. Screening and monitoring of CI may be important in the assessment of VF progression in glaucoma patients.