METHODS: This observational study involved 50 patients recruited from the neurosurgical ward. Method of 24 h dietary recall was utilized and combined with self-administered food diaries for 2-8 days. Food consumptions including calorie intake and protein intake were analyzed using Nutritionist PRO™ (Woodinville, USA) and manual calculation based on the Malaysian food composition database (2015).
RESULTS: Patients consisted of 56% males and 44% females with the median age of 28.0 (IQR = 22.8-36.5) years, of which 92% were diagnosed as mild TBI and the remaining (8%) as moderate TBI. The Glasgow coma scale (GCS) was adopted to classify TBI severity with the score 13-15 being mild and 9-12 being moderate. The median length of hospital stay was 2 (IQR = 2.0-3.3) days. Calorie and protein intake improved significantly from day 1 to discharge day. However, the intake during discharge day was still considered as suboptimal, i.e. 75% of calorie requirement, whilst the median protein intake was only 61.3% relative to protein requirement. Moreover, the average percentages of calorie and protein intakes throughout hospitalization were remarkably lower, i.e. 52.2% and 41.0%, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Although the calorie and protein intakes had increased from baseline, hospitalized TBI patients were still at a risk to develop malnutrition as the average intakes were considerably low as compared to their requirements. Optimum nutrient intakes especially calorie and protein are crucial to ensure optimum recovery process as well as to minimize risks of infection and complications.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A total of 294 eligible participants will be recruited and allocated into 3 groups comprising of mHealth intervention alone, mHealth intervention integrated with personal medical nutrition therapy and a control group. Pretested structured questionnaires are used to obtain the respondents' personal information, anthropometry data, prenatal knowledge, physical activity, psychosocial well-being, dietary intake, quality of life, sleep quality and GWG. There will be at least three time points of data collection, with all participants recruited during their first or second trimester will be followed up prospectively (after 3 months or/and after 6 months) until delivery. Generalised linear mixed models will be used to compare the mean changes of outcome measures over the entire study period between the three groups.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approvals were obtained from the ethics committee of human subjects research of Universiti Putra Malaysia (JKEUPM-2022-072) and medical research & ethics committee, Ministry of Health Malaysia: NMRR ID-22-00622-EPU(IIR). The results will be disseminated through journals and conferences targeting stakeholders involved in nutrition research.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinicaltrial.gov ID: NCT05377151.
METHODS: We randomized 108 overweight and obese patients with T2D (46 M/62F; age 60 ± 10 years; HbA1c 8.07 ± 1.05%; weight 101.4 ± 21.1 kg and BMI 35.2 ± 7.7 kg/m2) into three groups. Group A met with RDN to develop an individualized eating plan. Group B met with RDN and followed a structured meal plan. Group C did similar to group B and received weekly phone support by RDN.
RESULTS: After 16 weeks, all three groups had a significant reduction of their energy intake compared to baseline. HbA1c did not change from baseline in group A, but decreased significantly in groups B (- 0.66%, 95% CI -1.03 to - 0.30) and C (- 0.61%, 95% CI -1.0 to - 0.23) (p value for difference among groups over time
METHODS: Using a purposive sampling method, this study was conducted on dietitians practising in the Malaysian hospitals (government and private). The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), a validated 16-item questionnaire was self-administered, either by online survey method or face-to-face method. Additional information on gender, ethnicity, years of experience and percentage of working time spent on clinical, administrative and other areas were collected.
RESULTS: A total of 69 dietitians participated in the study (private (n = 36) and government (n = 33)). The dietitians' mean total TEQ scores were 49.72 ± 5.62 (score ranged between 35 and 63). Significant difference of mean total TEQ scores was found between dietitians from private (51.06 ± 5.26) and government hospitals (48.27 ± 5.72). There was no significant difference in the level of empathy by gender, ethnicity, years of experience and percentage of time spent on clinical consultations, administration or others while at work.
CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study showed that there were differences in empathy level of Malaysian dietitians by work setting. This preliminary finding serves as a baseline for future studies and could facilitate the development of dietetics education in Malaysia.