METHODS: A cross sectional study by adopting European Quality of Life scale (EQ-5D) for the assessment of HRQoL was conducted. All registered HB patients attending two public hospitals in Quetta, Pakistan were approached for study. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic and disease related characteristics of the patients. HRQoL was scored using values adapted from the United Kingdom general population survey. EQ-5D scale scores were compared with Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test. Standard multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of HRQoL. All analyses were performed using SPSS v 16.0.
RESULTS: Three hundred and ninety HB patients were enrolled in the study. Majority of the participants (n = 126, 32.3%) were categorized in the age group of 18-27 years (36.07 ± 9.23). HRQoL was measured as poor in the current study patients (0.3498 ± 0.31785). The multivariate analysis revealed a significant model (F(10, 380) = 40.04, P
METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted, using questionnaires sent to selected medical staff in a public hospital in Shandong, China (N = 1012). Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate how psychological strains influencing life satisfactions among medical staff.
RESULTS: The findings indicate that aspiration strain and deprivation strain have significantly negative impact on medical staff's life satisfaction even with other variables controlled for. Weekly working hour was a significant predictor for life satisfaction. Family factors, such as marital status and kids in the family as well as social support were important factors in influencing individuals' life satisfaction.
CONCLUSION: The current study highlights the negative associations between aspiration strain, deprivation strain and life satisfaction. The result underlines the importance of actions taken to prevent and combat psychological strains. It also provides some evidence for policy makers to improve the work environment for medical staff, such as reduce weekly working hours and enhance social support in order to increase medical staff's life satisfaction.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of self-reported low back pain (LBP), and neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) among secondary school teachers; and to evaluate the association of LBP and NSP with psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among teachers in the state of Penang, Malaysia. The participants were recruited via a two stage sampling method. Information on demographic, psychological distress, work-related psychosocial factors, and musculoskeletal pain (LBP and NSP) in the past 12 months was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) for the associations between psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors with LBP and NSP.
RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported LBP and NSP among 1482 teachers in the past 12 months was 48.0% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 45.2%, 50.9%) and 60.1% (95% CI 57.4%, 62.9%) respectively. From the multivariate analysis, self-reported LBP was associated with teachers who reported severe to extremely severe depression (PR: 1.71, 95% CI 1.25, 2.32), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.46, 95% CI 1.22, 1.75), high psychological job demand (1.29, 95% CI 1.06, 1.57), low skill discretion (1.28, 95% CI 1.13, 1.47) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99). Self-reported NSP was associated with mild to moderate anxiety (1.18, 95% CI 1.06, 1.33), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.25, 95% CI 1.09, 1.43), low supervisory support (1.13, 95% CI 1.03, 1.25) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99).
CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported LBP and NSP were common among secondary school teachers. Interventions targeting psychological distress and work-related psychosocial characteristics may reduce musculoskeletal pain among school teachers.
METHOD: We performed a cross-sectional study using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire to identify 7-12-year-old Malay children with asthma symptoms from a primary school in central Kuala Lumpur. Sixty-five of 76 children with 'ever wheeze' performed an exercise challenge test successfully in an uncontrolled environment. A random sample of 80 schoolchildren with no history of wheeze were similarly tested as controls. The relative humidity and temperature were recorded. A fall of > 15% was considered as clinically important.
RESULTS: The prevalence of EIB in schoolchildren with 'ever wheeze' was 47.7%. The prevalence of EIB in children with 'current wheeze' was 51.6%. The prevalence of EIB in controls was 7.5%. The relative humidity during the study ranged from 41 to 90%. There was no significant relationship between different humidity levels and EIB (P = 0.58, regression analysis).
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that EIB is present in asthmatic children despite the highly humid tropical environment.
METHODOLOGY: The linear growth of 101 children with CP and of their healthy controls matched for age, sex and ethnicity was measured using upper-arm length (UAL). Nutritional parameters of weight, triceps skin-fold thickness and mid-arm circumference were also measured. Total caloric intake was assessed using a 24-h recall of a 3-day food intake and calculated as a percentage of the Recommended Daily Allowance. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine nutritional, medical and sociodemographic factors associated with poor growth (using z-scores of UAL) in children with CP.
RESULTS: Compared with the controls, children with CP had significantly lower mean UAL measurements (difference between means -1.1, 95% confidence interval -1.65 to - 0.59), weight (difference between means -6.0, 95% CI -7.66 to -4.34), mid-arm circumference (difference between means -1.3, 95% CI -2.06 to -0.56) and triceps skin-fold thickness (difference between means -2.5, 95% CI -3.5 to -1.43). Factors associated with low z-scores of UAL were a lower percentage of median weight (P < 0.001), tube feeding (P < 0.001) and increasing age (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: A large proportion of Malaysian children with CP have poor nutritional status and linear growth. Nutritional assessment and management at an early age might help this group of children achieve adequate growth.
METHODS: Data for this study was extracted from the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS-2011). In this survey, data was collected using a two-stage stratified cluster sampling approach. The chi-square test and a two-level logistic regression model were used for further analysis.
RESULTS: Data from 2231 children aged 6-59 months were included for analysis. The prevalence of child anemia was noted to be 52.10%. Among these anemic children, 48.40% where from urban environment and 53.90% were from rural areas. The prevalence of mild, moderate and severe anemia among children was 57.10, 41.40 and 1.50% respectively. The two-level logistic regression model revealed that the following factors were associated with childhood anemia: children of anemic mothers (p
METHODS: This cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 involving 388 late adolescents from six government colleges in Kelantan, Malaysia, aged 18 to 19 years. They were requested to answer self-directed questionnaires with items on sociodemographic information and types of ATNP used. Other variables obtained include the environmental influence and reasons for using the products. Regression analyses between the dependent and independent variables were conducted using IBM SPSS ver. 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
RESULTS: The prevalence of ATNP use among late adolescents was 14.4%. The male sex, cigarette smoking status, and peer use were significantly associated with ATNP use. Several reasons for use were not significantly associated with ATNP use: perception of ATNP being less harmful and less addictive compared with cigarettes, curiosity, less expensive than cigarettes, to aid smoking cessation, and pleasurable flavors and taste.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ATNP use among late adolescents studying in government colleges in Kelantan is significant. There is higher perception on ATNP being less harmful and addictive than the conventional cigarette among the users compared with non-users. Significant associations are seen for the male sex, peer use, and concurrent cigarette smoking.