AIMS: To determine levels of work engagement and to identify psychological and work-related characteristics predicting work engagement in employees in Malaysia.
METHODS: We recruited 5235 employees from 47 public and private organizations in Malaysia who responded to an online health survey. We assessed work engagement with the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) and psychological distress using the 6-item Kessler scale. We performed multiple linear regression to determine predictors of work engagement.
RESULTS: Employee mean age was 33.8 years (standard deviation [SD] ± 8.8). The mean work engagement score on the UWES-9 was 3.53 (SD ± 0.94). Eleven of 18 variables on multiple regression predicted work engagement, F(18, 4925) = 69.02, P < 0.001, R2 = 0.201. Factors that predicted higher work engagement were age, marital status, education level, job type, job permanency, longer sleep duration, lower psychological distress and no history of workplace bullying.
CONCLUSIONS: Key factors associated with poorer work engagement in Malaysian employees include inadequate sleep, psychological distress and a history of workplace bullying. These are modifiable factors that individuals and employers can target to improve work engagement, ideally tailored according to occupational type.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We estimated the durations of total daily sleep and daytime naps based on the amount of time in bed and self-reported napping time and examined the associations between them and the composite outcome of deaths and major cardiovascular events in 116 632 participants from seven regions. After a median follow-up of 7.8 years, we recorded 4381 deaths and 4365 major cardiovascular events. It showed both shorter (≤6 h/day) and longer (>8 h/day) estimated total sleep durations were associated with an increased risk of the composite outcome when adjusted for age and sex. After adjustment for demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviours and health status, a J-shaped association was observed. Compared with sleeping 6-8 h/day, those who slept ≤6 h/day had a non-significant trend for increased risk of the composite outcome [hazard ratio (HR), 1.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.99-1.20]. As estimated sleep duration increased, we also noticed a significant trend for a greater risk of the composite outcome [HR of 1.05 (0.99-1.12), 1.17 (1.09-1.25), and 1.41 (1.30-1.53) for 8-9 h/day, 9-10 h/day, and >10 h/day, Ptrend < 0.0001, respectively]. The results were similar for each of all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events. Daytime nap duration was associated with an increased risk of the composite events in those with over 6 h of nocturnal sleep duration, but not in shorter nocturnal sleepers (≤6 h).
CONCLUSION: Estimated total sleep duration of 6-8 h per day is associated with the lowest risk of deaths and major cardiovascular events. Daytime napping is associated with increased risks of major cardiovascular events and deaths in those with >6 h of nighttime sleep but not in those sleeping ≤6 h/night.
METHODOLOGY: Prospective series of 405 OSA patients (350 males/55 females) who had upper airway surgery. Procedures included functional endoscopic sinus surgery, septoplasty, turbinate reduction, palate/tonsil surgery, and/or tongue base surgery. Intubation difficulty (ID) was assessed using Mallampati grade, Laryngoscopic grade (Cormack and Lehane), and clinical parameters including BMI, neck circumference, thyromental distance, jaw adequacy, neck movements and glidescope grading.
RESULTS: Mean age was 41.6 years old; mean BMI 26.6; mean neck circumference 44.5cm; mean Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) was 25.0; and mean LSAT 82%. The various laryngeal grades (based on Cormack and Lehane), grade 1 - 53 patients (12.9%), grade 2A - 127 patients (31.0%), grade 2B - 125 patients (30.5%), grade 3 - 93 patients (22.7%) and grade 4 - seven patients (1.7%); hence, 24.4% had difficulties in intubation. Parameters that adversely affected intubation were, age of the patient, opening of mouth, retrognathia, overbite, overjet, limited neck extension, thyromental distance, Mallampati grade, and macroglossia (p<0.001). Body mass index (BMI) (p=0.087), neck circumference (p=0.645), neck aches (p=0.728), jaw aches (p=0.417), tonsil size (p=0.048), and AHI (p=0.047) had poor correlation with intubation. BMI-adjusted for Asians and Caucasians, showed that Asians were more likely to have difficulties in intubation (adjusted OR = 4.6 (95%Confidence Interval: 1.05 to 20.06) (p=0.043), compared to the Caucasian group.
CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that difficult intubation can be predicted pre-surgery in order to avert any anaesthetic morbidity.
METHODS: The patients included in this study were those recently diagnosed with OSA (AHI > 5) and given nCPAP therapy, as well as being referred to a sleep laboratory for an assessment of their sleep disordered breathing. Prior to the start of nCPAP therapy and polysomnography evaluation, patients were asked to complete the validated Quebec sleep questionnaire (QSQ), and their baseline measurements were recorded.
RESULTS: Among the study population, 14.41% (n = 31) had mild OSA with an apnea and hypopnea index of 5 to 14.9 events/h, while 26.97% (n = 58) had moderate OSA and 40% (n = 86) had severe OSA. The overall average apnea and hypopnea index of the study population was 30.24 ± 9.73 events/h; mild OSA patients had an average apnea and hypopnea index of 10.09 ± 2.65 events/h, moderate OSA patients had 21.48 ± 4.40 events/h, and severe OSA patients had 59.16 ± 22.14 events/h. A significant difference was observed between the scores before treatment and after 6 months of therapy in all domains of the QSQ QoL scores (P sleep apnea.
METHODS: In this analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies, we extracted data from the TriNetX electronic health records network, an international network of de-identified data from health-care records of approximately 89 million patients collected from hospital, primary care, and specialist providers (mostly from the USA, but also from Australia, the UK, Spain, Bulgaria, India, Malaysia, and Taiwan). A cohort of patients of any age with COVID-19 diagnosed between Jan 20, 2020, and April 13, 2022, was identified and propensity-score matched (1:1) to a contemporaneous cohort of patients with any other respiratory infection. Matching was done on the basis of demographic factors, risk factors for COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 illness, and vaccination status. Analyses were stratified by age group (age <18 years [children], 18-64 years [adults], and ≥65 years [older adults]) and date of diagnosis. We assessed the risks of 14 neurological and psychiatric diagnoses after SARS-CoV-2 infection and compared these risks with the matched comparator cohort. The 2-year risk trajectories were represented by time-varying hazard ratios (HRs) and summarised using the 6-month constant HRs (representing the risks in the earlier phase of follow-up, which have not yet been well characterised in children), the risk horizon for each outcome (ie, the time at which the HR returns to 1), and the time to equal incidence in the two cohorts. We also estimated how many people died after a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis during follow-up in each age group. Finally, we compared matched cohorts of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 directly before and after the emergence of the alpha (B.1.1.7), delta (B.1.617.2), and omicron (B.1.1.529) variants.
FINDINGS: We identified 1 487 712 patients with a recorded diagnosis of COVID-19 during the study period, of whom 1 284 437 (185 748 children, 856 588 adults, and 242 101 older adults; overall mean age 42·5 years [SD 21·9]; 741 806 [57·8%] were female and 542 192 [42·2%] were male) were adequately matched with an equal number of patients with another respiratory infection. The risk trajectories of outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 infection in the whole cohort differed substantially. While most outcomes had HRs significantly greater than 1 after 6 months (with the exception of encephalitis; Guillain-Barré syndrome; nerve, nerve root, and plexus disorder; and parkinsonism), their risk horizons and time to equal incidence varied greatly. Risks of the common psychiatric disorders returned to baseline after 1-2 months (mood disorders at 43 days, anxiety disorders at 58 days) and subsequently reached an equal overall incidence to the matched comparison group (mood disorders at 457 days, anxiety disorders at 417 days). By contrast, risks of cognitive deficit (known as brain fog), dementia, psychotic disorders, and epilepsy or seizures were still increased at the end of the 2-year follow-up period. Post-COVID-19 risk trajectories differed in children compared with adults: in the 6 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, children were not at an increased risk of mood (HR 1·02 [95% CI 0·94-1·10) or anxiety (1·00 [0·94-1·06]) disorders, but did have an increased risk of cognitive deficit, insomnia, intracranial haemorrhage, ischaemic stroke, nerve, nerve root, and plexus disorders, psychotic disorders, and epilepsy or seizures (HRs ranging from 1·20 [1·09-1·33] to 2·16 [1·46-3·19]). Unlike adults, cognitive deficit in children had a finite risk horizon (75 days) and a finite time to equal incidence (491 days). A sizeable proportion of older adults who received a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis, in either cohort, subsequently died, especially those diagnosed with dementia or epilepsy or seizures. Risk profiles were similar just before versus just after the emergence of the alpha variant (n=47 675 in each cohort). Just after (vs just before) the emergence of the delta variant (n=44 835 in each cohort), increased risks of ischaemic stroke, epilepsy or seizures, cognitive deficit, insomnia, and anxiety disorders were observed, compounded by an increased death rate. With omicron (n=39 845 in each cohort), there was a lower death rate than just before emergence of the variant, but the risks of neurological and psychiatric outcomes remained similar.
INTERPRETATION: This analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 showed that the increased incidence of mood and anxiety disorders was transient, with no overall excess of these diagnoses compared with other respiratory infections. In contrast, the increased risk of psychotic disorder, cognitive deficit, dementia, and epilepsy or seizures persisted throughout. The differing trajectories suggest a different pathogenesis for these outcomes. Children have a more benign overall profile of psychiatric risk than do adults and older adults, but their sustained higher risk of some diagnoses is of concern. The fact that neurological and psychiatric outcomes were similar during the delta and omicron waves indicates that the burden on the health-care system might continue even with variants that are less severe in other respects. Our findings are relevant to understanding individual-level and population-level risks of neurological and psychiatric disorders after SARS-CoV-2 infection and can help inform our responses to them.
FUNDING: National Institute for Health and Care Research Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, The Wolfson Foundation, and MQ Mental Health Research.
METHODS: Higher education students from China, Ireland, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and the United States were enrolled in a cross-sectional study from April to May 2020, which was during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for most participants. An online survey, using validated tools, was distributed to assess perceived stress, dietary behaviors, alcohol misuse, sleep quality and duration, and resilience.
RESULTS: 2254 students completed the study. Results indicated that sleep quality mediated the relationship between perceived stress and dietary behaviors as well as the relationship between perceived stress and alcohol misuse. Further, increased resilience reduced the strength of the relationship between perceived stress and dietary behaviors but not alcohol misuse.
CONCLUSION: Based on these results, higher education students are likely to benefit from sleep education and resilience training, especially during stressful events.
METHODS: This was a planned post-hoc analysis of multicenter prospective cohort study involving 1,218 at-risk surgical patients without prior diagnosis of sleep apnea. All patients underwent home sleep apnea testing (ApneaLink Plus, ResMed) simultaneously with pulse oximetry (PULSOX-300i, Konica Minolta Sensing, Inc). The predictive performance of the 4% oxygen desaturation index (ODI) versus apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) were determined.
RESULTS: Of 1,218 patients, the mean age was 67.2 ± 9.2 years and body mass index (BMI) was 27.0 ± 5.3 kg/m2. The optimal cut-off for predicting moderate-to-severe and severe OSA was ODI ≥15 events/hour. For predicting moderate-to-severe OSA (AHI ≥15), the sensitivity and specificity of ODI ≥ 15 events per hour were 88.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 85.7-90.6) and 95.4% (95% CI, 94.2-96.4). For severe OSA (AHI ≥30), the sensitivity and specificity were 97.2% (95% CI, 92.7-99.1) and 78.8% (95% CI, 78.2-79.0). The area under the curve (AUC) for moderate-to-severe and severe OSA was 0.983 (95% CI, 0.977-0.988) and 0.979 (95% CI, 0.97-0.909) respectively.
DISCUSSION: ODI from oximetry is sensitive and specific in predicting moderate-to-severe or severe OSA in at-risk surgical population. It provides an easy, accurate, and accessible tool for at-risk surgical patients with suspected OSA.