METHODOLOGY: For this research, descriptive cross-sectional study using simple random sampling method was used. Population sampling was targeted toward three government schools. The total number of respondents is 383, with all of them aged between 13 and- 16 years of age. Legal considerations were taken to maintain the confidentiality of respondents. The specific objectives are: 1. To determine the level of change of intention on smoking, 2. To know the perceived reactions of the peer groups on the appearances of students as nonsmokers, 3. To determine whether the students learned new benefits of nonsmokingand, 4. To measure the impact of a facial-aging app among students.
RESULTS: The number of respondents who smoke was 40 (10.4%), while the number of respondents who do not smoke was 343 (89.6%). About 89% of the respondents agree that their three-dimensional selfie image motivates them not to smoke. In addition, 87.8% of respondents admit that the perceived reactions of their classmates make them think that they look better as nonsmokers. After learning the effects of smoking, about 86.4% of the respondents acknowledged that they would educate their peer groups. Furthermore, 85.9% of the respondents found this "Smokerface" app enjoyable.
CONCLUSION: The facial-aging intervention was effective in motivating Malaysian pupils to stay away from tobacco use. Thus, the analysis on the study of facial app usage in smoking prevention among youngsters concludes that most of the adolescents concur that the "Smokerface" app helps in the prevention of smoking among youths.
METHODS: A qualitative study design in which 15 healthcare workers from nurses (4), pharmacists (3), medical technologies (4) and medical doctors (4) participated: two focus group of three to four participants each and eight in-depth interviews. The thematic sessions were identified, including occupational health and safety policy implementations, hazards experiences, barriers, and strategies for quality improvement for OSH. Focus groups and interviews using transcript-based analysis were identified relating to emerging themes on the challenges they had experienced while accessing provisions of OSH in their workplace.
RESULTS: Majority of the participants revealed the existence of policy on Occupational Health and Safety (provisions, guidelines and regulations on OHS from the government) and mentioned that there were limited OHS officers to supervise the healthcare workers in their workplace. Some have limited accessibility to the requirements of the implementation of OHS (free facemasks, gloves, disinfectants, machines, OSH staff, etc.) among healthcare workers, while the workload of the staff in the implementation of OHS in the workplace gradually increased. The results indicated that the respondents were knowledgeable in the implementation of OHS in the workplace, and that there was no existing ASEAN framework on the protection and promotion of the rights of healthcare workers in their workplace. Facilities need to improve health assessment, and to ensure constant evaluation of the existing laws for healthcare workers (quality assurance of existing policies) in their working areas. Direct access to OSH officers, occupational hazards education, emergency contact etc. must be improved. Adherence must be strengthened to fully comply with the OHS standards.
CONCLUSION: The researchers inferred that issues and concerns regarding compliance on provisions of occupational health and safety among health care workers must be properly addressed through immediate monitoring and reevaluation of personnel in terms of their knowledge and practices in OHS. Barriers and challenges have been identified in the study that can lead to improved compliance among healthcare workers in regards to OHS.
RESULTS: It was found that the susceptible age group were between 3 and 6 months old kids while higher infection rate occurred in those under the free-range rearing system. The clinical signs of pyrexia, anorexia, nasal discharge and lesions of pocks were not restricted to the skin but have extended into the lung and intestine. The pathogen had been confirmed in positive cases via PCR as goat pox with prevalence of 79.69%.
CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology of the current goat pox outbreak in North Vietnam denotes a significant prevalence which may affect the industry. This signals the importance of identifying the salient clinical signs and post mortem lesions of goat pox at the field level in order to achieve an effective control of the disease.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected group of 450 parents using a self-administered questionnaire. Optimum utilization of the book was defined as respondents reading all sections and recording comments in the book. Independent variables studied were sociodemographic characteristics; antenatal and breastfeeding history; child health and immunization status; perceptions and level of knowledge on the book and child health; and healthcare providers' performance. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify the associated factors of optimum utilization.
RESULTS: Out of 450 study participants, 415 completed the questionnaire and 150 (36.1%) were found to optimally utilized the book. Participants who read all sections totalled 245 (59.0%), and 242 (58.3%) respondents reported to record some comments in the book. Optimum utilization of the book was associated with older parents' age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.11) and higher education attainment (AOR: 2.21, 95% CI 1.24-3.91), with a good level of knowledge on child health record books and general child health (AOR: 3.87, 95% CI 2.27-6.61; AOR: 2.05, 95% CI 1.25-3.36) and among parents who delivered their children in government hospitals (AOR: 2.93, 95% CI 1.11-7.73).
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of child health record book utilization was low at 36.1% but difficult to compare with other studies. Based on the findings, improving the parents' knowledge of the book and general child health, particularly among younger parents with lower educational levels, and delivering the book to institutions outside government hospitals might be useful to increase the utilization.
BACKGROUND: The SDA concept refers to a specific type of dentition with intact anterior teeth and a reduction in posterior occlusal pairs. Dentists' knowledge and perceptions of the SDA concept can influence its application in clinical practice.
METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire on the SDA concept was distributed to 326 government dentists in the states of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were analysed using SPSS version 22 software.
RESULTS: The response rate was 84.0%. The majority of respondents had good knowledge on five of six knowledge items and good attitudes towards 10 of 17 perception items. However, only one-fifth (20.4%) reported having applied the SDA concept in the clinic. A larger number of participants who graduated locally than who graduated abroad perceived that patients <60 years of age, without molar support, can attain acceptable chewing function and that SDA treatment does not lead to loss of occlusal vertical dimension (P < 0.05). A larger number of participants with ≤5 years of work experience than with >5 years of work experience perceived that the SDA concept enables simpler treatment planning (P < 0.05). Finally, a larger number of participants who graduated abroad than who graduated locally observed that patients without molar support had temporomandibular joint problems (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Although Malaysian government dentists have good knowledge and perceptions of the SDA concept, it is not widely applied in the clinic. Concerted efforts in SDA training of dentists are needed to help to shorten denture waiting lists and reduce costs.
METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted using a prevalence-based approach from a societal perspective in Malaysia with a 1 year period from 2013. We used micro-costing technique with bottom-up method and included direct medical cost, direct non-medical cost, and indirect cost. The main data source was medical chart review which was conducted in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). The medical charts were identified electronically by matching the unique patient's identification number registered under the National Mental Health Schizophrenia Registry and the list of patients in HKL in 2013. Other data sources were government documents, literatures, and local websites. To ensure robustness of result, probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted.
RESULTS: The total estimated number of treated SCZ cases in Malaysia in 2015 was 15,104 with the total economic burden of USD 100 million (M) which was equivalent to 0.04% of the national gross domestic product. On average, the mean cost per patient was USD 6,594. Of the total economic burden of SCZ, 72% was attributed to indirect cost, costing at USD 72M, followed by direct medical cost (26%), costing at USD 26M, and direct non-medical cost (2%), costing at USD 1.7M.
CONCLUSION: This study highlights the magnitude of economic burden of SCZ and informs the policy-makers that there is an inadequate support for SCZ patients. More resources should be allocated to improve the condition of SCZ patients and to reduce the economic burden.
METHODS: A randomized control trial was conducted among 2120 cancer patients from April 2016 to January 2017 in ten selected government hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. Cancer patients were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received chemotherapy counselling by pharmacists based on the "Managing Patients on Chemotherapy" module. The outcomes were assessed at baseline, 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-ups after counselling. In the course of data analysis; independent sample t-test, chi-square and two-way repeated measures ANOVA were conducted.
RESULTS: Mean scores of self-esteem in the intervention group had significant difference in comparison with those of the control group in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-ups after counselling (P
Methods: Thirteen focus group discussions involving 129 participants from a weight-loss intervention program were conducted within the first 1 month of recruitment. These discussions were moderated by two trained researchers in the Malay language and assisted by an interview guide. They were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis was performed, and codes and themes from each discussion were constructed.
Results: The participants understood dieting with various meanings, including skipping meals and removing rice from daily diets. They applied numerous methods to lose weight and achieved various outcomes. Health and appearance, social support, and compliance with current trends were the factors motivating these participants to lose weight. Their determination to lose weight was limited by lack of self-control and motivation, experiences of unpleasant effects, influence on weight, and environmental and health factors.
Conclusion: Real-life weight loss experiences and perceptions provided relevant insights into current weight loss management strategies. Some of these issues and misunderstandings should be emphasized in weight loss strategies during health promotion.
PARTICIPANTS: Between 2020 and 2021, 383 children and young people with T1D who were active in the A4D supported programmes were reviewed including information on health coverage, multidisciplinary team management, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) on admission and insulin regimen.
RESULTS: Mean HbA1c between 2020 and 2021 for patients in these LMICs arereported for the first time. The average glycaemic index in the five SEAcountries reviewed between 2020 and 2021 were high at 83 mmol/mol (9.7%).
CONCLUSIONS: Government partnership working with non-government organisationsto support T1D from diagnosis to adulthood are the first steps to closing thegaps in many LMICs. Further epidemiological studies are needed to identify the glycaemic outcomes and DKA rates on admission for many of these countries.
STUDY DESIGN: Data on ID were retrieved from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 and estimated by age, sex, geographical region, and sociodemographic index (SDI).
METHODS: The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was calculated to evaluate the changing trend of age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR), and age-standardized DALYs rate (ASDR) related to ID during the period 1990-2019.
RESULTS: In Asia, there were 126,983,965.8 cases with 5,466,213.1 new incidence and 1,765,995.5 DALYs of ID in 2019. Between 1999 and 2019, the EAPC in ASIR, ASPR and ASDR were -0.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.8 to -0.4), -0.9 (95% CI, -1.2 to -0.7), and -1.6 (95% CI, -1.8 to -1.5), respectively. Malaysia charted the largest decrease in ASIR, ASPR, and ASDR (82.4%, 85.3%, and 80.9% separately), whereas the Philippines and Pakistan were the only two countries that witnessed an increase in ASIR and ASPR. ID burdens were more pronounced in women, countries located to the south of the Himalayas, and low-middle SDI regions.
CONCLUSIONS: The incidence, prevalence, and DALYs of ID in Asia substantially decreased from 1990 to 2019. Women and low-middle SDI countries have relatively high ID burdens. Governments need to pay constant attention to the implementation and monitoring of universal salt iodization.