METHODS: We used data from The National Medical Care Survey (NMCS), a national cross-sectional survey of patients' visits to primary care clinics in Malaysia. A weighted total of 22,832 encounters of patients aged ≥65 years were analysed. Polypharmacy was defined as concomitant use of five medications and above. Multilevel logistic regression was performed to examine the association of polypharmacy with patient, prescriber and practice characteristics.
RESULTS: A total of 20.3% of the older primary care attenders experienced polypharmacy (26.7%% in public and 11.0% in private practice). The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of polypharmacy were 6.37 times greater in public practices. Polypharmacy was associated with patients of female gender (OR 1.49), primary education level (OR 1.61) and multimorbidity (OR 14.21). The variation in rate of polypharmacy was mainly found at prescriber level.
CONCLUSION: Polypharmacy is common among older persons visiting primary care practices. Given the possible adverse outcomes, interventions to reduce the burden of polypharmacy are best to be directed at individual prescribers.
Methods: The respondents were conveniently selected among visitors attending an outpatient clinic in a tertiary hospital. We excluded those with any cancers, chronic diseases and those that were illiterate. The exploratory factor and reliability analyses were conducted.
Results: A total of 108 respondents were recruited of which 67.7% were males and the mean age was 54.59 years (standard deviation 8.93). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy values for KAP were 0.64, 0.66 and 0.67, respectively (P < 0.001). The 17 items of knowledge formed five domains with loading factors ranging from 0.54-0.89. The six items of attitude formed two domains with loading factors ranging from 0.64-0.80 and the 15 practices had four domains with loading factors ranging from 0.52-0.83. The total variances explained for each KAP were 61.02%, 56.41% and 53.12%, respectively. The internal consistency Cronbach alpha values on KAP were 0.61, 0.60 and 0.70, respectively.
Conclusion: The final questionnaire is suitable for measuring KAP related to CRC among the Malay population.
Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional study involving a total of 447 pregnant women who attended the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), Malaysia. A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect participant data.
Results: Most of pregnant women had taken medication during pregnancy and more than half of them (52.8%) showed a poor level of knowledge about the medication use during pregnancy. Eighty-three percent had a poor level of awareness and 56.5% had negative beliefs. Age and education level were significantly associated with the level of knowledge regarding medication use during pregnancy. Multiparous pregnant women, and pregnant women from rural areas were observed to have a higher level of awareness compared with those who lived in urban areas. Use of medication during pregnancy was determined to be significantly associated with education level, and race.
Conclusion: Although there was prevalent use of medication among pregnant women, many had negative beliefs, and insufficient knowledge and awareness about the risks of taking medication during pregnancy. Several sociodemographic characteristics were significantly associated with the use (race and education level), level of knowledge (age and education level), awareness (parity and place of residence), and beliefs (race, education level, and occupation status) towards medication use during pregnancy.