METHODS: Through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Costs in Oncology study, 1490 newly diagnosed cancer patients were followed-up in Malaysia for 1 year. Health-related quality of life was assessed by using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and EuroQol-5 (EQ-5D) dimension questionnaires at baseline, 3 and 12 months. Psychological distress was assessed by using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Data were modeled by using general linear and logistic regressions analyses.
RESULTS: One year after diagnosis, the mean EORTC QLQ-C30 Global Health score of the cancer survivors remained low at 53.0 over 100 (SD 21.4). Fifty-four percent of survivors reported at least moderate levels of anxiety, while 27% had at least moderate levels of depression. Late stage at diagnosis was the strongest predictor of low HRQoL. Increasing age, being married, high-income status, hospital type, presence of comorbidities, and chemotherapy administration were also associated with worse HRQoL. The significant predictors of psychological distress were cancer stage and hospital type.
CONCLUSION: Cancer survivors in this middle-income setting have persistently impaired HRQoL and high levels of psychological distress. Development of a holistic cancer survivorship program addressing wider aspects of well-being is urgently needed in our settings.
METHODS: A first round of data collection was conducted in 2014 including interviews with a probability sample of 1102 households and individual interviews with 2058 males and females aged 18-59. In 2016, a second round of data collection was conducted. A fixed effects model was used in the analysis.
RESULTS: The perceived effect of the unrest on the household was associated with an increased reporting of psychiatric symptoms. Furthermore, the migration of a household member for work and the presence of children left behind were related to an increased reporting of psychiatric symptoms among adults, especially among females.
CONCLUSIONS: The unrest and its associated migration was related to an increased reporting of psychiatric symptoms among working age adults in the study population.
METHOD: A large group of adult participants (N = 1897), recruited from eight administrative divisions in Bangladesh, completed an online survey in May and June 2021 when the Movement Control Order was in place. We used the Beck Anxiety Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Perceived Stress Scale-4 to assess the participants' anxiety, depression, and stress. We also gave the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale and Life-Orientation Test-Revised to assess mindfulness and optimism.
RESULTS: The results revealed that the prevalence rates for anxiety and depression were 62.5% and 45.3%, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that several nonmodifiable factors, such as those who were students, unmarried and females, and those living in the Northern region (Rajshahi and Mymensingh division) and dwelling in the rural areas, suffered from worse mental health (accounted for 5%-23% of the variances in the mental health outcome scores). Modifiable factors accounted for an additional 10%-25% of the variances in the same outcome variables. Adults with higher mindfulness and optimism, living in the country's Southern region (Chattogram division) and those who took both vaccine doses and had no history of mental illness reported better mental health.
CONCLUSION: Anxiety, depression, and stress remained high in Bangladeshi adults after one year of the pandemic. The community-based interventions should aim to increase the mindfulness and optimism levels among the sufferers. More accelerated vaccination programs across the country could protect people from suffering from overall mental distress.
METHOD: The study included 2322 community-dwelling elderly in Malaysia, randomly selected through a multi-stage proportional cluster random sampling from Peninsular Malaysia. The elderly were surveyed on socio-demographic information, biomarkers, psychosocial status, disability, and cognitive function. A biopsychosocial model of cognitive function was developed to test variables' predictive power on cognitive function. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version 15.0) in conjunction with Analysis of Moment Structures Graphics (AMOS 7.0).
RESULTS: The estimated theoretical model fitted the data well. Psychosocial stress and metabolic syndrome (MetS) negatively predicted cognitive function and psychosocial stress appeared as a main predictor. Socio-demographic characteristics, except gender, also had significant effects on cognitive function. However, disability failed to predict cognitive function.
CONCLUSION: Several factors together may predict cognitive function in the Malaysian elderly population, and the variance accounted for it is large enough to be considered substantial. Key factor associated with the elderly's cognitive function seems to be psychosocial well-being. Thus, psychosocial well-being should be included in the elderly assessment, apart from medical conditions, both in clinical and community setting.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression, and stress) in Bangladesh and the factors associated with these symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: From 1 to 30 April 2020, we used a validated self-administered questionnaire to conduct a cross-sectional study on 10,609 participants through an online survey platform. We assessed mental health status using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The total depression, anxiety, and stress subscale scores were divided into normal, mild, moderate, severe, and multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associated factors.
Findings: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 15%, 34%, and 15% for mild, moderate, and severe depressive symptoms, respectively. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was 59% for severe anxiety symptoms, 14% for moderate anxiety symptoms, and 14% for mild anxiety symptoms, while the prevalence for stress levels were 16% for severe stress level, 22% for moderate stress level, and 13% for mild stress level. Multivariate analyses revealed that the most consistent factors associated with mild, moderate, and severe of the three mental health subscales (depression, anxiety, and stress) were respondents who lived in Dhaka and Rangpur division, females, those who self-quarantined in the previous seven days before the survey, and those respondents who experienced chills, breathing difficulty, dizziness, and sore throat.
Conclusion: Our results showed that about 64%, 87%, and 61% of the respondents in Bangladesh reported high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. There is a need for mental health support targeting women and those who self-quarantined or lived in Dhaka and Rangpur during the pandemic.