MyMedR

Fulltext Approaches and methodological as well as interpretative issues in quality of life research in malaysia

Hasanah CI

Malays J Med Sci, 2003 Jul;10(2):60-5.

Quality of life measures are designed to enable patients' perspectives on the impact of health and healthcare interventions on their lives to be assessed and taken into account in clinical decision-making and research. This paper discusses some approaches, methodological as well as interpretative issues of health related quality of life research.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Quality of life of community-based chronic schizophrenia patients in Penang, Malaysia

Mubarak AR, Baba I, Chin LH, Hoe QS

Aust N Z J Psychiatry, 2003 Oct;37(5):577-85.

PMID: 14511086

This is a study of the quality of life (QOL) of 174 community-based chronic schizophrenia patients in Penang, Malaysia.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Fulltext What are the clinical factors that affect quality of life in adult asthmatics?

Hooi LN

Med J Malaysia, 2003 Oct;58(4):506-15.

PMID: 15190625

A study was conducted to determine the clinical factors that affect the quality of life in adult asthmatics. As part of their routine follow-up visit, 399 patients completed the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire, had peak expiratory flow rate readings (PEFR) taken and were interviewed to determine current symptom severity. The grade of severity of asthma was verified by the consultant physician in-charge. The mean age of the patients was 41.8 years and 31.8% of the patients were men. Most of the patients were Malay (64.7%), 89% had at least secondary level education and the mean duration of asthma was 17.6 years. The majority of patients had moderate or severe disease (43.6% and 55.9% respectively). For asthmatics with moderate or severe symptoms of chest tightness and/or shortness of breath, all domains of SF-36 scored significantly lower than those with mild symptoms, with the exception of the domain bodily pain. Patients with moderate/severe cough recorded significantly lower scores than those with mild cough for all domains except for bodily pain and social functioning. Only the physical functioning, role physical, general health and role emotional scores were significantly worse in those with a consultant grade of severe asthma compared to those with mild/moderate asthma. Patients with PEFR < 80% predicted had lower scores for the domains physical functioning, role physical and general health than those with PEFR > or = 80% predicted, but the scores for the other domains were similar in both groups. Quality of life is significantly impaired in adult asthmatics with current respiratory symptoms. However, consultant grade of severity of asthma and PEFR readings do not affect quality of life scores as much.
Study site: Asthma clinics, hospitals, Malaysia

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Fulltext Quality of life of the Malaysian general population: results from a postal survey using the SF-36

Azman AB, Sararaks S, Rugayah B, Low LL, Azian AA, Geeta S, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2003 Dec;58(5):694-711.

PMID: 15190656 MyJurnal

Population norms for Health Related Quality of Life using SF-36 are described. A national sample was canvassed in 2000 using a self-administered SF-36 in Bahasa Malaysia and English. Response rate was 30.6%, with 3072 usable data. Male: Female ratio was 1.04 and mean age was 39.8 years. Quality of life was affected by age and sex. Older population and women had a poorer quality of life. Population norms for Malaysia differed from those of US, Canada and Australia. The malaysian general population norm described is useful as reference point for studies in Malaysia. Variability in scores by age and sex emphasize the need to use appropriate age- or sex-specific normative data.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

The male marital satisfaction following treatment for lower urinary tract symptoms

Quek KF, Loh CS, Low WY, Razack AH, Dublin N

J Sex Marital Ther, 2003 Mar-Apr;29(2):173-6.

PMID: 12623769

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Fulltext Developing the Malaysian health system to meet the challenges of the future

Merican MI, Rohaizat Y, Haniza S

Med J Malaysia, 2004 Mar;59(1):84-93.

PMID: 15535341 MyJurnal

The Malaysian health care system is a success story among countries of equivalent socio-economic status. However there are numerous challenges faced by the nation, which create the need for changes and reform. There is rising consumer demands and expectations for high technology and high cost medical care due to improved standards of living, changing disease patterns and demographic changes, inadequate integration of health services, maldistribution of resources and the threats as well as opportunities of globalisation and liberalisation. The changes in health policy, priorities and planning for the country are guided by the country's development policies, objectives and the challenges of Vision 2020, Vision for Health and the goals of the health system in ensuring universal access, improving equity and efficiency and the quality of life of the population. The essential services in the health system of the future are information and education of individuals to empower support for the wellness paradigm. There is also a need to restructure the national health care financing and the health care delivery system. The present roles and responsibilities of MOH also need to be reviewed.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Fulltext Oral health care in the elderly population in Malaysia--a review

John J, Mani SA, Azizah Y

Med J Malaysia, 2004 Aug;59(3):433-9.

PMID: 15727396

One of the undeniable facts about living is that everyday we are getting older. By 2050, it is projected that one out of every five Malaysians will be 60 or older. The economic challenge of this demographic change will affect development and the financial implications of sustaining well being of this group are formidable and complex. This population group has extensive oral disease, medical problems that complicate their oral care, and unique dental treatment challenges. The authors discuss the problem of oral healthcare among the aged, its impediments and propose some approaches for improvement to better serve the needs of this group of vulnerable members of our nation.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Quality of life in cadaver and living-related renal transplant recipients in Kuala Lumpur hospital

Chiu SF, Wong HS, Morad Z, Loo LH

Transplant Proc, 2004 Sep;36(7):2030-1.

PMID: 15518734

To examine the quality of life in cadaver (CAD) and living-related (LRRT) renal transplant recipients.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life/psychology*

Effect of treating lower urinary tract symptoms on anxiety, depression and psychiatric morbidity: a one-year study

Quek KF, Razack AH, Chua CB, Low WY, Loh CS

Int J Urol, 2004 Oct;11(10):848-55.

PMID: 15479289

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) on anxiety, depression and psychiatric morbidity following one year of follow-up.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Initial, long-term, and durable responses to terazosin, placebo, or other therapies for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome

Cheah PY, Liong ML, Yuen KH, Teh CL, Khor T, Yang JR, et al.

Urology, 2004 Nov;64(5):881-6.

PMID: 15533470 DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2004.06.041

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the initial, long-term, and durable response rates to terazosin, placebo, or other therapies in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
METHODS: A total of 100 subjects, aged 20 to 50 years, who met the National Institutes of Health criteria for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome and had not previously been treated with alpha-blockers, were entered in a 14-week, double-blind comparison of terazosin or placebo therapy. Nonresponders and responders with subsequent relapse were treated with terazosin or other medications (open label). The criterion for response was a score of 0 to 2 on the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index quality-of-life item. The initial response was evaluated at week 14, and the long-term response was evaluated after a median of 38 weeks (range 34 to 42), regardless of any additional treatment. A durable response was defined as an initial response without additional treatment.
RESULTS: Of the 43 patients in the terazosin group, 24 (56%) had an initial response compared with 14 (33%) of 43 subjects in the placebo group (P = 0.03). Long-term responses were noted in 23 (56%) of 41 assessable subjects treated with terazosin initially compared with 12 (32%) of 38 assessable subjects treated with placebo (P = 0.03). Of the nonresponders and initial responders with relapse, 7 (41%) of 17 subjects responded to terazosin compared with 7 (21%) of 34 given other treatment (P = 0.12). Durable responses occurred in 18 (44%) of the 41 assessable patients treated initially with terazosin and in 6 (16%) of 38 treated initially with placebo (P = 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Patients treated with terazosin were more likely to have initial, long-term, and durable responses than those treated with placebo.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Fulltext Functional status of the elderly in a rural community in Malaysia

Sherina, M.S., Lekhraj, R., Mustaqim, A.

Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 2004;4(1):55-58.

MyJurnal

Functional dependence is common in hte life and may be due to the normal process of ageing or associated with physical disorders. This study was done to determine the prevalence and factors affecting functional dependence among the elderly in a rural community setting. A cross sectional study design using stratifed proportionate cluster sampling method was used in this study. All elderly residents aged 60 years old and above in the selected kampungs in Mukim Sepang were selected as respondents. The Barthel`s Index ( B1) was used to screen for functional dependence among the respondents. Functional dependence in basic Activities of Daily Living (ADL) implies that the respondent needs assistance in one or more of these tasks. Out of the 263 elderly residents, 223 agreed to participate givinga response rate 84.8%. The mean age was 69.7 years with a SD of 6.8 years. Age ranged from 60-99 years. Thirtyyfive (15.7%) of the respondents were dependent in at kast one function of the ADL. The most common problem identifed was urinary incontinence (9.9%). Functional dependence is common among our elderly population. This problem needs to be addressed by the health care personnel to improve the quality of life of the elderly.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Construction of the Mandarin version of the International Prostate Symptom Score inventory in assessing lower urinary tract symptoms in a Malaysian population

Quek KF, Chua CB, Razack AH, Low WY, Loh CS

Int J Urol, 2005 Jan;12(1):39-45.

PMID: 15661053 DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-2042.2004.00988.x

The purpose of the present study was to validate the Mandarin version of the International Prostate Symptom Score (Mand-IPSS) in a Malaysian population.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Anxiety, depression and psychosocial stress in patients with cardiac events

Michael AJ, Krishnaswamy S, Muthusamy TS, Yusuf K, Mohamed J

Malays J Med Sci, 2005 Jan;12(1):57-63.

PMID: 22605948

Stress tends to worsen the prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease. The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between stress related psychosocial factors like anxiety, depression and life events and temporally cardiac events specified as acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina 65 subjects with confirmed myocardial infarction or unstable angina were interviewed using 2 sets of questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Life Changes Stress Test, a segment of the Rahe's Stress and Coping Inventory first at time of occurrence of their cardiac event and the second time was 6 months later. Anxiety, depression and life events scores were calculated for both and recurrence of cardiac event for the 6 month duration was also recorded. Patients who had significant levels of depression and or life events were ten times more likely to have recurrence of cardiac events as compared to those without risk for either of these psychological symptoms. Anxiety, depression and stress levels are significantly increased after the onset of ischemic heart disease and could be contributing or predisposing factors for the recurrence of cardiac events for these patients.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Fulltext The feasibility, reliability and validity of the Malay McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire--Cardiff Short Form (MMQOL-CSF) in Malaysian advanced cancer population

Lua PL, Salek MS, Finlay IG, Boay AGI, Rahimah MS

Med J Malaysia, 2005 Mar;60(1):28-40.

PMID: 16250277

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment is important in healthcare outcomes. This study aimed to determine the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Malay McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire--Cardiff Short Form (MMQOL-CSF) in advanced cancer population. Patients either completed the MMQOL-CSF alone or in addition to its long version. The study recruited 116 participants (average age = 44 years old). On average, MMQOL-CSF was completed in 5.4 minutes. Most domains showed evidence of reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.76-0.92). Correlation with its long version was moderate to strong (r(s) = 0.54-0.87). The MMQOL-CSF was a feasible, reliable and valid HRQoL instrument in this population.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Ethnic differences in quality of life in adolescents among Chinese, Malay and Indians in Singapore

Ng TP, Lim LC, Jin A, Shinfuku N

Qual Life Res, 2005 Sep;14(7):1755-68.

PMID: 16119186

BACKGROUND: Health-related quality of life in adolescents and ethnic and cultural differences are not well characterized. We used the Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adolescents (QOLQA) to examine ethnic differences in reported QOL scores among Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnicities in Singapore.

METHODS: The 70-item QOLQA measuring five QOL domains (physical, psychological, independence, social and environmental) was administered to a random sample of 1363 school-children aged 10-15 years, representative of the ethnic composition of Singapore adolescents (Chinese 72%, Malays 20% and Indians 8%).

RESULTS: Indians reported the highest overall QOL (mean 3.71 +/- SD 0.54) compared to Chinese (3.59 +/- 0.43), p < 0.05, and Malays (3.58 +/- 0.44), p < 0.05. In particular, Indians had significantly higher psychological QOL scores (3.73 +/- 0.61) compared to Chinese (3.55 +/- 0.54), p < 0.01. On the other hand, Chinese scored highest on physical and independence domains (3.97 +/- 0.54), p < 0.01 compared to Malays (3.82 +/- 0.55). There were no statistically significant gender differences in QOL scores. QOL declined significantly from age 10 to 15 for overall score, psychological, physical (p < 0.01) and environmental (p < 0.05). Lower socio-economic status and the self-report of a significant health problem were significantly associated with lower overall QOL and most domains. These ethnic differences persisted after adjusting for differences in socio-economic and health status. Psychometric properties and known group construct validity appeared to be similar across different ethnic groups, but compared to Chinese (r = 0.39) or Malays (r = 0.39), Indians showed a higher correlation of psychological scores with physical score (r = 0.59) and with other domain scores.

CONCLUSION: Significant ethnic differences in reported adolescent quality of life among Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore that are independent of socioeconomic and health status suggest important cultural differences.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life/psychology*

The feasibility, reliability and validity of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Cardiff Short Form (MQOL-CSF) in palliative care population

Lua PL, Salek S, Finlay I, Lloyd-Richards C

Qual Life Res, 2005 Sep;14(7):1669-81.

PMID: 16119179 DOI: 10.1007/s11136-005-2817-8

In terminally-ill patients, effective measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) needs to be done while imposing minimal burden. In an attempt to ensure that routine HRQoL assessment is simple but capable of eliciting adequate information, the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Cardiff Short Form (MQOL-CSF: 8 items) was developed from its original version, the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL: 17 items). Psychometric properties of the MQOL-CSF were then tested in palliative care patients consisting of 55 out-patients, 48 hospice patients and 86 in-patients: The MQOL-CSF had little respondent burden (mean completion time = 3.3 min) and was evaluated as 'very clear' or 'clear' (98.2%), comprehensive (74.5%) and acceptable (96.4%). The internal consistency reliability was moderate to high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.462-0.858) and test-retest reliability (Spearman's r(s)) ranged from 0.512-0.861. Correlation was moderate to strong (0.478-0.725) between items in the short form and their analogous domains in the MQOL. Most MQOL-CSF items showed strong associations with their own domain (r(s) > or = 0.40). Scores from MQOL-CSF significantly differentiated between patients with differing haemoglobin levels (p < 0.05). Construct validity was overall supported by principal component analysis. It is concluded that the MQOL-CSF is a feasible tool with favourable psychometric properties for routine HRQoL assessment in the palliative care population.
Study site: out-patient palliative care clinic; a hospice centre and hospital inpatient wards, United Kingdom

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Factors affecting health-related quality of life among patients with lower urinary tract symptoms

Quek KF

Int J Urol, 2005 Dec;12(12):1032-6.

PMID: 16409605

This study aimed to evaluate the association of factors such as pain, lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), anxiety, depression and psychiatric morbidity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with LUTS.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

The impact of diabetes mellitus and other chronic medical conditions on health-related Quality of Life: is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?

Wee HL, Cheung YB, Li SC, Fong KY, Thumboo J

Health Qual Life Outcomes, 2005;3:2.

PMID: 15644146

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important public health concern, the impact of which is increased by the high prevalence of co-existing chronic medical conditions among subjects with DM. The aims of this study were therefore to (1) evaluate the impact of DM and co-existing chronic medical conditions on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (which could be additive, synergistic or subtractive); (2) to determine the extent to which the SF-6D (a single-index preference measure) captures the multidimensional information provided by the SF-36 (a profile measure).

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life*

Fulltext The assessment of the quality of life questionnaires

Kamarul Imran, M., Ismail, A.A., Naing, L., Wan Moharnad, W.B.

Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 2005;5(1):51-55.

MyJurnal

Health traditionally has been compared using mortality and morbidity and in recent years health related instruments have been utilized along to complement those measures. Health related quality oflife instruments are important because they provide patient's opinion and decision of management and for monitoring and evaluating health status. The quality of life instruments such as health related quality of life questionnaires are increasingly being used and these questionnaires are classified into disease specific and generic questionnaires. They require proper assessment using psychometric analysis of reliability and validity, For reliability, the two common analyses are the test-retest and internal consistency and for validity, it requires the assessment of content validity and analyses of construct validity and criterion validity. Reliable and valid quality of lhfe questionnaires provide consistent and accurate information. The purpose of this paper is to provide crucial assessment and analyses of the reliability and validity of health related quality of life questionnaires.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

Quality of life in children with acute leukaemias: preliminary study using SF36 questionnaires

Zahilah, Z., Fadzil, A., Jamal, R.

Malaysian Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2005;14(1):41-50.

MyJurnal

Life (QOL) of patients with childhood leukaemias presenting at the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM). The objectives of this pilot study were 1) To assess the feasibility and applicability of assessing quality of life in leukaemia patients using the adult-based SF-36 questionnaire. 2) To compare the differences of QOL scores among patients based on gender and treatment status. The Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF36) was used. The items in SF-36 were drawn from the original 245-item MOS questionnaire, which includes multi-item scales that measured the eight dimensions of quality of life namely physical function, role limitations (physical problems), bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, role limitations (emotional problems) and mental health. Patients with acute leukaemias were chosen to participate in the study. Twenty-eight patients were recruited, twelve were males and 16 were females. Ten patients had completed therapy whilst 18 others were still undergoing treatment. The results showed that those patients off treatment have a better quality of life than those on chemotherapy. However, this was only significant with respect to the role limitation pertaining to physical problems. Although the use of the SF-36 was feasible, there were limitations especially in the younger age group.

Matched MeSH terms: Quality of Life

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