Displaying publications 81 - 95 of 95 in total

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  1. Fulltext Helminthic infections of urban and rural schoolchildren in Penang Island, Malaysia: implications for control
    Rahman WA
    Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1998 Sep;29(3):596-8.
    PMID: 10437964
    The intestinal parasites of schoolchildren from an urban and a rural area on Penang island, Malaysia were compared. Examination of stool samples for helminth eggs showed that helminths found were Trichuris, Ascaris and hookworms. The results indicate that there is no significant difference (p<0.05) between rural and urban schoolchildren as regards to the prevalence of the three species of helminths. An extensive control program targetted at schoolchildren to monitor the helminth problem on the island is suggested.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  2. Designing a prehospital system for a developing country: estimated cost and benefits
    Hauswald M, Yeoh E
    Am J Emerg Med, 1997 Oct;15(6):600-3.
    PMID: 9337371
    Many of the costs associated with prehospital care in developed countries are covered in budgets for fire suppression, police services, and the like. Determining these costs is therefore difficult. The costs and benefits of developing a prehospital care system for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which now has essentially no emergency medical services (EMS) system, were estimated. Prehospital therapies that have been suggested to decrease mortality were identified. A minimal prehospital system was designed to deliver these treatments in Kuala Lumpur. The potential benefit of these therapies was calculated by using statistics from the United States corrected for demographic differences between the United States and Malaysia. Costs were extrapolated from the current operating budget of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Primary dysrhythmias are responsible for almost all potentially survivable cardiac arrests. A system designed to deliver a defibrillator to 85% of arrests within 6 minutes would require an estimated 48 ambulances. Kuala Lumpur has approximately 120 prehospital arrhythmic deaths per year. A 6% resuscitation rate was chosen for the denominator, resulting in seven survivors. Half of these would be expected to have significant neurological damage. Ambulances cost $53,000 (US dollars) to operate per year in Kuala Lumpur; 48 ambulances would cost a total of $2.5 million. Demographic factors and traffic problems would significantly increase the cost per patient. Other therapies, including medications, airway management, and trauma care, were discounted because both their additional cost and their benefit are small. Transport of patients (including trauma) is now performed by police or private vehicle and would probably take longer by ambulance. A prehospital system for Kuala Lumpur would cost approximately $2.5 million per year. It might save seven lives, three of which would be marred by significant neurological injury. Developing countries would do well to consider alternatives to a North American EMS model.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  3. Traditional diets and meal patterns in South Africa
    Labadarios D, Walker AR, Blaauw R, Walker BF
    World Rev Nutr Diet, 1996;79:70-108.
    PMID: 9111811
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  4. Validation of the Malaysian Coping Strategy Instrument to measure household food insecurity in Kelantan, Malaysia
    Sulaiman N, Shariff ZM, Jalil RA, Taib MN, Kandiah M, Samah AA
    Food Nutr Bull, 2011 Dec;32(4):354-64.
    PMID: 22590969
    Food insecurity occurs whenever people are not able to access enough food at all times for an active and healthy life or when adequate and safe food acquired by socially acceptable ways is not available.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  5. How federal health-care policies interface with urban and rural areas: a comparison of three systems
    Baracskay D
    Glob Public Health, 2012;7(4):317-36.
    PMID: 22043815 DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2011.621962
    Global public health policies span national borders and affect multitudes of people. The spread of infectious disease has neither political nor economic boundaries, and when elevated to a status of pandemic proportions, immediate action is required. In federal systems of government, the national level leads the policy formation and implementation process, but also collaborates with supranational organisations as part of the global health network. Likewise, the national level of government cooperates with sub-national governments located in both urban and rural areas. Rural areas, particularly in less developed countries, tend to have higher poverty rates and lack the benefits of proper medical facilities, communication modes and technology to prevent the spread of disease. From the perspective of epidemiological surveillance and intervention, this article will examine federal health policies in three federal systems: Australia, Malaysia and the USA. Using the theoretical foundations of collaborative federalism, this article specifically examines how collaborative arrangements and interactions among governmental and non-governmental actors help to address the inherent discrepancies that exist between policy implementation and reactions to outbreaks in urban and rural areas. This is considered in the context of the recent H1N1 influenza pandemic, which spread significantly across the globe in 2009 and is now in what has been termed the 'post-pandemic era'.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  6. Bone health in urban midlife Malaysian women: risk factors and prevention
    Lim PS, Ong FB, Adeeb N, Seri SS, Noor-Aini MY, Shamsuddin K, et al.
    Osteoporos Int, 2005 Dec;16(12):2069-79.
    PMID: 16234999 DOI: 10.1007/s00198-005-2003-4
    The aim of this study was to identify risk factors associated with osteoporosis in urban midlife Malaysian women and to assess the effectiveness of lifestyle intervention in bone loss prevention with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a positive control. A total of 514 disease-free, uterus-intact, non-HRT-using women aged 45 years and older were recruited into the study. After initial bone mineral density (BMD) assessments, they were randomized into three groups: GI (control), G2 (lifestyle intervention), and G3 (lifestyle intervention with HRT). The study group was composed of 67.5% Chinese, 27.8% Malay, and 4.2% Indians with a mean age of 51.07+/-5.28 years. Two-fifths were postmenopausal, and the prevalence of osteoporosis was 24.1%, seen predominantly at the hip. Postmenopausal women had significantly lower mean BMD and a higher incidence of osteoporosis compared with the premenopausal women, 42.1% vs. 11.1% (p<0.0005). A lower incidence of osteoporosis was found in women who took calcium supplementation regularly as opposed to those who do not, 18.7% vs. 29.3% (p=0.036). Age and a greater postmenopausal duration showed a significant negative association with BMD, whereas higher family income, weight, body mass index, and waist and hip circumference were positively correlated. After 18-20 months, the effect of intervention was assessed based on BMD values of 279 women at baseline and after intervention. Lifestyle intervention alone was effective in premenopausal women, preventing over 90% of spinal bone loss compared with the controls, who lost 11.6% (0.046 g/cm2) bone mass with similar losses of hip bone, 2.0% (0.026 g/cm2) vs. 1.5% (0.020 g/cm2). Premenopausal women on HRT also showed a substantial decrease in spine and hip BMD, 18.6% (0.081 g/cm2) and 9.0% (0.122 g/cm2), respectively. The lifestyle intervention program retarded postmenopausal bone loss by 21% and 37% compared with controls, who lost 9.6% (0.141 g/cm2) and 6.0% (0.138 g/cm2) bone mass at the spine and hip. In comparison, lifestyle intervention with HRT increased postmenopausal BMD by 12.7% (0.216 g/cm2) at the spine and 1.9% (0.042 g/cm2) at the hip. The changes in hip BMD were influenced by current age, ethnicity, and income, while intervention had the strongest effect on spine BMD changes. In conclusion, lifestyle intervention prevented spinal bone loss in premenopausal women and retarded postmenopausal spine and hip bone loss compared with controls. The benefits of physical activity on spine and hip BMD highlight its potential as a safe and cost-effective alternative to HRT, which is not advocated because of its potential adverse effects.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  7. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study
    Leong DP, Teo KK, Rangarajan S, Lopez-Jaramillo P, Avezum A, Orlandini A, et al.
    Lancet, 2015 Jul 18;386(9990):266-73.
    PMID: 25982160 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6
    Reduced muscular strength, as measured by grip strength, has been associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Grip strength is appealing as a simple, quick, and inexpensive means of stratifying an individual's risk of cardiovascular death. However, the prognostic value of grip strength with respect to the number and range of populations and confounders is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the independent prognostic importance of grip strength measurement in socioculturally and economically diverse countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  8. Fulltext Obesity in Malaysia
    Ismail MN, Chee SS, Nawawi H, Yusoff K, Lim TO, James WP
    Obes Rev, 2002 Aug;3(3):203-8.
    PMID: 12164473 DOI: 10.1046/j.1467-789x.2002.00074.x
    This study was undertaken to assess the recent data on Malaysian adult body weights and associations of ethnic differences in overweight and obesity with comorbid risk factors, and to examine measures of energy intake, energy expenditure, basal metabolic rate (BMR) and physical activity changes in urban and rural populations of normal weight. Three studies were included (1) a summary of a national health morbidity survey conducted in 1996 on nearly 29 000 adults > or =20 years of age; (2) a study comparing energy intake, BMR and physical activity levels (PALs) in 409 ethnically diverse, healthy adults drawn from a population of 1165 rural and urban subjects 18-60 years of age; and (3) an examination of the prevalence of obesity and comorbid risk factors that predict coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes in 609 rural Malaysians aged 30-65 years. Overweight and obesity were calculated using body mass index (BMI) measures and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Energy intake was assessed using 3-d food records, BMR and PALs were assessed with Douglas bags and activity diaries, while hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and glucose intolerance were specified using standard criteria. The National Health Morbidity Survey data revealed that in adults, 20.7% were overweight and 5.8% obese (0.3% of whom had BMI values of >40.0 kg m(-2)); the prevalence of obesity was clearly greater in women than in men. In women, obesity rates were higher in Indian and Malay women than in Chinese women, while in men the Chinese recorded the highest obesity prevalences followed by the Malay and Indians. Studies on normal healthy subjects indicated that the energy intake of Indians was significantly lower than that of other ethnic groups. In women, Malays recorded a significantly higher energy intake than the other groups. Urban male subjects consumed significantly more energy than their rural counterparts, but this was not the case in women. In both men and women, fat intakes (%) were significantly higher in Chinese and urban subjects. Men were moderately active with the exception of the Dayaks. Chinese women were considerably less active than Chinese men. Chinese and Dayak women were less active than Malay and Indian women. In both men and women, Indians recorded the highest PALs. Hence, current nutrition and health surveys reveal that Malaysians are already affected by western health problems. The escalation of obesity, once thought to be an urban phenomenon, has now spread to the rural population at an alarming rate. As Malaysia proceeds rapidly towards a developed economy status, the health of its population will probably continue to deteriorate. Therefore, a national strategy needs to be developed to tackle both dietary and activity contributors to the excess weight gain of the Malaysian population.
    Study name: National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS-2006)
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  9. The health status and health needs of Chinese population in Glasgow
    Liao XH, McIlwaine G
    Scott Med J, 1995 Jun;40(3):77-80.
    PMID: 7569869
    This cross sectional study explored the health problems and health needs in the local Chinese community in Glasgow. Several data collection methods have been used in this study, including face-to-face and telephone structured interviews, postal and hand delivered questionnaires. A total of 800 questionnaires were processed, and 493 were completed, giving an overall response rate 61.6%. The results from the present survey indicated that the health status of Chinese residents in Glasgow is poorer than that of the local population. The most important findings of the study is that the Chinese community in Glasgow underuse health services, and unmet health needs exist in the community. The main barrier to effective use of present health services and benefit from the health promotion and health education programmes is language difficulties. Following discussion with the local community, options for improving the health services for the Chinese community in Glasgow were obtained. The findings of the study have implications for health service purchaser/providers of health care to the Chinese population generally in Scotland.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  10. Fulltext Protective and risk factors for acute respiratory infections in hospitalized urban Malaysian children: a case control study
    Azizi BH, Zulkifli HI, Kasim MS
    Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1995 Jun;26(2):280-5.
    PMID: 8629061
    We performed a case control study to examine protective and risk factors for acute respiratory infections (ARI) in hospitalized children in Kuala Lumpur. Consecutive children between the ages of one month and five years hospitalized for pneumonia (n = 143), acute bronchiolitis (n = 92), acute laryngotracheobronchitis (n = 32) and empyema (n = 4) were included as cases and were compared with 322 children hospitalized during the same 24 hour period for non-respiratory causes. Potential risk and protective factors were initially analysed by univariate analysis. Logistic regression analysis confirmed that several home environmental factors were significantly associated with ARI. The presence of a coughing sibling (OR = 3.76, 95%CI 2.09, 6.77), a household with more than five members (OR = 1.52, 95%CI 1.03, 2.19) and sleeping with three other persons (OR = 1.45, 95%CI 1.00, 2.08) were independent risk factors. Significant host factors were history of allergy (OR = 2.50, 95%CI 1.74, 3.61) and ethnicity (Malay race) (OR = 2.07 95%CI, 1.27, 3.37). Breast feeding for at least one month was confirmed as an independent protective factor (OR = 0.58, 95%CI 0.38, 0.86). However, the study was not able to demonstrate that domestic air pollution had an adverse effect. This study provides further evidence that home environmental factors, particularly those associated with crowding, may predispose to ARI and that breast feeding is an important protective factor.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  11. Fulltext Field bioefficacy of deltamethrin residual spraying against dengue vectors
    Rozilawati H, Lee HL, Mohd Masri S, Mohd Noor I, Rosman S
    Trop Biomed, 2005 Dec;22(2):143-8.
    PMID: 16883280 MyJurnal
    Field bioefficacy of residual-sprayed deltamethrin against Aedes vectors was evaluated in an urban residential area in Kuala Lumpur. The trial area consisted of single storey wood-brick houses and a block of flat. The houses were treated with outdoor residual spraying while the flat was used as an untreated control. Initial pre-survey using ovitrap surveillance indicated high Aedes population in the area. Deltamethrin WG was sprayed at a dosage of 25mg/m2 using a compression sprayer. The effectiveness of deltamethrin was determined by wall bioassay and ovitrap surveillance. The residual activity of 25mg/m2 deltamethrin was still effective for 6 weeks after treatment, based on biweekly bioassay results. Bioassay also indicated that both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus were more susceptible on the wooden surfaces than on brick. Aedes aegypti was more susceptible than Ae. albopictus against deltamethrin. Residual spraying of deltamethrin was not very effective against Aedes in this study since the Aedes population in the study area did not reduce as indicated by the total number of larvae collected using the ovitrap (Wilcoxon Sign Test, p> 0.05). Further studies are required to improve the effectiveness of residual spraying against Aedes vectors.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  12. The reliability of a rapid molecular detection method in determining the prevalence of rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an urban district health facility in Malaysia
    Ding CH, Ismail Z, Sulong A, Wahab AA, Gan B, Mustakim S, et al.
    Malays J Pathol, 2020 Dec;42(3):401-407.
    PMID: 33361721
    INTRODUCTION: Rifampicin is a key first-line antimycobacterial agent employed for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). This study sought to obtain prevalence data on rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis among smear-positive PTB patients in the Klang District of Malaysia.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 103 patients from the Chest Clinic of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah with sputum smears positive for acid-fast bacilli were included in this cross-sectional study. All sputa were tested using Xpert MTB/RIF to confirm the presence of M. tuberculosis complex and detect rifampicin resistance. Sputa were also sent to a respiratory medicine institute for mycobacterial culture. Positive cultures were then submitted to a reference laboratory, where isolates identified as M. tuberculosis complex underwent drug susceptibility testing (DST).

    RESULTS: A total of 58 (56.3%) patients were newly diagnosed and 45 (43.7%) patients were previously treated. Xpert MTB/RIF was able to detect rifampicin resistance with a sensitivity and specificity of 87.5% and 98.9%, respectively. Assuming that a single resistant result from Xpert MTB/RIF or any DST method was sufficient to denote resistance, a total of 8/103 patients had rifampicinresistant M. tuberculosis. All eight patients were previously treated for PTB (p<0.05). The overall prevalence of rifampicin resistance among smear-positive PTB patients was 7.8%, although it was 17.8% among the previously treated ones.

    CONCLUSION: The local prevalence of rifampicin-resistant M. tuberculosis was particularly high among previously treated patients. Xpert MTB/RIF can be employed in urban district health facilities not only to diagnose PTB in smear-positive patients, but also to detect rifampicin resistance with good sensitivity and specificity.

    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health Services
  13. Isolations of enteric pathogens from synanthropic flies trapped in downtown Kuala Lumpur
    Sulaiman S, Othman MZ, Aziz AH
    J Vector Ecol, 2000 Jun;25(1):90-3.
    PMID: 10925800
    Four species of synanthropic flies were trapped in downtown Kuala Lumpur: Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya rufifacies, Musca domestica, and Musca sorbens. Burkholderia pseudomallei, the organism causing melioidosis, was the dominant bacteria isolated from Chrysomya megacephala. Klebsiella oxytoca, commonly associated with nosocomial infections, was commonly isolated from Chrysomya megacephala, Musca domestica, and Musca sorbens. Aeromonas hydrophila, the bacteria causing gastroenteritis, was predominantly isolated from Chrysomya megacephala and also from Musca domestica and Musca sorbens. A total of 18 bacterial species was isolated from the synanthropic flies trapped. Burkholderia pseudomallei had been reported for the first time.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health
  14. Fulltext Prevalence of depression among women attending a primary urban care clinic in Malaysia
    Mohd Sidik S, Arroll B, Goodyear-Smith F, Ahmad R
    Singapore Med J, 2012 Jul;53(7):468-73.
    PMID: 22815016
    Depression affects more women than men in Malaysia. The objective of this paper was to determine the prevalence of depression and its associated factors among women attending a government primary care clinic.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health Services
  15. Feasibility, efficacy, safety, and acceptability of mifepristone-misoprostol for medical abortion in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
    Tran NT, Jang MC, Choe YS, Ko WS, Pyo HS, Kim OS
    Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 2010 Jun;109(3):209-12.
    PMID: 20206354 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.01.012
    To examine the feasibility, efficacy, safety, and acceptability of medical abortion among rural and urban women up to 56 days of pregnancy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
    Matched MeSH terms: Urban Health Services
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