METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at one hospital and 2 community pharmacies in Lahore, Pakistan, from November 2017 to July 2018, and comprised patients using calcium channel blockers. Data was collected using standardised scales to assess lower urinary tract symptoms and quality of life. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.
RESULTS: Of the 410 subjects, 315 (76.8%) were males. The overall median age was 50.84 years, IQR 19 with 126 (30.7%) aged 41-50 years. Of the total, 108 (26.3%) patients were on calcium channel blockers alone, while the rest were taking it in combination with other drugs. Prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms was 307 (74.9%); mild 103 (25.1%), moderate 201 (49.1%) and severe 106 (25.9%). The symptoms were significantly associated with reduced quality of life (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Majority calcium channel blockers users had clinically significant lower urinary tract symptoms which significantly reduced patients' quality of life.
DESIGN: A cross-sectional study.
SETTING: 11 manufacturing factories in Malaysia.
PARTICIPANTS: 177 night-shift workers aged 40-65 years old were compared with 317 non-night-shift workers.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on socio-demographics and lifestyle factors, 12-item Short Form Health Survey V.2 (SF-12v2) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The Baron and Kenny's method, Sobel test and multiple mediation model with bootstrapping were applied to determine whether PSQI score or its components mediated the association between night-shift work and HRQoL.
RESULTS: Night-shift work was associated with sleep impairment and HRQoL. Night-shift workers had significantly lower mean scores in all the eight SF-12 domains (p<0.001). Compared with non-night-shift workers, night-shift workers were significantly more likely to report poorer sleep quality, longer sleep latency, shorter sleep duration, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction (p<0.001). Mediation analyses showed that PSQI global score mediated the association between night-shift work and HRQoL. 'Subjective sleep quality' (indirect effect=-0.24, SE=0.14 and bias corrected (BC) 95% CI -0.58 to -0.01) and 'sleep disturbances' (indirect effect=-0.79, SE=0.22 and BC 95% CI -1.30 to -0.42) were mediators for the association between night-shift work and physical well-being, whereas 'sleep latency' (indirect effect=-0.51, SE=0.21 and BC 95% CI -1.02 to -0.16) and 'daytime dysfunction' (indirect effect=-1.11, SE=0.32 and BC 95% CI -1.86 to -0.58) were mediators with respect to mental well-being.
CONCLUSION: Sleep quality partially explains the association between night-shift work and poorer HRQoL. Organisations should treat the sleep quality of night-shift workers as a top priority area for action to improve their employees' overall wellbeing.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 446 older adults aged 50 years and above from 20 randomly selected villages. Respondents were interviewed to collect information on their demographic characteristics and oral health perception, followed by physical examination to measure height, weight and body mass index (BMI) of respondents. The validated Malay version of General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) was used to measure OHRQoL.
RESULTS: About one-third (35.8%) of the respondents had normal BMI. Majority of the respondents were overweight (40.4%) and obese (19.9%), while only a small proportion was underweight (3.9%). Mean GOHAI score was 53.3 (SD = 4.7), indicating low perception of oral health. About 81.6% respondents had moderate to low perception of oral health. Logistic regression analysis showed a statistically significant association between the GOHAI and BMI scores (OR = 2.3; p life was significantly associated with nutritional condition of respondents. Older adults with poor perception of their oral health were more likely to have unsatisfactory BMI compared to those who perceived their oral health to be good.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was conducted on 162 breast cancer survivors from various breast cancer support groups in Malaysia. Psychological distress status was assessed based on depression and anxiety scores by applying the Malay version of Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). Both instruments were self-administered along with a set of questionnaires comprising demographic, medical history, quality of life, and upper extremity function assessment. Outcomes from the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were analyzed for severity level of psychological distress, and its association with relevant variables, arm morbidity symptoms, as well as the duration of cancer survivorship.
RESULTS: The univariate analysis showed that breast cancer survivors with arm morbidities after breast surgery had a higher score of depression (5.0 vs 4.0, p = 0.011) and anxiety (3.0 vs 1.0, p = 0.026) than those who did not. Besides that, receiving fewer post-rehabilitation treatments (p = 0.049) and having a family history of cancer (p = 0.022) were correlated with higher anxiety level. The level of depression and anxiety was inversely proportionate with quality of life and positively correlated with greater disability of the arm function (p
METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 160 individuals with schizophrenia receiving community psychiatric services in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). The WHOQOL-BREF, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used to assess QOL, severity of symptoms and social support, respectively. The study respondents were predominantly Malay, aged less than 40, males, single, unmarried, had lower education levels and unemployed.
RESULTS: About 72% of the respondents had poor perceived social support, with support from significant others being the lowest, followed by friends and family. From multiple regression analysis, social support (total, friend and family) significantly predicted better QOL in all domains; [B=0.315 (p<0.001), B=0.670 (p<0.001), B=0.257 (p<0.031)] respectively in Physical Domain; [B=0.491 (p<0.001), B=0.735 (p<0.001), B=0.631 (p<0.001)] in Psychological Domain; [B=1.065 (p<0.001), B=0.670 (p<0.017), B=2.076 (p<0.001)] in Social Domain and; [B=0.652 (p<0.001), B=1.199 (p<0.001), B=0.678 (p<0.001)] in Environmental Domain. Being married and having shorter duration of illness, lower BPRS (total) scores, female gender and smoking, were also found to significantly predict higher QOL.
CONCLUSION: Social support is an important missing component among people with schizophrenia who are already receiving formal psychiatric services in Malaysia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey among community dwelling older persons utilizing stratified cluster sampling was conducted in 2018. Well-trained interviewers conducted a face-to-face interview with older persons aged ≥60 years to collect information on participants' sociodemographic characteristics, self-perception on general as well as oral health using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). Multivariate analysis of the data collected was performed using SPSS version 23.
RESULTS: Overall, the GOHAI mean ± SD score for older persons in Malaysia was 51.83 ± 7.98, which was an average of fair mean (P