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Fulltext Breast cancer--a comparative study between Malaysian and Singaporean women

Yip CH, Ng EH

Singapore Med J, 1996 Jun;37(3):264-7.
PMID: 8942224

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Malaysian and Singaporean women. A study done to compare the epidemiology of the disease, as well as to compare the rate of conservative surgery between Malaysian and Singaporean women was carried out. The results show that the median age at presentation was the same in both countries, and the incidence was lower among the Malays. However, there was a significant difference in the stage at presentation and the tumour size; Singaporean women presented at earlier stages and with smaller tumours compared to Malaysian women. This led to a lower rate of conservation surgery in Malaysian women.
Fulltext In-centre intermittent peritoneal dialysis: a viable interim option to an eventual definitive renal replacement therapy?

Ng EK, Goh BL, Hamdiah P

Med J Malaysia, 2012 Apr;67(2):151-4.
PMID: 22822633 MyJurnal

In-centre intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD), a decade-old modality commonly associated with acute (stab) PD, continues to play an undeniably important role of providing "temporary" renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Malaysia. In our center, IPD is commenced after insertion of Tenckhoff catheter by interventional nephrologists as an interim option until a definitive RRT is established. This study aims to describe our experience and evaluate the viability of this modality as a bridging therapy. We retrospectively analyzed 39 IPD patients from January 2007 to December 2009; looking at demographics, cause of end-stage renal disease, duration on the program, length of hospitalization, PD-related infection profile, biochemical parameters and clinical outcomes. We accumulated a total experience of 169 patient-months, the average age of patients was 54.6 +/- 11.6 years, 84.6% of them diabetics. The median duration of a patient in the program was 88 days with accumulated in-hospital stay of 45 days. Eventually 48.7% of the patients secured placement for long-term haemodialysis while 20.5% were converted to CAPD. The mortality rate was 7.7% while the peritonitis rate was at 1 per 18.8 patient months. Our study shows that IPD is a viable interim option with a low infection rate and good clinical outcome.
Simplifying four-strand flexor tendon repair using double-stranded suture: a comparative ex vivo study on tensile strength and bulking

Low TH, Ahmad TS, Ng ES

J Hand Surg Eur Vol, 2012 Feb;37(2):101-8.
PMID: 21636621 DOI: 10.1177/1753193411409840

We have compared a simple four-strand flexor tendon repair, the single cross-stitch locked repair using a double-stranded suture (dsSCL) against two other four-strand repairs: the Pennington modified Kessler with double-stranded suture (dsPMK); and the cruciate cross-stitch locked repair with single-stranded suture (Modified Sandow). Thirty fresh frozen cadaveric flexor digitorum profundus tendons were transected and repaired with one of the core repair techniques using identical suture material and reinforced with identical peripheral sutures. Bulking at the repair site and tendon-suture junctions was measured. The tendons were subjected to linear load-to-failure testing. Results showed no significant difference in ultimate tensile strength between the Modified Sandow (36.8 N) and dsSCL (32.6 N) whereas the dsPMK was significantly weaker (26.8 N). There were no significant differences in 2 mm gap force, stiffness or bulk between the three repairs. We concluded that the simpler dsSCL repair is comparable to the modified Sandow repair in tensile strength, stiffness and bulking.
Mini open carpal tunnel release using Knifelight: evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of using a single wrist incision (cadaveric study)

Teh KK, Ng ES, Choon DS

J Hand Surg Eur Vol, 2009 Aug;34(4):506-10.
PMID: 19675032 DOI: 10.1177/1753193409100962

This cadaveric study evaluates the margin of safety and technical efficacy of mini open carpal tunnel release performed using Knifelight (Stryker Instruments) through a transverse 1 cm wrist incision. A single investigator released 32 wrists in 17 cadavers. The wrists were then explored to assess the completeness of release and damage to vital structures including the superficial palmar arch, palmar cutaneous branch and recurrent branch of the median nerve. All the releases were complete and no injury to the median nerve and other structures were observed. The mean distance of the recurrent motor branch to the ligamentous divisions was 5.7 +/- 2.4 mm, superficial palmar arch was 8.7 +/- 3.1 mm and palmar cutaneous branch to the ligamentous division was 7.2 +/- 2.4 mm. The mean length of the transverse carpal ligament was 29.3 +/- 3.7 mm. Guyon's canal was preserved in all cases.
Fulltext Resection arthrodesis for primary bone tumour about the knee

Kwan MK, Ng ES, Penafort R, Saw A, Sengupta S

Med J Malaysia, 2005 Jul;60 Suppl C:66-71.
PMID: 16381287 MyJurnal

Bone defect following en bloc resection of primary bone tumor around the knee can be reconstructed by allograft or prothesis or combination of both. Resection-arthrodesis is an alternative option for young vigorous patients facing circumstances of financial constrain or limited supply of allograft. This study was undertaken to determine the outcome and complications associated with resection-arthrodesis of 22 primary bone tumors (13 giant cell tumors and 9 osteosarcomas) around the knee treated between 1990 and 2003 at the University Malaya Medical Center. The mean follow-up was 6 years (range 1-13 years). hree patients with osteosarcoma died of lung metastasis, 3 required above knee amputation and 2 defaulted follow-up. Local complications of the procedure include infection in 8 cases (36.4%), non-union 7 (31.8%) and mal-union. Of 14 patients who returned for final evaluation, 79.8% had satisfactory outcomes according to the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society grading system. In conclusion, resection-arthrodesis of the knee is a viable treatment option for selected patients with primary bone tumor around the knee, and good functional outcome can be expected in the presence of short-term local complications.
Repair of acute Achilles tendon rupture using a double-ended needle

Ng ES, Ng YO, Gupta R, Lim F, Mah E

J Orthop Surg (Hong Kong), 2006 Aug;14(2):142-6.
PMID: 16914777

To compare the results of Achilles tendon repair using a standard open procedure or a minimally invasive technique using a double-ended needle, and to determine whether the latter technique reduces the incidence of sural nerve injury and soft-tissue complications.
Giant cell tumour of bone with late presentation: review of treatment and outcome

Ng ES, Saw A, Sengupta S, Nazarina AR, Path M

J Orthop Surg (Hong Kong), 2002 Dec;10(2):120-8.
PMID: 12493923

To review cases of giant cell tumour of bone or osteoclastoma managed at the University Malaya Medical Center, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, from January 1990 to December 1999.
Surgical subspecialty training outside Malaysia during COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives and experiences of Trainees

Tan YL, Ng EHB, Diong NC

Med J Malaysia, 2021 11;76(6):906-908.
PMID: 34806681

Subspecialty surgical training is an integral part of continuous professional development. It represents a unique opportunity for surgeons to enhance and develop specific advanced skills in their sub-disciplines. Hence, hands-on training in an international training centre abroad allows one to bring home new technical and management skills in the expansion of Malaysian surgical services to raise to be on par with the international standards. The unexpected onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought in previously unknown hindrances to the training both locally and abroad but our success in engagement with international centres despite the pandemic restrictions serves as a valuable experience towards maintaining international networking for future collaborations.
Fulltext Splenic amyloidosis: a rare cause of spontaneous splenic rupture

Chan RS, Abdul Aziz YF, Chandran P, Ng EK

Singapore Med J, 2011 Nov;52(11):e232-5.
PMID: 22173263

A 62 year-old woman who presented with an atraumatic acute abdomen was discovered to have haemoperitoneum with splenic rupture on urgent computed tomography and was immediately referred for life-saving emergency splenectomy. Histopathological examination revealed secondary splenic amyloidosis. The patient was later found to be suffering from infective endocarditis secondary to her permanent cardiac pacemaker. This report describes a patient who could have suffered from a long-standing infected vegetation on a permanent cardiac pacemaker, which led to splenic amyloidosis and spontaneous splenic rupture.
An integrated index for automated detection of infarcted myocardium from cross-sectional echocardiograms using texton-based features (Part 1)

Sudarshan VK, Acharya UR, Ng EY, Tan RS, Chou SM, Ghista DN

Comput Biol Med, 2016 Apr 1;71:231-40.
PMID: 26898671 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2016.01.028

Cross-sectional view echocardiography is an efficient non-invasive diagnostic tool for characterizing Myocardial Infarction (MI) and stages of expansion leading to heart failure. An automated computer-aided technique of cross-sectional echocardiography feature assessment can aid clinicians in early and more reliable detection of MI patients before subsequent catastrophic post-MI medical conditions. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel Myocardial Infarction Index (MII) to discriminate infarcted and normal myocardium using features extracted from apical cross-sectional views of echocardiograms. The cross-sectional view of normal and MI echocardiography images are represented as textons using Maximum Responses (MR8) filter banks. Fractal Dimension (FD), Higher-Order Statistics (HOS), Hu's moments, Gabor Transform features, Fuzzy Entropy (FEnt), Energy, Local binary Pattern (LBP), Renyi's Entropy (REnt), Shannon's Entropy (ShEnt), and Kapur's Entropy (KEnt) features are extracted from textons. These features are ranked using t-test and fuzzy Max-Relevancy and Min-Redundancy (mRMR) ranking methods. Then, combinations of highly ranked features are used in the formulation and development of an integrated MII. This calculated novel MII is used to accurately and quickly detect infarcted myocardium by using one numerical value. Also, the highly ranked features are subjected to classification using different classifiers for the characterization of normal and MI LV ultrasound images using a minimum number of features. Our current technique is able to characterize MI with an average accuracy of 94.37%, sensitivity of 91.25% and specificity of 97.50% with 8 apical four chambers view features extracted from only single frame per patient making this a more reliable and accurate classification.
Data mining framework for identification of myocardial infarction stages in ultrasound: A hybrid feature extraction paradigm (PART 2)

Sudarshan VK, Acharya UR, Ng EY, Tan RS, Chou SM, Ghista DN

Comput Biol Med, 2016 Apr 1;71:241-51.
PMID: 26897481 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2016.01.029

Early expansion of infarcted zone after Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) has serious short and long-term consequences and contributes to increased mortality. Thus, identification of moderate and severe phases of AMI before leading to other catastrophic post-MI medical condition is most important for aggressive treatment and management. Advanced image processing techniques together with robust classifier using two-dimensional (2D) echocardiograms may aid for automated classification of the extent of infarcted myocardium. Therefore, this paper proposes novel algorithms namely Curvelet Transform (CT) and Local Configuration Pattern (LCP) for an automated detection of normal, moderately infarcted and severely infarcted myocardium using 2D echocardiograms. The methodology extracts the LCP features from CT coefficients of echocardiograms. The obtained features are subjected to Marginal Fisher Analysis (MFA) dimensionality reduction technique followed by fuzzy entropy based ranking method. Different classifiers are used to differentiate ranked features into three classes normal, moderate and severely infarcted based on the extent of damage to myocardium. The developed algorithm has achieved an accuracy of 98.99%, sensitivity of 98.48% and specificity of 100% for Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier using only six features. Furthermore, we have developed an integrated index called Myocardial Infarction Risk Index (MIRI) to detect the normal, moderately and severely infarcted myocardium using a single number. The proposed system may aid the clinicians in faster identification and quantification of the extent of infarcted myocardium using 2D echocardiogram. This system may also aid in identifying the person at risk of developing heart failure based on the extent of infarcted myocardium.
Computer-aided diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction using ultrasound images with DWT, GLCM and HOS methods: A comparative study

Vidya KS, Ng EY, Acharya UR, Chou SM, Tan RS, Ghista DN

Comput Biol Med, 2015 Jul;62:86-93.
PMID: 25912990 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2015.03.033

Myocardial Infarction (MI) or acute MI (AMI) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Precise and timely identification of MI and extent of muscle damage helps in early treatment and reduction in the time taken for further tests. MI diagnosis using 2D echocardiography is prone to inter-/intra-observer variability in the assessment. Therefore, a computerised scheme based on image processing and artificial intelligent techniques can reduce the workload of clinicians and improve the diagnosis accuracy. A Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) of infarcted and normal ultrasound images will be useful for clinicians. In this study, the performance of CAD approach using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), second order statistics calculated from Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) and Higher-Order Spectra (HOS) texture descriptors are compared. The proposed system is validated using 400 MI and 400 normal ultrasound images, obtained from 80 patients with MI and 80 normal subjects. The extracted features are ranked based on t-value and fed to the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to obtain the best performance using minimum number of features. The features extracted from DWT coefficients obtained an accuracy of 99.5%, sensitivity of 99.75% and specificity of 99.25%; GLCM have achieved an accuracy of 85.75%, sensitivity of 90.25% and specificity of 81.25%; and HOS obtained an accuracy of 93.0%, sensitivity of 94.75% and specificity of 91.25%. Among the three techniques presented DWT yielded the highest classification accuracy. Thus, the proposed CAD approach may be used as a complementary tool to assist cardiologists in making a more accurate diagnosis for the presence of MI.
Fatal subarachnoid haemorrhage in a patient with severe dengue

Cheo SW, Low QJ, Ng EK, Chia YK, Rajahram GS

Med J Malaysia, 2021 Jan;76(1):107-109.
PMID: 33510120

Dengue fever is one of the commonest tropical disease in the tropics. It can present with mild acute febrile illness to severe organ failure. Reported neurological complications of dengue include dengue encephalopathy, encephalitis, transverse myelitis and intracranial haemorrhage. Intracranial haemorrhage in dengue can present as subdural haematoma, extradural haematoma, intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage. We report here a case of subarachnoid haemorrhage in a patient with severe dengue. Our patient was a 30-year-old man who presented with acute febrile illness. He subsequently developed plasma leakage and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. He then had reduced conscious level. Computed tomography of his brain showed subarachnoid haemorrhage. He eventually succumbed to his illness.
Fulltext Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome secondary to dengue fever: a case report

Cheo SW, Wong HJ, Ng EK, Low QJ, Chia YK

Hong Kong Med J, 2021 02;27(1):55-57.
PMID: 33568560 DOI: 10.12809/hkmj208509
Evaluation of Aldosterone Suppression by Cinnarizine, a Putative Cav1.3 Inhibitor

Ng E, Lee YN, Taylor A, Shaheen F, Azizan E, Drake WM, et al.

J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2025 Feb 10.
PMID: 40052842 DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgaf081

CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is commonly caused by somatic mutations of CACNA1D encoding Cav1.3, one of the four L-type calcium channels. The over-the-counter drug, cinnarizine, fits the Cav1.3 crystal structure pore domain.
OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that Cav1.3 blockade by cinnarizine may achieve similar, or greater, reduction in aldosterone secretion than nonselective Cav1.2/1.3 blockade by nifedipine.
METHODS: Separate wells of angiotensin II-stimulated HAC15 cells were treated with either cinnarizine (1-30 μM) or nifedipine (1-100 μM). Aldosterone concentrations were measured in culture medium; RNA extraction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed to evaluate CYP11B2 expression. A prospective, open-label, crossover study was conducted of 15 adults with PA, treated with 2 weeks of cinnarizine 30 mg 3 times a day or nifedipine extended release 60 mg daily, separated by a 2-week washout. The hierarchical primary outcome was change in aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR), urinary tetrahydroaldosterone (THA), and plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC). Blood pressure change was a secondary outcome. Parametric analysis was undertaken on log-transformed data. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05686993).
RESULTS: Both drugs reduced aldosterone concentrations and CYP11B2 expression in vitro. Mean changes ± SEM in fold change of aldosterone concentrations and CYP11B2 were -0.47 ± 0.05 and -0.56 ± 0.07, respectively, with cinnarizine 30 μM and -0.59 ± 0.05 and -0.78 ± 0.07 with nifedipine 100 μM. In the clinical crossover trial, ARR was reduced by nifedipine but not cinnarizine (F = 3.25; P = .047); PAC rose with both drugs (F = 4.77; P = .013), but urinary THA was unchanged.
CONCLUSION: A Cav1.3 ligand, cinnarizine, reduced aldosterone secretion from adrenocortical cells, but at maximum-soluble concentrations was less effective than the nonselective calcium blocker, nifedipine. At clinical doses, cinnarizine did not reduce plasma ARR in patients with PA, and, as in vitro, was inferior to nifedipine. The limited efficacy of high-dose nifedipine may be due to incomplete Cav1.3 blockade, or to a role for non-L-type calcium channels in aldosterone secretion.
Fulltext The comparison of discomfort level between upper arm and forearm tourniquet

Ng ES, Ting JR, Foo SL, Akram SA, Fadzlina AA, Alywiah JS, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2006 Dec;61 Suppl B:23-6.
PMID: 17600989

The conventional upper arm tourniquet used for hand and wrist operations may cause significant discomfort to patient when the procedure is performed under local anaesthesia. Forearm tourniquet causes less muscle ischeamia and pain. The discomfort experienced while using a forearm and upper arm tourniquet was assessed in 96 healthy subjects. Tourniquet placed on both sides was inflated sequentially to 250mmhg for five minutes on different hand. The discomfort level was assessed using a small visual analogue scale and complications were recorded. In the upper arm tourniquet, 24.9% had mild, 60.5% had moderate and 14.6% had severe pain whereas with forearm tourniquet, 99% had mild pain and only 1% had moderate pain. Seventy-nine percent of the subjects tested with forearm tourniquet had no discomfort at all. The average discomfort level for upper arm and forearm tourniquet was 4.72 and 0.39 respectively, which is statistically significant. Complications that were observed only in upper arm tourniquet included prolonged tingling, burning sensation and discomfort and stiffness of the upper limb. We concluded that forearm tourniquet was safe and well tolerated and should be used more often when indicated.
Uricase biofunctionalized plasmonic sensor for uric acid detection with APTES-modified gold nanotopping

Onifade OA, Yusairie FA, Abu Bakar MH, Alresheedi MT, Khoon Ng E, Mahdi MA, et al.

Biosens Bioelectron, 2024 Oct 01;261:116486.
PMID: 38861811 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116486

Current uric acid detection methodologies lack the requisite sensitivity and selectivity for point-of-care applications. Plasmonic sensors, while promising, demand refinement for improved performance. This work introduces a biofunctionalized sensor predicated on surface plasmon resonance to quantify uric acid within physiologically relevant concentration ranges. The sensor employs the covalent immobilization of uricase enzyme using 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) and N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) crosslinking agents, ensuring the durable adherence of the enzyme onto the sensor probe. Characterization through atomic force microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy validate surface alterations. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm model elucidates binding kinetics, revealing a sensor binding affinity of 298.83 (mg/dL)-1, and a maximum adsorption capacity of approximately 1.0751°. The biofunctionalized sensor exhibits a sensitivity of 0.0755°/(mg/dL), a linear correlation coefficient of 0.8313, and a limit of detection of 0.095 mg/dL. Selectivity tests against potentially competing interferents like glucose, ascorbic acid, urea, D-cystine, and creatinine showcase a significant resonance angle shift of 1.1135° for uric acid compared to 0.1853° for interferents at the same concentration. Significantly, at a low uric acid concentration of 0.5 mg/dL, a distinct shift of 0.3706° was observed, setting it apart from the lower values noticed at higher concentrations for all typical interferent samples. The uricase enzyme significantly enhances plasmonic sensors for uric acid detection, showcasing a seamless integration of optical principles and biological recognition elements. These sensors hold promise as vital tools in clinical and point-of-care settings, offering transformative potential in biosensing technologies and the potential to revolutionize healthcare outcomes in biomedicine.
Fulltext Zeolite Nanoparticles for Selective Sorption of Plasma Proteins

Rahimi M, Ng EP, Bakhtiari K, Vinciguerra M, Ali Ahmad H, Awala H, et al.

Sci Rep, 2015 Nov 30;5:17259.
PMID: 26616161 DOI: 10.1038/srep17259

The affinity of zeolite nanoparticles (diameter of 8-12 nm) possessing high surface area and high pore volume towards human plasma proteins has been investigated. The protein composition (corona) of zeolite nanoparticles has been shown to be more dependent on the plasma protein concentrations and the type of zeolites than zeolite nanoparticles concentration. The number of proteins present in the corona of zeolite nanoparticles at 100% plasma (in vivo state) is less than with 10% plasma exposure. This could be due to a competition between the proteins to occupy the corona of the zeolite nanoparticles. Moreover, a high selective adsorption for apolipoprotein C-III (APOC-III) and fibrinogen on the zeolite nanoparticles at high plasma concentration (100%) was observed. While the zeolite nanoparticles exposed to low plasma concentration (10%) exhibited a high selective adsorption for immunoglobulin gamma (i.e. IGHG1, IGHG2 and IGHG4) proteins. The zeolite nanoparticles can potentially be used for selectively capture of APOC-III in order to reduce the activation of lipoprotein lipase inhibition during hypertriglyceridemia treatment. The zeolite nanoparticles can be adapted to hemophilic patients (hemophilia A (F-VIII deficient) and hemophilia B (F-IX deficient)) with a risk of bleeding, and thus might be potentially used in combination with the existing therapy.
Automated diagnosis of Age-related Macular Degeneration using greyscale features from digital fundus images

Mookiah MR, Acharya UR, Koh JE, Chandran V, Chua CK, Tan JH, et al.

Comput Biol Med, 2014 Oct;53:55-64.
PMID: 25127409 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.07.015

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the major causes of vision loss and blindness in ageing population. Currently, there is no cure for AMD, however early detection and subsequent treatment may prevent the severe vision loss or slow the progression of the disease. AMD can be classified into two types: dry and wet AMDs. The people with macular degeneration are mostly affected by dry AMD. Early symptoms of AMD are formation of drusen and yellow pigmentation. These lesions are identified by manual inspection of fundus images by the ophthalmologists. It is a time consuming, tiresome process, and hence an automated diagnosis of AMD screening tool can aid clinicians in their diagnosis significantly. This study proposes an automated dry AMD detection system using various entropies (Shannon, Kapur, Renyi and Yager), Higher Order Spectra (HOS) bispectra features, Fractional Dimension (FD), and Gabor wavelet features extracted from greyscale fundus images. The features are ranked using t-test, Kullback-Lieber Divergence (KLD), Chernoff Bound and Bhattacharyya Distance (CBBD), Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve-based and Wilcoxon ranking methods in order to select optimum features and classified into normal and AMD classes using Naive Bayes (NB), k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN), Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN), Decision Tree (DT) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using private (Kasturba Medical Hospital, Manipal, India), Automated Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) and STructured Analysis of the Retina (STARE) datasets. The proposed system yielded the highest average classification accuracies of 90.19%, 95.07% and 95% with 42, 54 and 38 optimal ranked features using SVM classifier for private, ARIA and STARE datasets respectively. This automated AMD detection system can be used for mass fundus image screening and aid clinicians by making better use of their expertise on selected images that require further examination.
Fulltext Developing consensus measures for global programs: lessons from the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Hypertension research program

Riddell MA, Edwards N, Thompson SR, Bernabe-Ortiz A, Praveen D, Johnson C, et al.

Global Health, 2017 03 15;13(1):17.
PMID: 28298233 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-017-0242-8

BACKGROUND: The imperative to improve global health has prompted transnational research partnerships to investigate common health issues on a larger scale. The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) is an alliance of national research funding agencies. To enhance research funded by GACD members, this study aimed to standardise data collection methods across the 15 GACD hypertension research teams and evaluate the uptake of these standardised measurements. Furthermore we describe concerns and difficulties associated with the data harmonisation process highlighted and debated during annual meetings of the GACD funded investigators. With these concerns and issues in mind, a working group comprising representatives from the 15 studies iteratively identified and proposed a set of common measures for inclusion in each of the teams' data collection plans. One year later all teams were asked which consensus measures had been implemented.
RESULTS: Important issues were identified during the data harmonisation process relating to data ownership, sharing methodologies and ethical concerns. Measures were assessed across eight domains; demographic; dietary; clinical and anthropometric; medical history; hypertension knowledge; physical activity; behavioural (smoking and alcohol); and biochemical domains. Identifying validated measures relevant across a variety of settings presented some difficulties. The resulting GACD hypertension data dictionary comprises 67 consensus measures. Of the 14 responding teams, only two teams were including more than 50 consensus variables, five teams were including between 25 and 50 consensus variables and four teams were including between 6 and 24 consensus variables, one team did not provide details of the variables collected and two teams did not include any of the consensus variables as the project had already commenced or the measures were not relevant to their study.
CONCLUSIONS: Deriving consensus measures across diverse research projects and contexts was challenging. The major barrier to their implementation was related to the time taken to develop and present these measures. Inclusion of consensus measures into future funding announcements would facilitate researchers integrating these measures within application protocols. We suggest that adoption of consensus measures developed here, across the field of hypertension, would help advance the science in this area, allowing for more comparable data sets and generalizable inferences.

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