Introduction: Information on sick leave duration among employees with the first episode of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) throughout the world was limited. The aims of the study were to determine the sick leave duration and its predictive factors among employees diagnosed with the first episode of ACS. Methods: A cohort study was conduct- ed among employees who were admitted to the cardiology centre in the public hospitals in northeastern Malaysia. Data was collected using a designed proforma. The respondents were interviewed, and their medical records were reviewed on the second day of hospital admission. Information on sick leave duration was obtained from sick leave book in the wards. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to determine the predictive factors for sick leave duration. Results: A total of 78 respondents participated in this study. The mean (SD) age of the respondents was
47.5 (7.31) year old. The majority were male (92.3%), married (94.9%) and had a low level of education (62.8%). The sick leave duration ranged from 4 to 180 days with the median (IqR) of 35.5 (32) days. The predictive factors for sick leave duration were smoking (Adjusted b=20.1, 95% CI: 7.4, 32.8), not attending cardiac rehabilitation after discharge (Adjusted b=19.9, 95% CI: 6.7, 33.6) and presence of complication during admission (Adjusted b=28.6, 95% CI: 15.1, 42.0). Conclusion: The sick leave duration was relatively low and being a smoker, having a complica- tion during admission and not attending cardiac rehabilitation after discharged predicts a longer sick leave duration.
Introduction: Iron deficiency (ID) has recently been identified as a threat to patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of ID among HFrEF patients in a Malaysian tertiary hospital and its correlation between left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Methods: Stable patients with LVEF less than 45% were included. Demographic data, LVEF (Simpsons) and cardiac functional status were studied, along with full blood count and iron profile. Results: 81 patients with a mean LVEF of 33.6% were recruited. 43.2% of them were NYHA class II patients, followed by 38.3% class III, 13.6% class I and 4.9% class IV patients. About 2/5 of the study population were anaemic, and of those, 48.5% were iron deficient. Majority of these anaemic patients (87.5%) had an absolute iron deficiency. Pearson’s statistical analysis showed positive correlation between ejection fraction and serum ferritin (r=0.624, p< 0.001), serum iron (r= 0.302, p