Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 44 in total

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  1. Jayaraj VJ, Ng CW, Hoe VC, Chong DW, Rampal S
    BMJ Health Care Inform, 2024 Jan 18;31(1).
    PMID: 38238022 DOI: 10.1136/bmjhci-2023-100759
    OBJECTIVE: Data-driven innovations are essential in strengthening disease control. We developed a low-cost, open-source system for robust epidemiological intelligence in response to the COVID-19 crisis, prioritising scalability, reproducibility and dynamic reporting.

    METHODS: A five-tiered workflow of data acquisition; processing; databasing, sharing, version control; visualisation; and monitoring was used. COVID-19 data were initially collated from press releases and then transitioned to official sources.

    RESULTS: Key COVID-19 indicators were tabulated and visualised, deployed using open-source hosting in October 2022. The system demonstrated high performance, handling extensive data volumes, with a 92.5% user conversion rate, evidencing its value and adaptability.

    CONCLUSION: This cost-effective, scalable solution aids health specialists and authorities in tracking disease burden, particularly in low-resource settings. Such innovations are critical in health crises like COVID-19 and adaptable to diverse health scenarios.

    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  2. Peters R, Li B, Swinburn B, Allender S, He Z, Lim SY, et al.
    Bull World Health Organ, 2023 Nov 01;101(11):690-706F.
    PMID: 37961057 DOI: 10.2471/BLT.23.289973
    OBJECTIVE: To identify and analyse ongoing nutrition-related surveillance programmes led and/or funded by national authorities in countries in South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions.

    METHODS: We systematically searched for publications in PubMed® and Scopus, manually searched the grey literature and consulted with national health and nutrition officials, with no restrictions on publication type or language. We included low- and middle-income countries in the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China. We analysed the included programmes by adapting the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public health surveillance evaluation framework.

    FINDINGS: We identified 82 surveillance programmes in 18 countries that repeatedly collect, analyse and disseminate data on nutrition and/or related indicators. Seventeen countries implemented a national periodic survey that exclusively collects nutrition-outcome indicators, often alongside internationally linked survey programmes. Coverage of different subpopulations and monitoring frequency vary substantially across countries. We found limited integration of food environment and wider food system indicators in these programmes, and no programmes specifically monitor nutrition-sensitive data across the food system. There is also limited nutrition-related surveillance of people living in urban deprived areas. Most surveillance programmes are digitized, use measures to ensure high data quality and report evidence of flexibility; however, many are inconsistently implemented and rely on external agencies' financial support.

    CONCLUSION: Efforts to improve the time efficiency, scope and stability of national nutrition surveillance, and integration with other sectoral data, should be encouraged and supported to allow systemic monitoring and evaluation of malnutrition interventions in these countries.

    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  3. Sam IC, Noraini W, Sandhu SS, Norizah I, Selvanesan S, Thayan R, et al.
    J Med Virol, 2019 03;91(3):498-502.
    PMID: 30199092 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.25313
    Influenza seasonality in equatorial countries is little understood. Seasonal and alert influenza thresholds were determined for Malaysia, using laboratory-based data obtained from the Malaysia Influenza Surveillance System and a major teaching hospital, from 2011 to 2016. Influenza was present year-round, with no clear annual seasons. Variable periods of higher transmission occurred inconsistently, in November to December, January to March, July to September, or a combination of these. These coincide with seasons in the nearby southeast Asian countries or winter seasons of the northern and southern hemispheres. Changes in the predominant circulating influenza type were only sometimes associated with increased transmission. The data can provide public health interventions such as vaccines.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  4. Mohidem NA, Osman M, Muharam FM, Mohd Elias S, Shaharudin R, Hashim Z
    Geospat Health, 2021 Oct 19;16(2).
    PMID: 34672178 DOI: 10.4081/gh.2021.980
    In the last few decades, public health surveillance has increasingly applied statistical methods to analyze the spatial disease distributions. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because public health officers often lack the programming skills needed to utilize the software appropriately. This study aimed to develop a more user-friendly application by applying the CodeIgniter framework for server development, ArcGIS JavaScript for data display and a web application based on JavaScript and Hypertext Preprocessor to build the server's interface, while a webGIS technology was used for mapping. The performance of this approach was tested based on 3325 TB cases and their sociodemographic data, such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of origin, educational level, employment status, health care worker status, income status, residency status, and smoking status between 1st January 2013 and 31st December 2017 in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. These data were collected from the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic. Latitude and longitude of the location for each case was geocoded by uploading spatial data using Google Earth and the main output was an interactive map displaying location of each case. Filters are available for the selection of the various sociodemographic factors of interest. The application developed should assist public health experts to utilize spatial data for the surveillance purposes comprehensively as well as for the drafting of regulations aimed at to reducing mortality and morbidity and thus minimizing the public health impact of the disease.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  5. Musiun, Aldrin Alexander
    MyJurnal
    Infectious disease remains a public health concern in Malaysia. Efficient public health infectious disease surveillance is needed in order to address the issues posed by infectious disease. The main goal of public health infectious disease surveillance is to facilitate the control and prevention of the infectious diseases. For that, infectious disease surveillance needs involvement of multidiscipline either in government or non-government/private to ensure its success. General practitioners (GPs) have an important role in public health infectious disease surveillance considering their role and position as one of the main front liner medical personnel.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  6. Buonsenso D, Roland D, De Rose C, Vásquez-Hoyos P, Ramly B, Chakakala-Chaziya JN, et al.
    Pediatr Infect Dis J, 2021 Apr 01;40(4):e146-e150.
    PMID: 33464019 DOI: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003052
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  7. Chong DW, Jayaraj VJ, Rampal S, Said MA, Farid NDN, Zaki RA, et al.
    J Glob Health, 2020 Dec;10(2):0203100.
    PMID: 33304566 DOI: 10.7189/jogh.10.0203100
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance/methods*
  8. Tee JYH, Gan WY, Tan KA, Chin YS
    PLoS One, 2018;13(4):e0195934.
    PMID: 29664932 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195934
    The understanding on the roles of obesity and lifestyle behaviors in predicting executive function of adolescents has been limited. Low executive function proficiency may have adverse effects on adolescents' school academic performance. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationship between BMI-for-age and multiple lifestyle behaviors (operationalized as meal consumption, physical activity, and sleep quality) with executive function (operationalized as inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) on a sample of Malaysian adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (N = 513). Participants were recruited from two randomly selected schools in the state of Selangor in Malaysia. Using a self-administered questionnaire, parent participants provided information concerning their sociodemographic data, whereas adolescent participants provided information regarding their meal consumptions, physical activity, and sleep quality. The modified Harvard step test was used to assess adolescents' aerobic fitness, while Stroop color-word, digit span, and trail-making tests were used to assess adolescents' inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, respectively. Three separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for each outcome namely, inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. After adjusted for sociodemographic factors and BMI-for-age, differential predictors of inhibition and working memory were found. Habitual sleep efficiency significantly and positively predicted inhibition. Regular dinner intakes, physical activity levels, and sleep quality significantly and positively predicted working memory. Household income emerged as a consistent predictor for all executive function domains. In conclusion, an increased trend of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles among adolescents were found to be associated with poorer executive function. Regular dinner intakes, higher physical activity levels and better sleep quality predicted better executive function despite the inverse relationship between obesity and executive function. Future studies may explore how lifestyle modifications can optimize the development of executive function in adolescents as well as relieve the burden of obesity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  9. Hamzah FH, Mohd Hairon S, Yaacob NM, Musa KI
    PMID: 31295907 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16142453
    Prompt investigation of food poisoning outbreak are essential, as it usually involves a short incubation period. Utilizing the advancement in mobile technology, a mobile application named MyMAFI (My Mobile Apps for Field Investigation) was developed with the aim to be an alternative and better tool for current practices of field investigation of food poisoning outbreak. A randomized cross-over trial with two arms and two treatment periods was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed mobile application as compared to the standard paper-based format approach. Thirty-six public health inspectors from all districts in Kelantan participated in this study and they were randomized into two equal sized groups. Group A started the trial as control group using the paper-format investigation form via simulated outbreaks and group B used the mobile application. After a one-month 'washout period', the group was crossed over. The primary outcome measured was the time taken to complete the outbreak investigation. The treatment effects, the period effects and the period-by-treatment interaction were analyzed using Pkcross command in Stata software. There was a significant treatment effect with mean square 21840.5 and its corresponding F statistic 4.47 (p-value = 0.038), which indicated that the mobile application had significantly improve the reporting timeliness. The results also showed that there was a significant period effect (p-value = 0.025); however, the treatment by period interaction was not significant (p-value = 0.830). The newly developed mobile application-MyMAFI-can improve the timeliness in reporting for investigation of food poisoning outbreak.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance/methods*
  10. Dahlui M, Azzeri A, Zain MA, Mohd Noor MI, Jaafar H, Then AYH, et al.
    Medicine (Baltimore), 2020 Sep 11;99(37):e22067.
    PMID: 32925742 DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000022067
    INTRODUCTION: Coastal areas in Malaysia can have important impacts on the livelihoods and health of local communities. Efforts by Malaysian government to develop and improve the landscape and ecosystem have been planned; however, the progress has been relatively slow because some of the coastal areas are remote and relatively inaccessible. Thus, these coastal communities face various challenges in health, healthcare and quality of life. This paper presents a study protocol to examine the health status, healthcare utilisation, and quality of life among the coastal communities. In addition, the relationship between the community and their coastal environment is examined.

    METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS: The population of interest is the coastal communities residing within the Tun Mustapha Park in Sabah, Malaysia. The data collection is planned for a duration of 6 months and the findings are expected by December 2020. A random cluster sampling will be conducted at three districts of Sabah. This study will collect 600 adult respondents (300 households are estimated to be collected) at age of 18 and above. The project is a cross sectional study via face-to-face interview with administered questionnaires, anthropometrics measurements and observation of the living condition performed by trained interviewers.

    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  11. Abdul Majid H, Ramli L, Ying SP, Su TT, Jalaludin MY, Abdul Mohsein NA
    PLoS One, 2016;11(5):e0155447.
    PMID: 27187889 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155447
    Optimal nutrition is essential for healthy growth during adolescence. This study aims to investigate the baseline nutritional intake of Malaysian adolescents by gender, body mass index, and places of residence, both urban and rural. A cohort study was conducted consisting of 794 adolescents (aged 13-years) attending 15 public secondary schools from the Central (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor) and Northern (Perak) Regions of Peninsular Malaysia. Qualified dietitians conducted a 7-day historical assessment of habitual food intakes. Facilitated by flipcharts and household measurement tools, detailed information on portion sizes and meal contents were recorded. Nutritionist Pro™ Diet Analysis software was also used to analyze the dietary records.The mean age of the adolescents was 12.86 ± 0.33 y; the mean energy intake was 1659.0 ± 329.6 kcal/d. Males had significantly (P < .001) higher energy intake than females (1774.0 ± 369.8 vs 1595.2 ± 320.6 kcal/d); adolescents in rural schools consumed more energy and cholesterol (P < .001) compared to adolescents in urban schools (1706.1 ± 377.7 kcal/d and 244.1 ± 100.2 mg/d, respectively). Obese adolescents in rural schools consumed more energy and sugar (1987.6 ± 374.0 kcal/d and 48.9 ± 23.0 g/d) (p-value <0.001).The dietary intake of normal weight versus obese adolescents differs by the location of their school. Thus, the implementation of a structured and tailored intervention is recommended to help minimize this nutritional inequality.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  12. Khor BH, Sualeheen A, Sahathevan S, Chinna K, Gafor AHA, Bavanandan S, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2020 07 23;10(1):12278.
    PMID: 32704087 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68893-4
    Sources of dietary phosphate differentially contribute to hyperphosphatemia in maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients. This cross-sectional study in Malaysia investigated association between dietary patterns and serum phosphorus in MHD patients. Dietary patterns were derived by principal component analysis, based on 27 food groups shortlisted from 3-day dietary recalls of 435 MHD patients. Associations of serum phosphorus were examined with identified dietary patterns. Three dietary patterns emerged: Home foods (HFdp), Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBdp), and Eating out noodles (EO-Ndp). The highest tertile of patients in HF (T3-HFdp) pattern significantly associated with higher intakes of total protein (p = 0.002), animal protein (p = 0.001), and animal-based organic phosphate (p  2.00 mmol/l was significantly 2.35 times higher (p = 0.005) with the T3-SSBdp. The SSBdp was associated with greater consumption of inorganic phosphate and higher serum phosphorus levels.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  13. Kuan, C.H., Goh, S.G., Loo, Y.Y., Chang, W.S., Lye, Y.L., Puspanadan, S., et al.
    MyJurnal
    Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is an important foodborne pathogen which can cause foodborne listeriosis with high mortality rates especially in susceptible population groups such as pregnant women, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. The biosafety level of L. monocytogenes in chicken offal has becomes a great concern as chicken offal is a cheap source of protein and it is often served as side dishes in South East Asian countries. In Malaysia, the consumption of chicken offal has almost doubled from 5 g per capita per day in the early 1980s to 9 g per capita per day in 2009. In this study, risk assessment was conducted to estimate the risk of acquiring listeriosis from consumption of chicken offal in Malaysia. A microbial survey on the prevalence and concentration of L. monocytogenes in chicken offal were carried out in Selangor, Malaysia over a one-year period (November 2010 to October 2011). It was assumed that there were no seasonal changes in the prevalence and consumption pattern all year round. Assuming that 5.6 million people in Selangor, Malaysia consume a single serving (125 g) of chicken offal per week, it is estimated that in a year there could be 0.61 cases and 1.98 × 10-4 cases of listeriosis per 100,000 population of pregnant woman and immunocompromised individual, respectively. However, the potential for getting listeriosis among the healthy population was very low, only 1.39 × 10-8 cases per 100,000 population. This study demonstrated risk assessment model not only used as a tool to estimate the risk of acquiring illness but it can influence public health surveillance and providing data in setting appropriate level of protection.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  14. Chung WW, Chua SS, Lai PS, Morisky DE
    PLoS One, 2015;10(4):e0124275.
    PMID: 25909363 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124275
    Medication non-adherence is a prevalent problem worldwide but up to today, no gold standard is available to assess such behavior. This study was to evaluate the psychometric properties, particularly the concurrent validity of the English version of the Malaysian Medication Adherence Scale (MALMAS) among people with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia. Individuals with type 2 diabetes, aged 21 years and above, using at least one anti-diabetes agent and could communicate in English were recruited. The MALMAS was compared with the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) to assess its convergent validity while concurrent validity was evaluated based on the levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C). Participants answered the MALMAS twice: at baseline and 4 weeks later. The study involved 136 participants. The MALMAS achieved acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.565) and stable reliability as the test-retest scores showed fair correlation (Spearman's rho=0.412). The MALMAS has good correlation with the MMAS-8 (Spearman's rho=0.715). Participants who were adherent to their anti-diabetes medications had significantly lower median HbA1C values than those who were non-adherence (7.90 versus 8.55%, p=0.032). The odds of participants who were adherent to their medications achieving good glycemic control was 3.36 times (95% confidence interval: 1.09-10.37) of those who were non-adherence. This confirms the concurrent validity of the MALMAS. The sensitivity of the MALMAS was 88.9% while its specificity was 29.6%. The findings of this study further substantiates the reliability and validity of the MALMAS, in particular its concurrent validity and sensitivity for assessing medication adherence of people with type 2 diabetes in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  15. Chajès V, Biessy C, Ferrari P, Romieu I, Freisling H, Huybrechts I, et al.
    PLoS One, 2015;10(2):e0118206.
    PMID: 25675445 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118206
    BACKGROUND: Few epidemiological studies have examined the association between dietary trans fatty acids and weight gain, and the evidence remains inconsistent. The main objective of the study was to investigate the prospective association between biomarker of industrial trans fatty acids and change in weight within the large study European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort.

    METHODS: Baseline plasma fatty acid concentrations were determined in a representative EPIC sample from the 23 participating EPIC centers. A total of 1,945 individuals were followed for a median of 4.9 years to monitor weight change. The association between elaidic acid level and percent change of weight was investigated using a multinomial logistic regression model, adjusted by length of follow-up, age, energy, alcohol, smoking status, physical activity, and region.

    RESULTS: In women, doubling elaidic acid was associated with a decreased risk of weight loss (odds ratio (OR) = 0.69, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.55-0.88, p = 0.002) and a trend was observed with an increased risk of weight gain during the 5-year follow-up (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.97-1.56, p = 0.082) (p-trend

    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance*
  16. Kabir MA, Goh KL, Kamal SM, Khan MM
    PLoS One, 2013;8(7):e68728.
    PMID: 23935885 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068728
    Tobacco smoking (TS) and illicit drug use (IDU) are of public health concerns especially in developing countries, including Bangladesh. This paper aims to (i) identify the determinants of TS and IDU, and (ii) examine the association of TS with IDU among young slum dwellers in Bangladesh.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  17. Viennet E, Knope K, Faddy HM, Williams CR, Harley D
    Commun Dis Intell Q Rep, 2013 Jun;37(2):E136-43.
    PMID: 24168087
    Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a major threat to Australia given the distribution of competent vectors, and the large number of travellers returning from endemic regions. We describe current knowledge of CHIKV importations into Australia, and quantify reported viraemic cases, with the aim of facilitating the formulation of public health policy and ensuring maintenance of blood safety.
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  18. Rehman IU, Khan TM
    Disaster Med Public Health Prep, 2016 08;10(4):539-40.
    PMID: 27263952 DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2016.91
    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
  19. Singh S, Murali Sundram B, Rajendran K, Boon Law K, Aris T, Ibrahim H, et al.
    J Infect Dev Ctries, 2020 09 30;14(9):971-976.
    PMID: 33031083 DOI: 10.3855/jidc.13116
    INTRODUCTION: The novel coronavirus infection has become a global threat affecting almost every country in the world. As a result, it has become important to understand the disease trends in order to mitigate its effects. The aim of this study is firstly to develop a prediction model for daily confirmed COVID-19 cases based on several covariates, and secondly, to select the best prediction model based on a subset of these covariates.

    METHODOLOGY: This study was conducted using daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 collected from the official Ministry of Health, Malaysia (MOH) and John Hopkins University websites. An Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was fitted to the training data of observed cases from 22 January to 31 March 2020, and subsequently validated using data on cases from 1 April to 17 April 2020. The ARIMA model satisfactorily forecasted the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases from 18 April 2020 to 1 May 2020 (the testing phase).

    RESULTS: The ARIMA (0,1,0) model produced the best fit to the observed data with a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) value of 16.01 and a Bayes Information Criteria (BIC) value of 4.170. The forecasted values showed a downward trend of COVID-19 cases until 1 May 2020. Observed cases during the forecast period were accurately predicted and were placed within the prediction intervals generated by the fitted model.

    CONCLUSIONS: This study finds that ARIMA models with optimally selected covariates are useful tools for monitoring and predicting trends of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia.

    Matched MeSH terms: Public Health Surveillance
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