METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Makkah and Malaysia during the 2013 hajj season. A self-administered proforma on social demographics, previous experience of hajj or umrah, smoking habits, co-morbid illness and practices of preventive measures against respiratory illness were obtained.
RESULTS: A total of 468 proforma were analysed. The prevalence of the respiratory illness was 93.4% with a subset of 78.2% fulfilled the criteria for influenza-like illness (ILI). Most of them (77.8%) had a respiratory illness of <2 weeks duration. Approximately 61.8% were administered antibiotics but only 2.1% of them had been hospitalized. Most of them acquired the infection after a brief stay at Arafat (81.2%). Vaccination coverages for influenza virus and pneumococcal disease were quite high, 65.2% and 59.4%, respectively. For other preventive measures practices, only 31.8% of them practiced good hand hygiene, ∼82.9% of pilgrims used surgical face masks, N95 face masks, dry towels, wet towels or veils as their face masks. Nearly one-half of the respondents (44.4%) took vitamins as their food supplement. Malaysian hajj pilgrims with previous experience of hajj (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.10-0.56) or umrah (OR 0.19; 95% CI 0.07-0.52) and those who have practiced good hand hygiene (OR 0.35; 95% CI 0.16-0.79) were found to be significantly associated with lower risk of having respiratory illness. Otherwise, pilgrims who had contact with those with respiratory illness (OR 2.61; 95% CI 1.12-6.09) was associated with higher risk.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of respiratory illness remains high among Malaysian hajj pilgrims despite having some practices of preventive measures. All preventive measures which include hand hygiene, wearing face masks and influenza vaccination must be practiced together as bundle of care to reduce respiratory illness effectively.
METHODS: A multistage cluster sampling method was conducted on Malaysian Umrah pilgrims during the weekly Umrah orientation course. A total of 200 Umrah pilgrims participated in the study. The knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire was distributed to pilgrims at the beginning of the orientation and retrieved immediately at the end of the orientation. Data analysis was done using R version 3.5.0 after data entry into SPSS 24. The robust maximum likelihood was used for the estimation due to the multivariate normality assumption violation. A two-factor model was tested for measurement model validity and construct validity for each of the attitude and practice domains.
RESULTS: CFA of a 25-item in total, the two-factor model yielded adequate goodness-of-fit values. The measurement model also showed good convergent and discriminant validity after model re-specification. A two-factor model was tested for measurement model validity and construct validity for each of the attitude and practice domains. The result also showed a statistically significant value (p
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the pattern of gestational weight gain (GWG) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their risk factors among a cohort of Emirati and Arab women residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A secondary objective was to investigate pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and its socio-demographic correlates among study participants.
METHODS: Data of 256 pregnant women participating in the cohort study, the Mother-Infant Study Cohort (MISC) were used in this study. Healthy pregnant mothers with no history of chronic diseases were interviewed during their third trimester in different hospitals in UAE. Data were collected using interviewer-administered multi-component questionnaires addressing maternal sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. Maternal weight, weight gain, and GDM were recorded from the hospital medical records.
RESULTS: Among the study participants, 71.1% had inadequate GWG: 31.6% insufficient and 39.5% excessive GWG. 19.1% reported having GDM and more than half of the participants (59.4%) had a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2. The findings of the multiple multinomial logistic regression showed that multiparous women had decreased odds of excessive gain as compared to primiparous [odds ratio (OR): 0.17; 95% CI: 0.05-0.54]. Furthermore, women with a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 had increased odds of excessive gain (OR: 2.23; 95%CI: 1.00-5.10) as compared to those with pre-pregnancy BMI
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2022 in a School for Special Needs in Malang City, East Java Province, Indonesia. The pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL) and Institutional and Family Support questionnaire were used to measure the HRQoL and support perceived by parents of children with ASD. We analyzed each component of the PedsQL and the Institutional and Family Support questionnaire. The independent T-test was performed to analyze the association between HRQoL and perceived support by parents of children with ASD.
FINDINGS: The results showed that most participants (72.7%) were women aged 40. As many as 69.39% of participants had more than one child, and 16.33% declared they had other children who experienced the same problem (special needs children). This study indicated that the average health-related quality of life score in children with ASD was 57.41 (9.418). The finding of this study showed a significant mean difference in HRQoL scores in children with ASD who received high institutional and family support compared to those who had low (p = 0.028, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -11.071 to 0.664).
CONCLUSION: Institutional support positively impacts children with ASD's quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to improve the adequacy of support felt by families while caring for children with ASD.
OBJECTIVES: To characterize dietary patterns among pregnant women living in the UAE and examine their associations with gestational weight gain and gestational weight rate.
METHODOLOGY: Data were drawn from the Mother-Infant Study Cohort, a two-year prospective cohort study of pregnant women living in the United Arab Emirates, recruited during their third trimester (n = 242). Weight gain during pregnancy was calculated using data from medical records. The Institute of Medicine's recommendations were used to categorize gestational weight gain and gestational weight gain rate into insufficient, adequate, and excessive. During face-to-face interviews, dietary intake was assessed using an 89-item culture-specific semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire that referred to usual intake during pregnancy. Dietary patterns were derived by principal component analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of derived dietary patterns with gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate.
RESULTS: Two dietary patterns were derived, a "Diverse" and a "Western" pattern. The "Diverse" pattern was characterized by higher intake of fruits, vegetables, mixed dishes while the "Western" pattern consisted of sweets and fast food. The "Western" pattern was associated with excessive gestational weight gain (OR:4.04,95% CI:1.07-15.24) and gestational weight gain rate (OR: 4.38, 95% CI:1.28-15.03) while the "Diverse" pattern decreased the risk of inadequate gestational weight gain (OR:0.24, 95% CI:0.06-0.97) and gestational weight gain rate (OR:0.28, 95% CI:0.09-0.90).
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that adherence to a "Diverse" pattern reduced the risk of insufficient gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate, while higher consumption of the "Western" pattern increased the risk of excessive gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate. In view of the established consequences of gestational weight gain on the health of the mother and child, there is a critical need for health policies and interventions to promote a healthy lifestyle eating through a life course approach.
METHODS: This study was conducted among Malaysian Umrah pilgrims in Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan. The questionnaire then underwent a series of validation process that included content, face validity and exploratory part. Item response theory (IRT) analysis was utilized for the validation of the knowledge domain. The attitude and practice were validated using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA).
RESULTS: The validation process resulted in a questionnaire that comprised of four main sections: demography, knowledge, attitude, and practice. Following IRT analysis of the knowledge domain, all items analyzed were within the acceptable range of difficulty and discrimination. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) was 0.72 and 0.84 for attitude and practice domain respectively and Bartlett's test of Sphericity for both domains were highly significant (P 0.3). The Cronbach's alpha for reliability of the knowledge, attitude and practice domains all showed acceptable values of > 0.6 (0.92, 0.77 and 0.85).
CONCLUSION: The findings of this validation and reliability study showed that the developed questionnaire had a satisfactory psychometric property for measuring KAP of Malaysian Hajj pilgrims.