The health status of Orang Asli (OA) in Malaysia often lag behind other races with under-nutrition and communicable diseases remain significant. While there is an upward trend of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in this country due to modernisation of lifestyle, how this change affecting OA is a public health interest. Materials and method: A community based survey was conducted involving 225 OA from Jakun tribe aged above 18 years living in three villages around Tasik Chini, Pahang in 2017. Results: There were low prevalence of overweight and high blood pressure (18.8% and 14.2%). Random blood sugar 5.6 mmol/L was found in 23.4% but only five villagers (0.02%) were eventually diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Majority (63.7%) of OA in the three villages smoke products of tobacco. Conclusion: The NCD risk among this fringe OA community is still insignificant as shown by low prevalence of overweight, high blood pressure, and diabetes even when compared to national figures for other Bumiputera in Malaysia (30%, 18.6%, and 10.7% respectively). However, the prevalence of smoking was strikingly higher than 2015 national figure for other Bumiputera (25.8%). This is contributed by high rate of smoking among women and established cultural practice. The findings highlighted the need for customization in smoking intervention for OA.
Systolic Time Interval (STI) is a simple,noninvasive and precise technique to assess left ventricular (LV) function. It measures aortic Pre-Ejection Period (PEP) over Left Ventricular Ejection Time (LVET) from echocardiogram. Thyrotoxicosis will enhance LV function and cause reduction of STI. This study was perform to measure the changes of STI after administration of high dose L-thyroxine and to determine the correlation between high dose L-thyroxine administration and STI. Materials and Method: A Total of 22 patients were screened. Those with cardiac diseases and high Framingham risk score were excluded. Nine patients were started on high dose L-thyroxine (7x their usual dose) once a week during the month of Ramadan.Thyroid hormones ( T3,T4,TSH)Â and STI (PEP/LVET) were measured at baseline and within 24 hrs after high dose L-thyroxine ingestion. Results: All patients have normal thyroid hormones level and normal cardiac function at baseline. The median dose (mcg) of L-thyroxine was 600 (437.5,700) while the median level of fT4 (pmol/L) was 17.43(12.38,20.8). Despite the significant increment of fT4 after Lthyroxine ingestion [baseline 13.21(8.19,14.63) vs high dose 17.43(12.38,22.55) p; 0.011] there was no significant change in STI [baseline 0.3(0.2,0.4) vs high dose 0.28(0.26,0.45) p; 0.513]. There was no correlation found between the dose of Lthyroxine and STI (r=0.244 , p;0.526). Conclusion: Administration of high dose Lthyroxine did not significantly alter STI despite significant increment of fT4 level unlike the naturally occurring thyrotoxicosis.Therefore ‘exogenous’ administration of high dose L-thyroxine is cardiac safe.
Smartphones has now become a common and almost essential tool in our daily living activities. Students are among those who uses smartphones regularly which could lead to addiction if overused. This study aims to measure the prevalence of smartphone addiction and its relationship with psychological health among clinical year medical students in International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan. Materials and method: A total of 203 Medical students in their clinical years were recruited via quota sampling method. The students filled in a four part online-based questionnaire consisted of questions on sociodemographic characteristics, smartphone usage information, Smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV) and WHOQOL-BREF. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Result: The prevalence of smartphone addiction among clinical year Medical students in IIUM was 51%. Bivariate analysis showed that majority of students chose social networking as their primary purpose of smartphone usage and this is significantly associated with smartphone addiction (p-value:0.037). Following multiple logistic regression analysis, students who had chosen games as their primary purpose of smartphone usage are 88% less likely to be related with smartphone addiction (p-value: 0.009, 95% CI: 0.025-0.595) compared to those who used it for academic performance tasks. Students who are not addicted to smartphones reported significantly better psychological quality of life compared to those who are addicted (p-value
There has been an increasing awareness on the end of life care for end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and patients’ factors have been identified as pivotal elements in directing its implementation. Questionnaire has been a useful tool by researchers to assess on patients’ knowledge, perceptions and preferences on end of life care. However, up to date, there is no validated questionnaire developed in Malaysia for such purposes. Thus, this study aims to develop and validate questionnaires on end of life care knowledge, perceptions and preferences among ESRD patients in Kuantan. Materials and method: A cross-sectional study among haemodialysis (HD) patients aged 18 and above from 14 out-patient HD centres was performed. This study was divided into 4 phases i) developing the questionnaire involving related specialists and pre testing, ii) improving and editing the questionnaire and redistribution to 50 respondents for the pilot study, iii) factor analysis and iv) internal consistency reliability testing of the questionnaire. Results: The result of Factor analysis with Varimax rotation performed identified 3 domains for the 41 items, with 10 to 20 items in each domain. All the 41 analyzed items had a good factor loading of more than 0.4 with the lowest value of 0.421 and were nicely fit into 3 respective domains; knowledge, perception and preference. Internal consistency reliability analysis performed indicates that Cronbach’s α was between 0.5 to 0.7 for all factors which were higher than the level set for this study which is 0.5. Conclusion: The questionnaire is successfully validated and considered as a useful tool to be used. Nonetheless, improvement will still be necessary from time to time to ensure its relevance especially if it is to be used by different populations or countries of different background than Malaysia.
Radiological manifestation of pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV positive
patients is different with HIV negative patients. We aim to determine the differences in
chest radiological findings of Pulmonary Tuberculosis among HIV and non-HIV infected
patients in HTAA. (Copied from article).
Traumatic brain injury following road traffic accidents is a common cause
of morbidity and mortality in Malaysia. We aim to determine the differences of traumatic
brain injury patterns based on CT findings among motorcyclist versus passenger vehicle
patients involved in road traffic accidents. (Copied from article).
Introduction: Undernutrition among under-five children is a very common issue in Malaysia, especially among the Orang Asli population. Therefore, identifying the prevalence and factors associated with undernutrition will assist in tackling the issue of undernutrition and reducing the morbidity and mortality rate associated with it. Methods: A total of 47 conveniently selected Orang Asli children aged 6 to 59 months from Kampung Paya Bungor, Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang participated in this cross-sectional study. A face-to-face interview was carried out by using the validated Questionnaire for the Study of Malnutrition in Rural Malaysia 2009. The weight and height of the children were measured and plotted on the growth chart. All the data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 24.0. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the background characteristics of the respondents and univariate analyses were used to identify suitable factors to be included in multivariate analysis. Binary logistic regression was done to determine independent factors associated with undernutrition. Results: The overall prevalence of undernutrition was 55.3%. The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 34.0%, 34.0% and 14.9% respectively. This research also revealed that gender (p=0.042) and family size (p=0.024) was shown to have a statistically significant association with undernutrition. However, there were no significant associations between undernutrition with other factors. Conclusion: The prevalence of undernutrition among under-five Orang Asli children was a concern. It was found that the factors associated with undernutrition were female children and children from small families. Prompt interventions aimed at the Orang Asli community should be done to overcome these problems.