Oral health problem among pregnant woman has been shown to have possible
association with preterm birth and low birth weight. Several studies found that pregnant women
have limited knowledge of these adverse outcome .The aims of this study were to evaluate the
knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women and to examine their practices in relation
with their intraoral health status. (Copied from article).
Oral health care during pregnancy is greatly important as it is crucial to the health
and well-being to both pregnant mother and baby. Studies showed that mothers with oral health
problem have greater risk of prematurity and low birth weight babies. This study aimed to measure
the associated factors of oral health problem among pregnant mothers. (Copied from article).
Introduction: During pregnancy, increased acidity in the mouth increases the risk of antenatal mother to get dental caries. It is worsen if antenatal mother has morning sickness like vomiting during pregnancy. It can aggravate the problem by exposing the teeth to more gastric acid. In addition, antenatal mothers have hormonal changes that they are more susceptible to periodontal problems. Therefore, it is important for antenatal mother to get dental treatment and use oral health service. This study aim is to describe barriers to utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers attending the Klinik Kesihatan Ibu dan Anak around Kuantan. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study which was conducted among purposely selected 296 antenatal mothers aged 18-45 years from Kuantan, Pahang in 18 months duration. Study used validated self-administered questionnaire to obtain information on the variables of interest. Results: Common barriers to utilization of services among antenatal mothers are fear to dental pain (45.6%), time constraints- busy at workplace (36.5%) and feeling of not having any dental problems (36.1%). Meanwhile the least barrier to oral health care services among antenatal mothers is attitude of the dentist (0.7%), followed by attitude of the staff (1.4%) and condition of treatment room (1.7%) Conclusion(s): Fear of dental pain is the main barrier to utilization of service among antenatal mothers and dissatisfaction of the service provided is the least barrier among other factors.
KEYWORDS: barriers, antenatal, pregnant mothers, dental caries, periodontal
: Natal tooth and neonatal tooth is a rare occurrence but can have a significant impact
on lactation. A 45-day-old baby girl was referred for problem with breastfeeding. Her mother
complained of painful nipple during nursing for the past two weeks. (Copied from article).
Foot problems are very common in diabetic patients but may go unnoticed by the patients and
undiagnosed by the healthcare providers leading to substantial morbidity and amputations. The aims of this study were to assess patient’s foot care practices, awareness on their foot condition as well as to determine the prevalence of diabetic foot problem and its associated factors. Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among diabetic patients in a primary care clinic in Kuala Lumpur. Patients with diabetes, aged more than 18 years were selected using systematic random sampling technique. Patients were requested to answer a set of self-administered pre-tested questionnaire that obtain information on their socio-demographic profiles, diabetic clinical data, awareness on their feet condition and foot care practice. A trained clinician examined patients’ feet using a standard foot examination protocol. Results: A total of 166 patients with diabetes participated in this study. Nearly half of the patients (70, 42.2%) had diabetic foot problem but only 31 (18.7%) of them were aware of their foot condition. The three common problem were trophic changes of the skin (92.8%), followed with hair loss (71.1%) and callosity (65.7%). The independent associated factors for foot problem were increasing age (AOR=1.05, 95% CI 1.015-1.095; p
Prevalence of active smokers in Malaysia is remaining high (22.8%) despite the wide availability of quit-smoking services. Rather than look at the patients’ factors alone, the possible negative factors from health care providers should also be explored. Therefore, knowledge, attitude and practice of the healthcare professional on smoking cessation intervention needs to be assessed, especially among the primary care doctors. This can be done during national conference gathering all doctors from Malaysia. Materials and Method: A crosssectional study was conducted among medical doctors attending First East Coast Symposium on Specialized Care at Primary Care Level at Grand DarulMakmur, Kuantan on 1st to 2nd December 2019, using validated questionnaire of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Medical Doctors on Smoking Cessation Guidelines; consisting 17 questions to determine the KAP score. The difference between the median KAP scores between age, gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, location of clinic, availability of specialist at clinic, numbers of smokers seen and presence of smoking cessation training were assessed using Independent sample T-test and One-way ANOVA. Results: A total of 131 primary care doctors involved in the study. Majority were female (80.9%), Malay (96.2%), medical officers (74.8%), government doctors (90%) and haven’t undergone any kind of smoking cessation training (65.5%). The higher KAP score were statistically associated (p < 0.05) with history of attending training program (mean 35.7 score) and in charge of quit smoking clinic (mean 35.4 score). No significant difference of score between government (mean 32.0 score) and private doctors (mean 29.9 score). Conclusions : Majority of the involved primary care doctors had low KAP score. Being a family medicine specialist, in charge in stop smoking clinic and have attended smoking cessation training program were significantly associated with high KAP score. Therefore, more smoking cessation training should be provided for doctors.
Educational experts affirm that students prefer various type of learning preference. It is known that the learning style preferences vary among medical students worldwide. Knowing the types will help medical educators to improve their way of conveying lectures and teaching in a more effective learning environment. This study aims to describe the learning style preferences of pre-clinical medical students and the association with their socio-demography. This is a cross sectional study done among Year 1 and Year 2 pre-clinical year medical students in a public university in Kuantan Pahang. Medical students who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited using systematic random sampling. A validated learning style questionnaire (VARK) was used to assess their learning style. Descriptive statistics and bivariable analysis was used using SPSS version 23. A total of 166 pre-clinical year medical students participated in this study. The mean age was 21.3 (0.84). Majority of them were Malays (98.2%) and females (69.9%). Most of the students preferred unimodal learning style (80.0%) with the most preferred learning style preferences being kinaesthetic (39.1%). Bivariable analysis showed female students preferred kinesthetic learning style compared to male students (p=0.03).In this study, majority of the pre-clinical year medical students preferred ‘life-like’ learning experience in their study. Hence, we recommend that medical educators to be more aware of the varieties of learning style preferences in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning experiences.
Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. However there are still many individuals, particularly in many countries in Asia, who have poor BP control. In Malaysia, less than two-fifths have achieved BP control. We participated in BP screening in Malaysia in conjunction with the May Measurement Month 2017 (MMM17), a global initiative by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) aimed at screening more individuals for earlier detection of hypertension. A nationwide screening of adults aged ≥18 was carried out through health campaigns at clinics, hospitals, during family day events, and charity runs from 1 April 2017 to 31 May 2017 in 42 centres. We used the detailed protocol provided by ISH for data collection. A total of 4116 individuals were screened during MMM17. After multiple imputation, 32.4% (n = 1317/4059) had hypertension. Out of this, 63.9% (842/1317) of those with hypertension were on treatment. Of individuals receiving antihypertensive medication with an imputed BP, 59.5% (n = 496/834) of them had controlled BP. MMM17 was the largest organized BP screening campaign undertaken by health professionals in Malaysia. This study identified that 32.4% of screened individuals had hypertension and 59.5% individuals with treated hypertension had achieved BP control.