Shifts in drugs use after the COVID-19 pandemic based on the analysis of ABC, VEN and ABC-VEN matrix

Background: The existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shift in medicine use in patients. Objective: This study aims to determine patterns and differences in medicine use at Airlangga University Hospital before (2018 and 2019) and after (2020–2022) the COVID-19 pandemic based on ABC, VEN and ABC-VEN matrix analysis. Methods: This study is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Data on all patients’ medicine use items between January 1st, 2018 – December 31st, 2022 which obtained from the hospital information system will be analyzed according to category based on the principles of ABC analysis, VEN, and the ABC-VEN combination and a statistical t-test analysis in SPSS to find out differences in medicine use at the Universitas Airlangga Hospital in the pre-pandemic era of COVID-19 versus the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Based on the results of the study, a total of 6893 drug items were obtained. There was a significant shift in the pattern of non-essential medicines use prescribed to patients after the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0,05). Conclusion: There was a shift in the pattern of use of prescribed non-essential medicines after the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic occurred

Comprehensive evaluation of the neuropeptide-Y gene variants in the risk of obesity

Background Orexigenic actions mediated by neuropeptide-Y (NPY) promote body weight regulation. Genetic variations in the NPY gene could therefore influence susceptibility to obesity, but results have been conflicting. We have carried out, for the first time, a case-control study to examine the effect of NPY rs16147 and rs5574 variants with the risk of obesity in Asians and also a meta-Analysis to summarize the effect of these variants including that of the widely studied rs16139. Materials and methods Genotypes and biochemistry data were determined for 942 children (262 cases and 680 controls) recruited from 23 randomly selected schools in Malaysia. Relevant articles were identified from Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Data were extracted and summary estimates of the association between the NPY variants and obesity were examined. Results The frequency of the rs16147 T allele was significantly higher in the cases than controls (odds ratio 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.04-1.55, P=0.022), whereas the rs5574 T allele was significantly higher in the controls (odds ratio 0.76, 95% confidence interval 0.61-0.96, P=0.020). In addition, NPY rs16147 was significantly correlated with obesity parameters including BMI, waist circumference, triglyceride and body fat percentage (P<0.05). Meta-Analysis including nine case-control studies further confirmed the findings of the association of the two variants with the risk of obesity and also found that rs16139 was associated with increased risk. Conclusion This study suggests that NPY rs16147 T and rs16139 C minor alleles are associated with increased risk, whereas the minor allele T of the rs5574 is associated with a reduced risk of obesity

Public Awareness and Practices Towards Self-Medication with Antibiotics Among Malaysian Population: Questionnaire Development and Pilot Testing

Not Availabl