Socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with understanding fast food consumption among adults in Cambodia

Background: Over the past decades, fast food has been rapidly gaining popularity and availability worldwide. Its consequential impact on human health is among the highest in terms of non-communicable diseases. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the level of understanding of fast food consumption among adults in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study aimed to investigate the level of understanding of factors associated with fast food consumption, among adults in Phnom Penh. Multi-stage random sampling was used to select 749 respondents from 12 communes of five districts in Phnom Penh. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the level of understanding of fast food consumption, and associated factors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, together with bivariate and multivariable logistic regression. Crude odds ratios (CORs) and adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confident intervals (CI) were calculated to show the strength of associations.Results: The understanding of factors associated with fast food consumption was poor in 52.07% (95% CI: 48.48-55.66), fair in 22.70% (95% CI: 19.69-25.70) and good in 25.23% (95% CI: 22.12-28.35) of those surveyed. After adjusting for other covariates, unsatisfactory levels of knowledge around fast food consumption were found to be significantly associated with not taking regular exercise (AOR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.15-2.25;

Mental health status and quality of life among Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand

Background: Migrant workers have become a major issue for Thailand. Most of the migrants are from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Most are employed in jobs referred to as the “3 Ds”; difficult, dangerous and dirty. However, little is known concerning the living and working conditions, or health-related quality of life of these migrant workers. This study aims to determine factors influencing the quality of life of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,211 Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand, using multistage random sampling from eight districts of the two provinces (Sa Kaeo and Surin) with a structured questionnaire interview. The WHOQOL-BREF was used to measure Quality of Life (QOL) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.77. Mental health status was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.83. Descriptive statistics provide participant characteristics. Multilevel logistic regression (MLR) were used to determine which factors significantly impacted the outcome measures in terms of the adjusted odds ratio (AOR). P[less than]0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: About one third of these migrant workers had a poor quality of life (34.52%; 95%CI: 31.84-37.20), and had moderate-to-high levels of stress (67.96%; 95%CI: 65.33-70.59), and symptoms of depression (69.69%; 95%CI: 67.10-72.29). After controlling other covariate factors, the factors associated with poor QOL were a high level perceived of stress (AOR=3.64; 95%CI: 2.41-5.49; p[less than]0.001); living with family and relatives (AOR=3.63; 95%CI: CI 2.42-5.45; p[less than]0.001); and housing being provided by their employer (AOR=2.66; 95%CI: 1.74-4.08; p[less than]0.001).Conclusion: Stress was strongly associated with QOL. The living environment was found to be the next most influential factor on QOL. Mental health programs aimed at helping migrant workers to cope with stress and to improve their living conditions will help improve QOL in the target group