Clinical, Economic And Humanistic Evaluation Of A Worksite Health Promotion Program Conducted Among Employees Of A Public University In Malaysia

The burden of cardiovascular (CV) diseases is increasing in Malaysia. This has an adverse effect on the country’s health, society and economy. The general objective of this research was to develop an effective and efficient worksite health promotion program that could reduce the cardiovascular risk factors among employees at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Engineering campus. This was a quasiexperimental study conducted between 2009 and 2010. The six-month program consisted of individualized counseling and seminars targeted at five behavioral risk factors (RFs) i.e. smoking, alcohol consumption, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, physical inactivity and overweight/obesity

Insights from a Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry in a Tertiary Centre in Sabah

Introduction Rheumatic heart disease is still endemic in developing countries and among the indigenous population in developed countries. However, there is no comprehensive data on rheumatic heart disease patients in Malaysia. The Cardiology Department of Queen Elizabeth ll Hospital (QEH ll), Sabah started this hospital-based registry in 2010. The objective of this analysis was to report the demographic profile, severity of disease, types of valve involvement and the practice of secondary prophylaxis among these patients. Methods This was a retrospective record review involved a three-year review of patients registered under the rheumatic heart disease registry in QEH ll, Sabah from December 2010 to November 2013. It included patients who attended the cardiology clinic who were diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease. Results A total of 627 rheumatic heart disease patients were registered over a period of three years. Mean age was 41 (16.2) year old, 67.5% were female, and 51.2% of the patients had severe valvular dysfunction with mitral regurgitation as the commonest valve affected (67.3%). There was an increasing trend in the percentage of patients receiving secondary prophylaxis (oral and intra-muscular) from the year 2010 to the year 2013 (23.2% and 67.6% respectively). Abnormal ECG, pulmonary regurgitation and not on any secondary prophylaxis were found to be associated with severe rheumatic heart disease. Conclusions Rheumatic heart disease is prevalent in Sabah. Most patients had severe form of valve dysfunction when diagnosed. Awareness and advocacy on secondary prophylaxis warrant immediate improvement

Socio demographic profiles of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) patients In Sabah

Introduction Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) has been thought as a disease of poor socioeconomic status. It is more prevalent in underdeveloped and developing countries than in developed countries. It is also common among the population with multiple social issues such as overcrowded dwellings, undernutrition, poor sanitation and suboptimal medical care. This study was done to review the socio demographic profiles of RHD patients in Hospital Queen Elizabeth (HQE) ll, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Methods A secondary data review of all patients registered under the RHD registry in HQE ll for one- year starting from July 2013 to June 2014. Results 204 RHD patients were included. Nearly three quarter (74.0%) were female. The mean age was 40.43 (14.75) years old. 61.1% has completed secondary education. 42.7% were housewives. The mean monthly income was RM 1363.83 (1297.05) which was categorized under the vulnerable income group. When they were categorized under the poverty level and the vulnerable income group, 42.6% and 76.5% of them fell under those categories respectively. The nearest health facilities to their houses were district hospitals (33.3%) with the mean distance of 9.17 km and health clinics (30.8%) with the mean distance of 4.27 km. Only 11.5% of them lived near the specialist hospitals with the mean distance of 21.32 km. Conclusions Results from this review suggested that majority of RHD patients were in the low socioeconomic group with less access to health care facilities with specialist care. They are the most vulnerable groups and need to be prioritized in the specialized care program

Stages of change and health-related quality of life among employees of an institution

Background Transtheoretical Model of change has been used successfully in promoting behaviour change. Objective To examine the relationships between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores with the stages of change of adequate physical activity and fruit and vegetables intake. Design This was a cross-sectional study conducted among employees of the main campus and Engineering campus of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) during October 2009 and March 2010. Main variables studied: Data on physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake was collected using the WHO STEPS instrument for chronic disease risk factors surveillance. The Short Form-12 health survey (SF-12) was used to gather information on participants� HRQoL. The current stages of change are measured using the measures developed by the Pro-Change Behaviour Systems Incorporation. Statistical analysis: One way ANOVA and its non-parametric equivalent Kruskal-Wallis were used to compare the differences between SF-12 scores with the stages of change. Results A total of 144 employees were included in this analysis. A large proportion of the participants reported inadequate fruits and vegetable intake (92.3%) and physical activity (84.6%). Mean physical and mental component scores of SF-12 were 50.39 (SD = 7.69) and 49.73 (SD = 8.64) respectively. Overall, there was no statistical significant difference in the SF-12 domains scores with regards to the stages of change for both the risk factors. Conclusions There were some evidence of positive relationship between stages of change of physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake with SF-12 scores. Further studies need to be conducted to confirm this association

Outcomes of cardiovascular risk factors screening programme among employees of a Malaysian public university

Background: The burden on cardiovascular disease in Malaysia is in the increasing trend and this is associated with a number of risk factors. Aim: This study aims to explore the prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors among employees of Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Design: A cross-sectional study was carried out from 19th February 2009 to 12th March 2009. Methods and Materials: Data on eight established risk factors were collected. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistic was used to describe the prevalence of risk factors among the study subjects. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore the clustering of risk factors (having two or more risk factors). All data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS package version-16 and a two-tailed p-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 217 (27.7%) respondents participated in the screening exercise. Results from this screening showed that risk factors such as unhealthy diet (92.1%), overweight/obesity (73.3%) and physical inactivity (65.0%) were highly prevalent. The median number of risk factors was 3 (IQR=2). In addition, most of the subjects (n=203, 93.5%) were categorized as being in high risk for future cardiovascular events as according to the definition of National Cholesterol Education Program. Respondents with clustered risk factors were older, had lower intake of fruit and vegetables, less physically active, had a higher body mass index, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and fasting blood glucose. Further analysis found that fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity and body mass index formed a good predictive model for prediction of clustered risk factor model with a Nagelkerke R-squared value of 0.529. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among USM employees and these risk factors tend to cluster. It is therefore recommended that prompt actions should be taken to overcome and modify these risk factors

Centroamérica y el TLC: efectos inmediatos e implicaciones futuras

Add.1: Anexo estadísticoIncluye Bibliografí

Comparison of procedural details and outcomes at TH and GH.

<p>Comparison of procedural details and outcomes at TH and GH.</p

Pathway for the costing analysis of elective PCI.

<p>Pathway for the costing analysis of elective PCI.</p

Comparison of patient characteristics at TH and GH.

<p>Comparison of patient characteristics at TH and GH.</p

Comparison of length of stay and costs of PCI at TH and GH.

<p>Comparison of length of stay and costs of PCI at TH and GH.</p