Current medical research and opinion
-
Risk evaluation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases can guide the decision-making on various preventive measures, such as initiating or deferring statin therapy. Pharmacists can play an active part in the risk evaluation and primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Thus, our study aimed to assess the pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, perceived barriers, and practices regarding risk assessment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. ⋯ Pharmacists have a high positive attitude toward CVD risk assessment. However, they had insufficient knowledge and only provided limited activities and counseling services for CVD prevention and statin therapy. Participants perceived several barriers to CVD risk assessment services in pharmacies. Therefore, it is necessary to remove these impediments for pharmacists to be more involved in CVD risk assessment and prevention. Also, continuing medical education and adequate training for pharmacists are required.
-
Intradiscal vacuum phenomenon (IVP) is the collection of gas within the intervertebral discs. It has been reported with various spinal disorders. The exact role of IVP in spinal degeneration leading to low back pain (LBP) is unclear. We aimed to obtain the prevalence of IVP in patients with LBP. Our second aim was to understand whether IVP was associated with intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD), Modic changes, and subchondral sclerosis (SS). ⋯ Intradiscal vacuum phenomenon was closely associated with severe IVDD, Modic changes, and SS. Further prospective clinical and laboratory studies are necessary to better delineate the pathogenesis of IVP.
-
Economic evaluations conducted to inform healthcare resource allocation often rely on quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to measure therapeutic benefit. However, QALYs, with underlying health utilities estimated using the EQ-5D or SF-36, may fail to capture the impact of disease for all patients. How well-being and heath utility differ across several common conditions was explored. ⋯ Differences in rankings of disease severity by metric indicate that the results of cost-utility analyses might be biased against treatments for certain diseases. As patient preferences for clinical outcomes vary, the full burden of disease should be considered in evaluations. Restricting access to treatments based on an incomplete estimate of burden could lead to misallocation of resources and a withholding of therapies that patients find valuable.
-
This study aimed to assess COVID-19 knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among healthcare workers (HCWs) in northwest Malaysia and recognize the challenges faced working during the Movement Control Order (MCO). Commonly referred to as "MCO", this order enforcement is a series of national quarantine and cordon sanitaire measures implemented by the federal government of Malaysia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as of 18th March 2020. It is akin to a national lockdown. ⋯ Generally, HCWs in Perlis had good KAP with regards to COVID-19 infection and its preventive measures. Challenges underlined by HCWs while working during the MCO were increased workload, difficulty to shop for daily essentials, exercise and meet with family members. Should good COVID-19 KAP be sustained, they might contribute to success in combating this disease.
-
We aimed to gather multi-stakeholder insights on key issues relating to plain language summaries (PLS) of company-sponsored medical research to inform future industry recognized guidelines. ⋯ Key issues identified by stakeholders provide broad insights into the real and perceived barriers relating to PLS uptake. Each emerging theme presents a possible action that could accelerate PLS uptake and facilitate sharing of new medical research with lay audiences.