BackgroundThe chronic care model was proven effective in improving clinical outcomes of diabetes in developed countries. However, evidence in developing countries is scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of EMPOWER-PAR intervention (based on the chronic care model) in improving clinical outcomes for type 2 diabetes mellitus using readily available resources in the Malaysian public primary care setting.MethodsThis was a pragmatic, cluster-randomised, parallel, matched pair, controlled trial using participatory action research approach, conducted in 10 public primary care clinics in Malaysia. Five clinics were randomly selected to provide the EMPOWER-PAR intervention for 1 year and another five clinics continued with usual care. Patients who fulfilled the criteria were recruited over a 2-week period by each clinic. The obligatory intervention components were designed based on four elements of the chronic care model i.e. healthcare organisation, delivery system design, self-management support and decision support. The primary outcome was the change in the proportion of patients achieving HbA1c < 6.5%. Secondary outcomes were the change in proportion of patients achieving targets for blood pressure, lipid profile, body mass index and waist circumference. Intention to treat analysis was performed for all outcome measures. A generalised estimating equation method was used to account for baseline differences and clustering effect.ResultsA total of 888 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were recruited at baseline (intervention: 471 vs. control: 417). At 1-year, 96.6 and 97.8% of patients in the intervention and control groups completed the study, respectively. The baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of both groups were comparable. The change in the proportion of patients achieving HbA1c target was significantly higher in the intervention compared to the control group (intervention: 3.0% vs. control: −4.1%, P < 0.002). Patients who received the EMPOWER-PAR intervention were twice more likely to achieve HbA1c target compared to those in the control group (adjusted OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.34–3.50, P < 0.002). However, there was no significant improvement found in the secondary outcomes.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that the EMPOWER-PAR intervention was effective in improving the primary outcome for type 2 diabetes in the Malaysian public primary care setting.Trial registrationRegistered with: ClinicalTrials.gov.: NCT01545401. Date of registration: 1st March 2012. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12875-016-0557-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundChronic disease management presents enormous challenges to the primary care workforce because of the rising epidemic of cardiovascular risk factors. The chronic care model was proven effective in improving chronic disease outcomes in developed countries, but there is little evidence of its effectiveness in developing countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the EMPOWER-PAR intervention (multifaceted chronic disease management strategies based on the chronic care model) in improving outcomes for type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension using readily available resources in the Malaysian public primary care setting. This paper presents the study protocol.Methods/DesignA pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial using participatory action research is underway in 10 public primary care clinics in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Five clinics were randomly selected to provide the EMPOWER-PAR intervention for 1 year and another five clinics continued with usual care. Each clinic consecutively recruits type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension patients fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria over a 2-week period. The EMPOWER-PAR intervention consists of creating/strengthening a multidisciplinary chronic disease management team, training the team to use the Global Cardiovascular Risks Self-Management Booklet to support patient care and reinforcing the use of relevant clinical practice guidelines for management and prescribing. For type 2 diabetes mellitus, the primary outcome is the change in the proportion of patients achieving HbA1c < 6.5%. For hypertension without type 2 diabetes mellitus, the primary outcome is the change in the proportion of patients achieving blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of patients achieving targets for serum lipid profile, body mass index and waist circumference. Other outcome measures include medication adherence levels, process of care and prescribing patterns. Patients’ assessment of their chronic disease care and providers’ perceptions, attitudes and perceived barriers in care delivery and cost-effectiveness of the intervention are also evaluated.DiscussionResults from this study will provide objective evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention based on the chronic care model in resource-constrained public primary care settings. The evidence should instigate crucial primary care system change in Malaysia.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01545401

High amounts of sitting time are associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in high-income countries, but it is unknown whether risks also increase in low-and middle-income countries.OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of sitting time with mortality and major CVD in countries at different economic levels using data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis population-based cohort study included participants aged 35 to 70 years recruited from January 1, 2003, and followed up until August 31, 2021, in 21 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries with a median follow-up of 11.1 years.EXPOSURES Daily sitting time measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe composite of all-cause mortality and major CVD (defined as cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or heart failure). RESULTSOf 105 677 participants, 61 925 (58.6%) were women, and the mean (SD) age was 50.4 (9.6) years. During a median follow-up of 11.1 (IQR, 8.6-12.2) years, 6233 deaths and 5696 major cardiovascular events (2349 myocardial infarctions, 2966 strokes, 671 heart failure, and 1792 cardiovascular deaths) were documented. Compared with the reference group (<4 hours per day of sitting), higher sitting time (Ն8 hours per day) was associated with an increased risk of the composite outcome (hazard ratio [HR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.11-1.28; P for trend < .001), all-cause mortality (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.10-1.31; P for trend < .001), and major CVD (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.10-1.34; P for trend < .001). When stratified by country income levels, the association of sitting time with the composite outcome was stronger in low-income and lower-middle-income countries (Ն8 hours per day: HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.16-1.44) compared with high-income and upper-middle-income countries (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.98-1.19; P for interaction = .02). Compared with those who reported sitting time less than 4 hours per day and high physical activity level, participants who sat for 8 or more hours per day experienced a 17% to 50% higher associated risk of the composite outcome across physical activity levels; and the risk was attenuated along with increased physical activity levels.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE High amounts of sitting time were associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality and CVD in economically diverse settings, especially in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Reducing sedentary time along with increasing physical activity might be an important strategy for easing the global burden of premature deaths and CVD.

ObjectiveTo examine impressions of public healthcare providers/professionals (PHCPs) who are working closely with family medicine specialists (FMSs) at public health clinics.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThis study is part of a larger national study on the perception of Malaysian public healthcare professionals on FMSs (PERMFAMS).ParticipantsPHCPs from three categories of health facility: hospitals, health clinics and health offices.Main outcome measuresQualitative analyses of written comments of respondents’ general impression of FMSs.ResultsThe participants’ response rate was 58.0% (780/1345), with almost equal proportions from each public healthcare facility. A total of 23 categories for each of the 648 impression comments were identified. The six emerging themes were: (1) importance of FMSs; (2) roles of FMSs; (3) clinical performance of FMSs; (4) attributes of FMSs; (5) FMS practice challenges; (6) misconception of FMS roles. Overall, FMS practice was perceived to be safe and able to provide effective treatments in a challenging medical discipline that was in line with the current standards of medical care and ethical and professional values. The areas of concern were in clinical performance expressed by PHCPs from some hospitals and the lack of personal attributes and professionalism among FMSs mentioned by PHCPs from health clinics and offices.ConclusionsFMSs were perceived to be capable of providing effective treatment and were considered to be important primary care physicians. There were a few negative impressions in some areas of FMS practice, which demanded attention by the FMSs themselves and the relevant authorities in order to improve efficiency and safeguard the fraternity's reputation.

ObjectiveTo examine the expectation of public healthcare providers/professionals (PHCPs) who are working closely with family medicine specialists (FMSs) at public health clinics.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThis study is part of a larger national study on the perception of the Malaysian public healthcare professionals on FMSs.ParticipantsPHCPs from three categories of health facilities, namely hospitals, health clinics and health offices.Main outcome measuresQualitative analysis of written comments of respondents’ expectation of FMSs.ResultsThe participants’ response rate was 58% (780/1345) with an almost equal proportion from each public healthcare facility. We identified 21 subthemes for the 623 expectation comments. The six emerging themes are (1) need for more FMSs, (2) clinical roles and functions of FMSs, (3) administrative roles of FMSs, (4) contribution to community and public health, (5) attributes improvement and (6) research and audits. FMSs were expected to give attention to clinical duty. Delivering this responsibility with competence included having the latest medical knowledge in their own and others’ medical disciplines, practising evidence-based medicine in prehospital and posthospital care, better supervision of staff and doctors under their care, fostering effective teamwork, communicating more often with hospital specialists and making appropriate referral. Expectations ranged from definite and strong for more FMSs at the health clinics to low expectation for FMSs’ involvement in research; to mal-expectation on FMSs’ involvement in community and public health programmes.ConclusionsThere were some remarkable differences in expectations on FMSs from the three different PHCPs. These ranged from being clinically competent and administratively available for patients and staff at the health clinics, to mal-expectations on FMSs to engage in public health affairs. Relevant parties, including FMSs themselves, could take appropriate self-improvement initiatives to enhance public practice of family medicine and patient care.Trial registration numberNMRR ID: 08-12-1167.

This study aims to identify the relationship between knee functional status and Health-Related QoL (HRQoL) in mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients and to ascertain which subdomain of knee functional status best predicts good HRQoL. A cross-sectional study was conducted in an orthopaedic clinic of a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. Patients aged 40–75 years old with mild–moderate primary knee OA were recruited. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and SF-36 questionnaires were used to measure knee functional status and HRQoL, respectively. Subdomains of KOOS include “function in daily living”, “function in recreational activities”, “pain”, “symptom”, and “knee-specific quality of life”. Subdomains for SF-36 are Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS). Overall, 290 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study, with a mean age of 66.8 years old (±7.06). Majority were female (57.6%) and Malay (79.7%). The relationships between all KOOS and HRQoL subdomains were significant. “Pain” contributed most towards better physical HRQoL ((PCS) Adj. B (95% CI); 0.063 (0.044, 0.169)), while “function in daily living” contributed most towards better mental HRQoL ((MCS) Adj. B (95% CI); 0.624 (0.478, 0.769)). Thus, better HRQoL was related to better pain control and improved “function in daily living” in these patients.

Background: Addressing individuals’ motivation to lose weight among patients with morbid obesity is an essential entity in weight reduction. Failures to shift motivation into weight loss actions are common. These could be contributed by the inadequacy to identify and subsequently address the key reasons, that are of particular concern to the patient' individual needs. We aimed to understand the motivations better and identify the reasons why morbidly obese patients attending hospital-based weight management programmes (WMP) wanted to lose weight. Methods: The study used a qualitative approach to analyze part of a quantitative questionnaire of a more extensive study to understand factors influencing weight loss among morbidly obese patients. We used thematic content analysis to analyze responses from a self-administered open-ended question "What is the main factor why you want to lose your weight?”. A total of 225 new patients attending obesity clinics in two tertiary hospitals responded to the questionnaire. Results: Patients’ mean BMI was 45.6±8.05 kg/m2. Four themes emerged for the reasons why morbidly obese patients wanted to lose weight. Health was the most commonly inferred theme (84%). Patients were concerned about the impact obesity had on their health. Overcoming obesity was seen as a reward not just for physical health, but also for their psychological wellbeing. Patients regard being functional to care for themselves, their family members, as well as their religious and career needs as the next most crucial theme (25.8%). Patients raised the theme appearance (12.9%), especially with regards to wanting to look and feel beautiful. The last theme was perceived stigmatization for being morbidly obese as they were mocked and laughed at for their appearance (3.1%).Conclusion: Patients with morbid obesity in this study had expressed their main personal motivational reasons to lose weight. Concerns about the impact of morbid obesity on health, physical, social and obligatory function, appearance and perceived stigma warrant detailed exploration by the managing health professionals. Identifying and addressing these unique personal motivations in a focused approach is vital at the beginning and throughout a weight reduction program in this unique group.

Introduction: Computer Vision Syndrome Scale 17 (CVSS17) is a questionnaire to measure computer-related visual and ocular symptoms among video display terminal workers. This study aimed to translate CVSS17 into Malay languag and determine its psychometric properties among video display terminal workers.  Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional validation study involving 206 workers in Universiti Teknologi MARA UiTM Selayang and Sungai Buloh Campus. The English version of the CVSS17 questionnaire is a 17-item scale measuring two key factors, which are internal symptom factors (11 items) and external symptom factors (6 items). The CVSS17 underwent forward-backward translation, face validation, and field testing to produce the Malay version. Validity of the items assessing psychometric properties was performed using exploratory factor analysis. The reliability testing was performed using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results: The validated CVSS17-Malay version retained all 17 items with acceptable factor loadings. There were 13 items in the external, and 4 items in the internal symptom factors domain. In comparison to the original version, 4 items (A2, A22, A28, A30) were swapped from internal to external symptom factors and 2 items (C16 and C23) swapped from external to internal symptom factors. The changes of these items into different domains were discussed. The overall Cronbach’s α was 0.867 and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.866. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin was 0.928, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was p-value <0.001. Conclusion: The CVSS17 Malay version is valid, reliable, and stable over time, to be used in measuring computer vision syndrome among Malay-speaking workers.