Family Medicine Commons^™

Multicomponent Intervention Versus Usual Care For Management Of Hypertension In Rural Bangladesh, Pakistan And Sri Lanka: Study Protocol For A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial., Tazeen H. Jafar, Imtiaz Jehan, H. Asita De Silva, Aliya Naheed, Mihir Gandhi, Pryseley Assam, Eric A. Finkelstein, Helena Legido Quigley, Marcel Bilger, Aamir Hameed, John David Clemens, Shah Ebrahim, Elizabeth L. Turner, Anuradhani Kasturiratne

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND:

High blood pressure (BP) is the leading attributable risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In rural South Asia, hypertension continues to be a significant public health issue with sub-optimal BP control rates. The goal of the trial is to compare a multicomponent intervention (MCI) to usual care to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the MCI for lowering BP among adults with hypertension in rural communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

METHODS/DESIGN:

This study is a stratified, cluster randomized controlled trial with a qualitative component for evaluation of processes and stakeholder feedback. The MCI has five components: (1) home …

Human Cytomegalovirus: A Neglected Public Health Area Of Significant Relevance To Women, The Foetus And New Born. Time For Action!, Amna Rehana Siddiqui, Saira Ibrahim, Anwar Ali Siddiqui, Paul Moss, El-Nasir Lalani

Community Health Sciences

No abstract provided.

Nature, Scope And Use Of Economic Evaluation Of Healthcare Programmes: With Special Reference To Pakistan., Muhammad Ashar Malik, Saleem Perwaiz Iqbal, Farina Abrejo

Community Health Sciences

Economic evaluation (EE)/cost effectiveness analysis(CEA) of healthcare programmes is an emerging area, yet the resource base to apprehend EE/CEA is very limited in Pakistan. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing a basic text in the field of EE with special reference to Pakistan. We used four dimensional criteria (available, relevant, complete and accurate) for reviewing the EE contents in the locally available textbooks and reading material on public health. We find CEA as core competency and skill of medical doctors in undergraduate medical curricula yet we could not find EE contents in the recommended textbooks. We find …

A Description Of The Methods Of The Aspirin Supplementation For Pregnancy Indicated Risk Reduction In Nulliparas (Aspirin) Study, Matthew K. Hoffman, Shivaprasad S. Goudar, Bhalachandra S. Kodkany, Norman Goco, Marion Koso-Thomas, Menachem Miodovnik, Elizabeth M. Mcclure, Dennis D. Wallace, Jennifer J. Emingway-Foday, Antoinette Tshefu, Adrien Lokangaka, Carl L. Bose, Elwyn Chomba, Musaku Mwenechanya, Waldemar A. Carlo, Ana Garces, Nancy F. Krebs, K. Michael Hambidge, Sarah Saleem, Robert L. Goldenberg, Archana Patel, Patricia L. Hibberd, Fabian Esamai, Edward A. Liechty, Robert Silver, Richard J. Derman

Community Health Sciences

Background: Preterm birth (PTB) remains the leading cause of neonatal mortality and long term disability throughout the world. Though complex in its origins, a growing body of evidence suggests that first trimester administration of low dose aspirin (LDA) may substantially reduce the rate of PTB.
Methods: Hypothesis: LDA initiated in the first trimester reduces the risk of preterm birth. Study Design Type: Prospective randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded multi-national clinical trial conducted in seven low and middle income countries. Trial will be individually randomized with one-to-one ratio (intervention/control) Population: Nulliparous women between the ages of 14 and 40, with a …

Did Contracting Effect The Use Of Primary Health Care Units In Pakistan?, Ashar Muhammad Malik, Ellen Van De Poel, Eddy Van Doorslaer

Community Health Sciences

For many years, Pakistan has had a wide network of Basic Health Units spread across the country, but their utilization by the population in rural and peri-urban areas has remained low. As of 2004, in an attempt to improve the utilization and performance of these public primary healthcare facilities, the government has gradually started contracting-in intergovernmental organizations to manage these BHUs. Using five nationally representative household surveys conducted between 2001 and 2012, and exploiting the gradual roll-out of this reform to apply a difference-in-difference approach, we evaluate its impact on BHU utilization. We find that contracting of the BHU management …

Lead Exposure Assessment Among Pregnant Women, Newborns, And Children: Case Study From Karachi, Pakistan., Zafar Fatmi, Ambreen Sahito, Akihiko Ikegami, Atsuko Mizuno, Xiaoyi Cui, Nathan Mise, Mai Takagi, Yayoi Kobayashi, Fujio Kayama

Community Health Sciences

Lead (Pb) in petrol has been banned in developed countries. Despite the control of Pb in petrol since 2001, high levels were reported in the blood of pregnant women and children in Pakistan. However, the identification of sources of Pb has been elusive due to its pervasiveness. In this study, we assessed the lead intake of pregnant women and one- to three-year-old children from food, water, house dust, respirable dust, and soil. In addition, we completed the fingerprinting of the Pb isotopic ratios (LIR) of petrol and secondary sources (food, house-dust, respirable dust, soil, surma (eye cosmetics)) of exposure within …

Comparison Of Multiple Obesity Indices For Cardiovascular Disease Risk Classification In South Asian Adults: The Carrs Study., Shivani A. Patel, Mohan Deepa, Roopa Shivashankar, Mohammed K. Ali, Deksha Kapoor, Ruby Gupta, Dorothy Lall, Nikhil Tandon, Viswanathan Mohan, Muhammad Masood Kadir, Zafar Fatmi, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, K. M. Venkat Narayan

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND:

We comparatively assessed the performance of six simple obesity indices to identify adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a diverse and contemporary South Asian population.

METHODS:

8,892 participants aged 20-60 years in 2010-2011 were analyzed. Six obesity indices were examined: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-height ratio (WHtR), waist-hip ratio (WHR), log of the sum of triceps and subscapular skin fold thickness (LTS), and percent body fat derived from bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA). We estimated models with obesity indices specified as deciles and as continuous linear variables to predict prevalent hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol …

Repeat 24-Hour Recalls And Locally Developed Food Composition Databases: A Feasible Method To Estimate Dietary Adequacy In A Multi-Site Preconception Maternal Nutrition Rct., Rebecca L. Lander, K. Michael Hambidge, Nancy F. Krebs, Jamie E. Westcott, Ana Garces, Lester Figueroa, Gabriela Tejeda, Adrien Lokangaka, Tshilenge S. Diba, Manjunath S. Somannavar, Ranjitha Honnayya, Sumera Aziz Ali, Umber S. Khan, Elizabeth M. Mcclure, Vanessa R. Thorsten, Kristen B. Stolka, For The Women First Preconception Nutrition Trial Group

Community Health Sciences

Background:

Our aim was to utilize a feasible quantitative methodology to estimate the dietary adequacy of >900 first-trimester pregnant women in poor rural areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, India and Pakistan. This paper outlines the dietary methods used.

Methods:

Local nutritionists were trained at the sites by the lead study nutritionist and received ongoing mentoring throughout the study. Training topics focused on the standardized conduct of repeat multiple-pass 24-hr dietary recalls, including interview techniques, estimation of portion sizes, and construction of a unique site-specific food composition database (FCDB). Each FCDB was based on 13 …

Motivating And Demotivating Factors For Community Health Workers Engaged In Maternal, Newborn And Child Health Programs In Low And Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review., Leah Shipton, Aysha Zahidie, F. Rabbani

Community Health Sciences

This systematic review aimed to synthesize primary research on motivating factors of community health workers (CHWs) for maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Peer-reviewed literatures were systematically searched in five databases. Identified studies were then screened and selected for inclusion. The eligibility criteria were reported primary qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, with participants being CHWs in LMICs who address MNCH, which investigated motivation or related concepts of retention, attrition, and performance. A thematic synthesis process was used to analyze findings of motivating factors, reported by included studies. Seventeen qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods …

Tobacco Control Environment: Cross-Sectional Survey Of Policy Implementation, Social Unacceptability, Knowledge Of Tobacco Health Harms And Relationship To Quit Ratio In 17 Low-Income, Middle-Income And High-Income Countries., Clara K. Chow, Daniel J. Corsi, Anna B. Gilmore, Annamarie Kruger, Ehimario Igumbor, Jephat Chifamba, Wang Yang, Li Wei, Romaina Iqbal, Prem Mony, Rajeev Gupta, Krishnapillai Vijayakumar, V Mohan, Rajesh Kumar, Omar Rahman, Khalid Yusoff, Noorhassim Ismail, Katarzyna Zatonska, Yuksel Altuntas, Annika Rosengren, Ahmad Bahonar, Afzal Hussein Yusufali, Gilles Dagenais, Scott Lear, Rafael Diaz, Alvaro Avezum, Patricio Lopez-Jaramillo, Fernando Lanas, Sumathy Rangarajan, Koon Teo, Martin Mckee, Salim Yusuf

Community Health Sciences

OBJECTIVES:

This study examines in a cross-sectional study 'the tobacco control environment' including tobacco policy implementation and its association with quit ratio.

SETTING:

545 communities from 17 high-income, upper-middle, low-middle and low-income countries (HIC, UMIC, LMIC, LIC) involved in the Environmental Profile of a Community's Health (EPOCH) study from 2009 to 2014.

PARTICIPANTS:

Community audits and surveys of adults (35-70 years, n=12 953).

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:

Summary scores of tobacco policy implementation (cost and availability of cigarettes, tobacco advertising, antismoking signage), social unacceptability and knowledge were associated with quit ratios (former vs ever smokers) using multilevel logistic regression …

Multilevel Modeling Of Binary Outcomes With Three-Level Complex Health Survey Data., Shafquat Rozi, Sadia Mahmud, Gillian Lancaster, Wilbur Hadden, Gregory Pappas

Community Health Sciences

Complex survey designs often involve unequal selection probabilities of clus-ters or units within clusters. When estimating models for complex survey data, scaled weights are incorporated into the likelihood, producing a pseudo likeli-hood. In a 3-level weighted analysis for a binary outcome, we implemented two methods for scaling the sampling weights in the National Health Survey of Pa-kistan (NHSP). For NHSP with health care utilization as a binary outcome we found age, gender, household (HH) goods, urban/rural status, community de-velopment index, province and marital status as significant predictors of health care utilization (p-value < 0.05). The variance of the random intercepts using scaling method 1 is estimated as 0.0961 (standard error 0.0339) for PSU level, and 0.2726 (standard error 0.0995) for household level respectively. Both esti-mates are significantly different from zero (p-value < 0.05) and indicate consid-erable heterogeneity in health care utilization with respect to households and PSUs. The results of the NHSP data analysis showed that all three analyses, weighted (two scaling methods) and un-weighted, converged to almost identical results with few exceptions. This may have occurred because of the large num-ber of 3rd and 2nd level clusters and relatively small ICC. We performed a sim-ulation study to assess the effect of varying prevalence and intra-class correla-tion coefficients (ICCs) on bias of fixed effect parameters and variance components of a multilevel pseudo maximum likelihood (weighted) analysis. The simulation results showed that the performance of the scaled weighted estimators is satisfactory for both scaling methods. Incorporating simulation into the analysis of complex multilevel surveys allows the integrity of the results to be tested and is recommended as good practice.

Childhood And Adolescent Obesity: Primary Health Care Physicians’ Perspectives From Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Faiza Nasser Alotaibi, Majeedah Alotaibi, Shiakhah Alanazi, Hanan Al-Gethami, Deemah Alateeq, Rowaydah Mishiddi, Amna Rehana Siddiqui

Community Health Sciences

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES:

Primary health care (PHC) physicians are foremost to confront childhood and adolescent obesity. Our objective was to evaluate PHC Physicians perspectives for managing overweight/obesity in children and adolescents.

METHODS:

PHC services from eight public hospitals in Riyadh participated. A self-administered tool maintaining anonymity evaluated facilitators and barriers for managing overweight/obese children and adolescent patients. Physicians who 'always' recommended weight management for an overweight / obese patient during past year, by involving patient, parents, and others were classified as having positive and appropriate practice.

RESULTS:

Of the 58 respondents, 51.7% had appropriate practices. Lack of patient motivation (82.2%), …

Coping Styles And Depression Among Patients With Solid Organ Cancers Attending Two Tertiary Care Hospitals Of Karachi: A Cross Sectional Study., Khadija Vadsaria, Adnan Jabbar, Iqbal Azam Syed, Sameera Rizvi, Ghulam Haider, Haider Naqvi

Community Health Sciences

Cancer undoubtedly affects patients in all aspects. Cancer diagnosis is a stressful event and coping is the primary mechanism used to adjust and counteract the stress. This study aims to assess the coping styles and prevalence of depression among solid organ cancer patients during treatment phase, attending two tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among solid organ cancer patients at Aga Khan University Hospital and Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center. Coping and depression were assessed by Brief COPE and Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) 20 respectively. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 488 patients. Coping styles …

Survellience System For Child Abuse: Bridging The Gap Between Actual And Hidden Cases., Maryam Pyar Ali Lakhdir, Yasmin Parpio, Salima Farooq

Community Health Sciences

The dynamics of child abuse have been recognised as a global emerging social issue which is highly associated with child humiliation. The Government of Pakistan has taken many initiatives for addressing issues regarding child abuse and neglect and has designed laws to protect children against exploitation, abuse and violence; however, most of them are not enforced at all or poorly implemented due to lack of proper definition of child abuse and related terms, and different ways of reporting child abuse cases. Most of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Pakistan target extreme cases of child sexual abuse such as child rape …