Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure: Effect on Farmers' Sperm Quality in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: Using pesticides in the An Giang province is widespread. However, studies on the health effect of organophosphate pesticide have not been updated within the past 12 years. This study aimed to assess exposure to organophosphate pesticides and their effects on sperm quality among farmers in the An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. METHODS: During the winter - spring crop season of December 2021 to February 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted on farmers aged 18 to 60 years-old based on seven communes' health checkup programs. The pesticide spray group included farmers who had sprayed pesticides in the previous week and had a history of working in agriculture for more than 2 years. The control group was defined as those who lived in the same community, had not worked in agriculture, and had never sprayed pesticides. Demographic characteristics and blood, urine, and semen samples were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Data for 184 eligible participants were analyzed, including 116 farmers in the pesticide spray group and 68 non-farmers in the control group. Pesticide spray contributed to a decrease in the sperm quality index of 6.253 units (95% CI, 4.472-8.749). Increasing each pseudocholinesterase (PChE) unit (kIU/L) was associated with an increase of 1.181 units in the sperm quality index (95% CI, 0.757-0.947). CONCLUSIONS: Preventive methods for organophosphate pesticide exposure, such as administrative controls, engineering controls, substitution, and personal protective equipment should be applied to control health risks. In the An Giang setting, personal protective equipment is feasible, but most types of equipment are not used. The immediate priority is to determine the cause of personal protective equipment not being used and to find solutions to encourage people to use them.

Nutritional status and postoperative outcomes in patients with gastrointestinal cancer in Vietnam: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional support for surgical care is crucial because hospital malnutrition is rather common. However, low- and middle-income countries have not adequately addressed nutritional management of surgical patients. To highlight need for nutritional management in surgical patients, the present study aimed to describe preoperative nutritional status in patients who underwent gastrointestinal cancer surgery in Vietnam and to investigate the relationship between preoperative malnutrition and adverse outcomes, such as postoperative complications and prolonged length of hospital stay. METHODS: We reviewed medical records of patients who underwent a major curative surgery for gastrointestinal cancer at the national hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We identified preoperative malnutrition based on body mass index and serum albumin level, and postoperative complications in the first 30 d postoperative. We estimated the relative influence of malnutrition on complications and length of hospital stay using multivariate regression models. RESULTS: Of 459 eligible patients, 63% had colorectal cancer, 33% gastric cancer, and 4% esophageal cancer. The prevalence of malnutrition was 19%. No patients died during hospitalization; however, 26% developed complications after surgery. The average length of hospital stay was 14 d. After controlling for potential confounders, preoperative malnutrition was associated with an increased risk of postoperative complications (odds ratio = 1.97) and prolonged hospital stay (2.8 d). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative malnutrition affects surgical outcomes among patients with gastrointestinal cancer in Vietnam. We recommend implementing preoperative nutritional interventions to achieve better outcomes among surgical cancer patients.

Characterizing the relationship between temperature and mortality in tropical and subtropical cities: a distributed lag non-linear model analysis in Hue, Viet Nam, 2009-2013.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between temperature and mortality has been found to be U-, V-, or J-shaped in developed temperate countries; however, in developing tropical/subtropical cities, it remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to investigate the relationship between temperature and mortality in Hue, a subtropical city in Viet Nam. DESIGN: We collected daily mortality data from the Vietnamese A6 mortality reporting system for 6,214 deceased persons between 2009 and 2013. A distributed lag non-linear model was used to examine the temperature effects on all-cause and cause-specific mortality by assuming negative binomial distribution for count data. We developed an objective-oriented model selection with four steps following the Akaike information criterion (AIC) rule (i.e. a smaller AIC value indicates a better model). RESULTS: High temperature-related mortality was more strongly associated with short lags, whereas low temperature-related mortality was more strongly associated with long lags. The low temperatures increased risk in all-category mortality compared to high temperatures. We observed elevated temperature-mortality risk in vulnerable groups: elderly people (high temperature effect, relative risk [RR]=1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.11-1.83; low temperature effect, RR=2.0, 95% CI=1.13-3.52), females (low temperature effect, RR=2.19, 95% CI=1.14-4.21), people with respiratory disease (high temperature effect, RR=2.45, 95% CI=0.91-6.63), and those with cardiovascular disease (high temperature effect, RR=1.6, 95% CI=1.15-2.22; low temperature effect, RR=1.99, 95% CI=0.92-4.28). CONCLUSIONS: In Hue, the temperature significantly increased the risk of mortality, especially in vulnerable groups (i.e. elderly, female, people with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases). These findings may provide a foundation for developing adequate policies to address the effects of temperature on health in Hue City.