Reliability and validity of a questionnaire measuring knowledge, attitude and practice regarding "oil, salt and sugar" among canteen staff.

Excessive intake of oil, salt and sugar is closely associated with the prevalence of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs). Canteen staff's knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about oil, salt and sugar directly affect the content in dishes and the consumers' intake. However, no valid questionnaire is used to assess KAP among canteen staff about the "oil, salt and sugar". Therefore, the present study aimed to establish and validate a questionnaire to evaluate the KAP of canteen staff about the "oil, salt and sugar". This cross-sectional study was conducted among canteen staff randomly selected from three college canteens. Participants completed the questionnaire and retested it two weeks later. Internal and test-retest reliability were assessed using Cronbach's α and Pearson correlation coefficients, respectively. Validity was assessed using the exploratory factor analysis. 100 participants finished the questionnaire, of which 66% were females with a mean age of 40.3 ± 10.5 years. The Cronbach's α coefficients of the total questionnaire and Knowledge, Attitude and Practice dimensions were 0.822, 0.830, 0.752 and 0.700, respectively. The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.968. In exploratory factor analysis, nine common factors were extracted, with 26 items, and the cumulative contribution rate was 70.9%. The questionnaire had a satisfactory property for measuring the KAP of the "oil, salt and sugar" among canteen staff in China.

Comparison of the safety between propylthiouracil and methimazole with hyperthyroidism in pregnancy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the safety of the anti-thyroid drugs (ATDs) propylthiouracil (PTU) and methimazole (MMI) in the treatment of hyperthyroidism during pregnancy. METHOD: From inception until June 2, 2022, all available studies were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, EBSCO, Embase, Scopus, and CNKI. RESULT: Thirteen articles satisfying the inclusion criteria were examined. Our meta-analysis indicated that pregnant women treated with MMI had a higher risk of congenital anomalies than those treated with PTU (OR 0.80, 95%CI 0.69-0.92, P = 0.002, I2 = 41.9%). Shifting between MMI and PTU during pregnancy did not reduce the risk of birth defects compared to PTU alone (OR 1.18, CI 1.00 to 1.40, P = 0.061, I2 = 0.0%). There were no statistically significant differences in hepatotoxicity (OR 1.54, 95%CI 0.77-3.09, P = 0.221, I2 = 0.0%) or miscarriage (OR 0.89, 95%CI 0.72-1.11, P = 0.310, I2 = 0.0%) between PTU and MMI exposure. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed propylthiouracil is a safer alternative to methimazole for treating hyperthyroidism in pregnant women, and it is appropriate to treat maternal thyroid disease with PTU during the first trimester of pregnancy. However, it is not clear whether switching between propylthiouracil and methimazole is a better option than treating PTU alone during pregnancy. Further studies on this matter may be needed to develop new evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of pregnant women with hyperthyroidism.