Awareness of having hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia among US adults: The 2011-2018 NHANES data.

AIM: This study aimed to investigate awareness of having hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia and their associated factors among US adults. METHODS: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, including 21,399 adults aged ⩾20 years (pregnant women excluded) collected between 2011 and 2018, were used. Blood pressure was measured using a Baumanometer calibrated mercury true gravity wall model sphygmomanometer. Serum total cholesterol levels were measured using enzymatic assays. The percentage of haemoglobin A1C (HbA1c), which reflects long-term blood glucose levels, was measured and used to identify diabetes. Participants self-reported whether they were told by a doctor that they have hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes. Awareness was defined as alignment between objective and self-reported measures for having the conditions. Sampling weights and the Taylor series linearisation variance estimation method were used in the analyses. RESULTS: The findings showed that 64.06% of people with hypertension, 54.71% of those with dyslipidaemia and 78.40% of those with diabetes were aware of having the respective condition. Age, sex and health insurance were associated with awareness of having all three conditions, but marital status was not associated with any outcome. Weight status was associated with awareness of having hypertension and dyslipidaemia, whereas ethnicity was associated with awareness of having hypertension and diabetes. Relative family income was only associated with awareness of having hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Large proportions of US adults with hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes are not aware of having the conditions. Interventions targeting groups at higher risk of being unaware of these conditions are needed.

The Effect of Dietary Patterns on Reducing Falls and Falls Risk in Adults: A Systematic Review.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Falls are a major global public health issue and the second cause of unintentional injury death. Nutrition may be an important factor for falls prevention in adults, but most previous studies examined the associations between single nutrients and falls. The use of dietary patterns is an alternative method to measure whole diet and its relationship with health outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to systematically review all evidence relating to dietary pattern impacts on falls and/or falls risk in adults. RECENT FINDINGS: This systematic review was registered on the PROSPERO (CRD42020171987). Four databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL Complete) were used for searching potential articles on 18th December 2021 and updated the search on 10th July 2023. We included any quantitative study reporting associations between dietary patterns and falls and/or falls risk in healthy adults ≥ 18 years and publishing in English as full text and peer-reviewed. Of 2866 potential articles, five studies (two cross-sectional, three cohorts) were included for the evidence synthesis. The risk of bias was low in cohort studies. Dietary patterns were derived using both "a priori" or "empirical" approaches, and self-report questionnaires used for falls/falls risk in most studies. Associations between dietary patterns and falls/falls risk were inconsistent results by sex and study design. The effect of dietary patterns on reducing falls/falls risk is not clear in the included studies, so this association needs to be confirmed in future research.

Professional quality of life and its associated factors among Vietnamese doctors and nurses.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of health workers with occupational health issues ranked fourth among all careers resulting in a reduction in quality of life. However, tools to measure professional quality of life (ProQoL) are unavailable in Vietnamese. This study aims to develop a Vietnamese version of the ProQoL, and examine ProQoL and its associated factors among doctors and nurses. METHODS: The ProQoL is comprised of 30 items measures compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS). The tool was translated into Vietnamese following the Guideline by Guillemin et. al (1993), reviewed by expert panels, and validated for internal consistency and test-retest reliability among 38 health workers working at hospitals in HCMC. The validated tool was then used in a cross-sectional study to measure the ProQoL of full-time doctors and nurses working in clinical departments at the University Medical Center, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In addition to the ProQoL, self-reported data about demographic and occupational characteristics were collected. RESULTS: The Vietnamese version of ProQoL achieved high internal consistency (alphas between 0.85 and 0.91) and Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs between 0.71 and 0.89) for all subscales. Among 316 health workers, mean scores of CS, BO, STS were 36.4 (SD = 5.4), 24.9 (SD = 5.1), 25.9 (SD = 5.3), respectively, indicating moderate levels of CS, BO and STS. Participants who were older (b = 0.17, 95%CI = 0.08, 0.26), had sufficient perceived income (b = 2.59, 95%CI = 0.93, 4.24), and > 10 years of working experience (b = 2.15, 95%CI = 0.68, 3.62), had higher CS scores. Those who were older (b=-0.15, 95%CI=-0.23, -0.07), had sufficient perceived income (b=-2.64, 95%CI=-4.18, -1.09), > 10 years of experience (b=-1.38, 95%CI=-2.76, -0.01), worked in surgical department (b=-1.46, 95%CI=-2.54, -0.38) and 8 hours/day (b=-1.52, 95%CI=-2.61, -0.44), had lower BO scores. Moreover, those in a relationship (b=-2.27, 95%CI=-3.53, -1.01) and had sufficient perceived income (b=-1.98, 95%CI=-3.64, -0.32) had lower STS scores. CONCLUSIONS: The Vietnamese version of ProQoL is valid and reliable for use among Vietnamese health workers. Age, marital status, perceived income status, years of working experience, daily working hours, and specialty was associated with at least one component of ProQoL but gender, religion, education level, and monthly income were not.

Anti-vaccination attitude trends during the COVID-19 pandemic: A machine learning-based analysis of tweets.

Objective: Vaccine hesitancy has been ranked by the World Health Organization among the top 10 threats to global health. With a surge in misinformation and conspiracy theories against vaccination observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes toward vaccination may be worsening. This study investigates trends in anti-vaccination attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic and within the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Methods: Vaccine-related English tweets published between 1 January 2020 and 27 June 2021 were used. A deep learning model using a dynamic word embedding method, Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERTs), was developed to identify anti-vaccination tweets. The classifier achieved a micro F1 score of 0.92. Time series plots and country maps were used to examine vaccination attitudes globally and within countries. Results: Among 9,352,509 tweets, 232,975 (2.49%) were identified as anti-vaccination tweets. The overall number of vaccine-related tweets increased sharply after the implementation of the first vaccination round since November 2020 (daily average of 6967 before vs. 31,757 tweets after 9/11/2020). The number of anti-vaccination tweets increased after conspiracy theories spread on social media. Percentages of anti-vaccination tweets were 3.45%, 2.74%, 2.46%, and 1.86% for the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, respectively. Conclusions: Strategies and information campaigns targeting vaccination misinformation may need to be specifically designed for regions with the highest anti-vaccination Twitter activity and when new vaccination campaigns are initiated.

Applying Machine Learning to Identify Anti-Vaccination Tweets during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Anti-vaccination attitudes have been an issue since the development of the first vaccines. The increasing use of social media as a source of health information may contribute to vaccine hesitancy due to anti-vaccination content widely available on social media, including Twitter. Being able to identify anti-vaccination tweets could provide useful information for formulating strategies to reduce anti-vaccination sentiments among different groups. This study aims to evaluate the performance of different natural language processing models to identify anti-vaccination tweets that were published during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared the performance of the bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) and the bidirectional long short-term memory networks with pre-trained GLoVe embeddings (Bi-LSTM) with classic machine learning methods including support vector machine (SVM) and naïve Bayes (NB). The results show that performance on the test set of the BERT model was: accuracy = 91.6%, precision = 93.4%, recall = 97.6%, F1 score = 95.5%, and AUC = 84.7%. Bi-LSTM model performance showed: accuracy = 89.8%, precision = 44.0%, recall = 47.2%, F1 score = 45.5%, and AUC = 85.8%. SVM with linear kernel performed at: accuracy = 92.3%, Precision = 19.5%, Recall = 78.6%, F1 score = 31.2%, and AUC = 85.6%. Complement NB demonstrated: accuracy = 88.8%, precision = 23.0%, recall = 32.8%, F1 score = 27.1%, and AUC = 62.7%. In conclusion, the BERT models outperformed the Bi-LSTM, SVM, and NB models in this task. Moreover, the BERT model achieved excellent performance and can be used to identify anti-vaccination tweets in future studies.

Psychometric Properties of the Vietnamese Catquest-9 Short Form Questionnaire.

SIGNIFICANCE: The Catquest-9 Short Form (SF) has good psychometric properties but was not available in Vietnamese. This study provides the Vietnamese Catquest-9SF and evidence supporting for its use in hospital settings along with clinical assessment to evaluate visual function. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Vietnamese Catquest-9SF. METHODS: Literate patients with unilateral/bilateral cataract, without severe systemic and ocular comorbidities, aged 50+ years, and scheduled for first-eye surgery were screened and recruited at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City and Trung Vuong Hospital. Age, sex, and education were self-reported. The Catquest-9SF and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire were used to assess vision-related quality of life (VRQOL). Best-corrected unilateral and bilateral log of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) visual acuity was measured, as was best-corrected Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity. Rasch analysis was performed on the Vietnamese version of the Catquest-9SF. Criterion validity and convergent validity were also evaluated. RESULTS: Andrich thresholds and response categories on each Catquest-9SF item were ordered, indicating that patients were able to discriminate VRQOL levels. Person separation index and reliability were 2.51 and 0.86, respectively, indicating that the Catquest-9SF was able to distinguish between patients with low- and high-vision difficulties. The tool was unidimensional, with all items fitting well within the construct. There was no evidence of differential item functioning by sex, age group, or cataract status. The tool also showed criterion validity, correlating significantly with visual acuity in the better eye (r = -0.46), the worse eye (r = -0.39), and both eyes (r = -0.44), and with contrast sensitivity for the better eye (r = 0.41), the worse eye (r = 0.32), and both eyes (r = 0.39). A strong correlation between the Catquest-9SF and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (r = 0.87) indicated convergent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The Vietnamese Catquest-9SF is valid and psychometrically robust for assessing VRQOL among cataract patients.

Correlates of physical activity in fifth-grade students in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Studies investigating correlates of physical activity (PA) using objective PA measurements among primary school-aged children are limited in Asia, particularly Vietnam. This study examined psychosocial and environmental factors associated with PA among fifth-grade students in eight primary schools in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Bivariate analyses showed that for every month increase in students' age, an increase of 66 steps/day (p<0.05) was found; boys had 1442 more steps/day than girls (p<0.001); and students from lower income households had 1169 steps/day less than those from higher income households (p<0.01). For every unit increase in self-efficacy, perceived social influences, intention to be physically active, and parental support for PA, an increase of 220, 200, 522, and 117 steps/day (p<0.01) was found respectively. In multivariable analysis, only intention and parental support for PA remained significant (p<0.01). About 21% of variation in daily steps was explained by demographic characteristics and an additional 13% by psychosocial influences. In conclusion, intention to be physically active and parental support are important factors and should be considered when designing PA interventions in school/community-based settings.

Quality of life, depression and correlates in HIV+ people at An Hoa Clinic, Ho Chi Minh City.

This study investigated correlates of quality of life (QOL) among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) at An Hoa Clinic, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Inclusive criteria were PLWH ≥18 years old, under antiretroviral therapy (ART) for ≥3 months, and consent to participate. PLWH who were illiterate, too ill, or at the final stage of AIDS were excluded. QOL was assessed using WHOQOL-BREF-HIV. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. For every point increased in depression score, QOL decreased 0.13 points in Physical (p < .001), 0.12 points in Psychological and Social Relationships (p < .001), 0.07 points in Level of Independence (p < .001), 0.09 points in Environment (p < .001), and 0.15 points in Personal Beliefs domain (p < .001). PLWH from an economically disadvantaged household had lower QOL scores for all QOL domains but Personal Beliefs with differences ranging from 0.81 points for Social Relationships to 1.77 points for Environment domain. PLWH with a co-morbidity had lower scores whereas those living with a spouse and adhering to ART medication had higher scores in at least one QOL domain. In conclusion, depressive symptoms, household economy, living with a spouse, having a co-morbidity and ART medication adherence were important factors associated with PLWH's QOL.

Psychometric properties of questionnaires to measure social ecological influences in Vietnamese children.

Physical activity data in primary school-aged children are limited in Vietnam. Although tools to measure social ecological influences on physical activity are validated in English, they are not available in Vietnamese. Due to cultural and contextual differences, their psychometric properties need to be tested. Five scales were translated into Vietnamese and evaluated for internal consistency and test re-test reliability, including self-efficacy, perceived social influences, and beliefs self-administered by students, and parental support for physical activity and parental perceived safety of the neighbourhood, self-administered by parents. Compared to the original scales, two items from the parental perceived neighbourhood safety were removed due to the cultural context. Another item of the self-efficacy scale was also removed as it correlated poorly with the other items in the scale at both administrations. The adjusted scales were found to be reliable and appropriate for use among students and parents to measure social ecological influences on physical activity in the Vietnamese context.

Changes in depressive symptoms and correlates in HIV+ people at An Hoa Clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

BACKGROUND: Understanding of depression among Vietnamese people living with HIV (PLWH) is limited. This longitudinal study examines changes in depressive symptoms and identifies its correlates among people living with HIV under antiretroviral therapy at An Hoa Clinic. METHODS: People living with HIV ≥18 years and undergoing antiretroviral therapy for ≥3 months were eligible. Those at final AIDS stage, too ill, or illiterate were excluded due to their inability to complete the self-administered questionnaire. One researcher was present in the clinic for a month inviting PLWH to participate. Data were collected from 242 PLWH at baseline (T1) and 234 after three months (T2). Depressive symptoms was measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD). Social relationship was measured using questions created by World Health Organization. Generalized Estimating Equations were used examining changes in depressive symptoms with CESD cut-off <16/≥16 (mild depression) and cut-off <23/≥23 (major depression). RESULTS: Model 1 (CESD cut-off <16/≥16) showed that participants were not more likely to have depressive symptoms at T2 compared to T1 (OR = 1.15, p > 0.05). Those with a co-morbidity were more likely to have depressive symptoms than those without a co-morbidity (OR = 1.76, p < 0.05). Those with higher social relationship scores were less likely to have depressive symptoms than those with lower scores (OR = 0.76, p < 0.001). Model 2 (CESD cut-off <23/≥23) showed that participants were more likely to have major depressive symptoms at T2 compared to T1 (OR = 1.6, p < 0.01) and those with higher social relationship score were less likely to have major depressive symptoms than those with lower scores (OR = 0.73, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: People living with HIV were not more likely to have depressive symptoms (<16/≥16) but were more likely to have major depressive symptoms (<23/≥23) at T2 vs. T1. Social relationship was found to be strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Associations between age, individual income status, and co-morbidity with depressive symptoms were not decisive. Gender, ethnicity, education, religion, marriage, household economy, and adherence were not correlates.

Workplace physical activity interventions: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of workplace interventions in improving physical activity. DATA SOURCE: EBSCO research database (and all subdatabases). STUDY INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA: Articles were published from 2000 to 2010 in English, had appropriate designs, and measured employees' physical activity, energy consumption, and/or body mass index (BMI) as primary outcomes. Articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION: Data extracted included study design, study population, duration, intervention activities, outcomes, and results. DATA SYNTHESIS: Data were synthesized into one table. Results of each relevant outcome including p values were combined. RESULTS: Twelve (60%) of 20 selected interventions reported an improvement in physical activity level, steps, or BMI, and there was one slowed step reduction in the intervention group. Among these, 10 were less than 6 months in duration; 9 used pedometers; 6 applied Internet-based approaches; and 5 included activities targeting social and environmental levels. Seven of 8 interventions with pre-posttest and quasi-experimental controlled design showed improvement on at least one outcome. However, 7 of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) did not prove effective in any outcome. CONCLUSION: Interventions that had less rigorous research designs, used pedometers, applied Internet-based approaches, and included activities at social and environmental levels were more likely to report being effective than those without these characteristics.