How do primary care physicians in Singapore keep healthy?

INTRODUCTION: Not much is known regarding how primary care physicians (PCPs) in Singapore keep themselves healthy and mitigate ill health. This study aims to determine the health-seeking behaviour of local PCPs and to identify the predictors of local PCPs attaining the recommended level of exercise. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, which included questions on the demographic characteristics, practice profiles and health-seeking behaviour of PCPs. The sampling frame was the 1,400 listed members of the College of Family Physicians Singapore. The anonymised survey was executed in two phases: a postal survey, followed by a web-based survey on the College of Family Physicians Singapore website. The two data sets were collated; the categorical variables, summarised; and the differences between subgroups (based on exercise engagement), compared using Fisher's exact test. The effect of each risk factor on exercise duration was quantified using odds ratio (OR) estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant predictors of exercise engagement. RESULTS: A total of 631 PCPs participated in the survey--26% were ≤ 34 years old, 58% were male, 21% were single, 34% were singleton practitioners, and 56% were private practitioners. The percentage of PCPs who exercised ≥ 2.5 hours weekly was 29%, while 28% exercised < 0.5 hours weekly. Of the PCPs surveyed, 1% currently smoke, 0.8% drink more than 14 units of alcohol weekly, 60% undertook health screening, 65% had blood investigations done, and 64% had taken preventive measures such as getting influenza vaccination. CONCLUSION: While local PCPs generally did not have undesirable habits such as smoking and alcohol abuse, they could further increase their exercise intensity and undertake more preventive measures such as getting vaccinated against various diseases.

Plasma free hemoglobin: a novel diagnostic test for assessment of the depth of burn injury.

BACKGROUND: Accurate determination of the depth of burn injury is difficult, even for experienced surgeons. The authors hypothesized that the level of plasma free hemoglobin following burn injury is correlated to the depth of burn injury, and they evaluated this hypothesis in a murine model. METHODS: Full-thickness and partial-thickness burn injuries of varying sizes were inflicted on 38 and 36 male Wistar rats, respectively. Blood specimens were taken at 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after burn injury, and the levels of plasma free hemoglobin were determined spectrophotometrically. RESULTS: Full-thickness burns cause two times more hemolysis than partial-thickness burns (p < 0.05). A linear correlation was demonstrated between plasma free hemoglobin levels and total body surface area burned in both the full-thickness (r = 0.91, p < 0.001) and partial-thickness burn groups (r = 0.94, p < 0.001). The correlation between the quantity of hemolysis and the total body surface area burned was strongest at 15 minutes after the onset of burn injury. The levels of free hemoglobin peaked rapidly between 15 and 30 minutes after thermal injury and declined thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: The authors' data suggest that the level of plasma free hemoglobin after burn injury is related to the size and depth of burn injury. This test can potentially be a valuable diagnostic adjunct in the assessment of burns.

The age of menopause and the menopause transition in a multiracial population: a nation-wide Singapore study.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of menopausal symptoms, define the mean age of menopause, and determine contributory factors, which influence the experience of symptoms among Singaporean women of different racial groups. DESIGN: Cross-sectional nation-wide study of a random sample of 1000 women drawn from the entire population of Singaporean female (Chinese, Malay, and Indian) citizens between 45 and 60 years of age. Face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires were conducted. RESULTS: The response rate was 69.9%. The mean age of natural menopause was 49.0 years. This was not significantly different between the three ethnic groups. Increasing parity delayed the age of menopause (P=0.007). Muscle and joint ache was the most commonly reported symptom (52.6%). Although the prevalence of significant hot flushes in the general study population was low (3.9%), it was the most commonly reported complaint by peri-menopausal women (14.6%). Prevalence of significant hot flushes decreased with time from menopause (P=0.007) and completely disappeared beyond the fifth year of menopause. Recent unhappy events were associated with an increased risk of symptoms (P<0.001). Women of Chinese origin experienced a lower risk of menopausal symptoms when compared with other ethnic groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The mean age of menopause was 49.0 years among Singaporean women. Ethnicity and recent unhappy events were two major factors, which influenced the risk of experiencing menopausal symptoms. Among the three ethnic groups studied, Chinese women were the least likely to experience disturbing menopausal symptoms. The overall prevalence of menopausal symptoms was low when compared to studies on women in western societies.