Psychometric properties of EQ-5D-5L for use in patients with Graves' disease.

BACKGROUND: The EQ-5D-5 L is a commonly used generic measure of health. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the EQ-5D-5 L in patients with Graves' disease (GD). METHODS: A prospective cohort of patients with GD recruited at three public hospitals in Hong Kong completed the EQ-5D-5 L and ThyPRO-39 questionnaires at baseline, 1-month, and 6-month follow-ups. Convergent validity was tested by examining the Spearman correlation between EQ-5D-5 L and ThyPRO-39 scores at baseline. 1-month test-retest reliability was assessed by Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Gwet's Agreement Coefficient 2 (AC2), and percentage agreement. Responsiveness of EQ-5D-5 L index and EQ-VAS scores was assessed using effect size statistics (standardized effect size [SES] and standardized response mean [SRM]). RESULTS: Of 125 recruited patients, 101 (80.8%) and 100 (80.0%) patients were followed up at 1- and 6-month, respectively. For convergent validity, there was a moderate negative correlation between EQ-5D-5 L index or EQ-VAS score and ThyPRO-39 overall QoL-impact score (-0.350, -0.451), between EQ-VAS score and composite score (-0.483), and strong negative correlation between EQ-5D-5 L index score and composite score (-0.567). The Gwet's AC2 and percentage agreement were the highest in self-care (0.964 and 0.967), followed by mobility (0.952 and 0.962), usual activities (0.934 and 0.948), pain/discomfort (0.801 and 0.887), and anxiety/depression (0.788 and 0.882). The ICC for the EQ-5D-5 L index and the EQ-VAS was 0.707 and 0.700. For patients who reported having 'worsened' health at 6-month follow-up, the SES and SRM were - 0.66 and - 0.42 for EQ-5D-5 L index and - 1.15 and - 1.00 for EQ-VAS, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The EQ-5D-5 L demonstrated convergent validity, test-retest reliability, and responsiveness to worsened health status among patients with GD.

Changes in all-cause and cause-specific excess mortality before and after the Omicron outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.

Background: While coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) deaths were generally underestimated in many countries, Hong Kong may show a different trend of excess mortality due to stringent measures, especially for deaths related to respiratory diseases. Nevertheless, the Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong evolved into a territory-wide transmission, similar to other settings such as Singapore, South Korea, and recently, mainland China. We hypothesized that the excess mortality would differ substantially before and after the Omicron outbreak. Methods: We conducted a time-series analysis of daily deaths stratified by age, reported causes, and epidemic wave. We determined the excess mortality from the difference between observed and expected mortality from 23 January 2020 to 1 June 2022 by fitting mortality data from 2013 to 2019. Results: During the early phase of the pandemic, the estimated excess mortality was -19.92 (95% confidence interval (CI) = -29.09, -10.75) and -115.57 (95% CI = -161.34, -69.79) per 100 000 population overall and for the elderly, respectively. However, the overall excess mortality rate was 234.08 (95% CI = 224.66, 243.50) per 100 000 population overall and as high as 928.09 (95% CI = 885.14, 971.04) per 100 000 population for the elderly during the Omicron epidemic. We generally observed negative excess mortality rates of non-COVID-19 respiratory diseases before and after the Omicron outbreak. In contrast, increases in excess mortality were generally reported in non-respiratory diseases after the Omicron outbreak. Conclusions: Our results highlighted the averted mortality before 2022 among the elderly and patients with non-COVID-19 respiratory diseases, due to indirect benefits from stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions. The high excess mortality during the Omicron epidemic demonstrated a significant impact from the surge of COVID-19 infections in a SARS-CoV-2 infection-naive population, particularly evident in the elderly group.

Interventions that improve adherence to antihypertensive medications in coronary heart disease patients: a systematic review.

A systematic review is conducted to identify effective interventions that improved adherence to antihypertensive drugs among patients with coronary heart diseases (CHDs). Primary studies designed to measure interventions to improve adherence on antihypertensive drugs in patients with CHD were included. Three online databases, COCHRANE, EMBASE and MEDLINE, were searched for primary studies published in English from 2005 to 2019. Studies were screened independently for eligibility. Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used for quality assessment of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomised studies, respectively. Of the 2000 entries identified, seven articles, including one cross-sectional study and six RCTs, met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. One of the articles evaluated two interventions, so eight interventions were evaluated in total. Quality of the included studies was generally high, with the cross-sectional study rated as having good quality under Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, while four and two RCTs were rated as having low and some risk of bias under Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, respectively. Six of the intervention programmes were considered effective. An intervention was considered effective if it is associated with a significant (p≤0.05) and non-trivial (Cohen's d≥0.2) improvement in compliance-related outcomes such as in terms of the Morisky 8-item Medication Adherence Scale. Medication education, disease education, health education, constant reminders and medications dispensed using blister packs were identified to be effective in improving patients' compliance to medications. The importance of the continuity of interventions was also established. It is recommended that health service institutions should provide continuous education programmes, daily reminders and regular follow-ups for their patients who have CHD. It is recommended that further research ought to be carried out by using only one intervention in each trial with a standardised outcome measure, or using factorial designs, so that further cost-effectiveness evaluation of each intervention can be carried out independently, leading to the formulation of a comprehensive, optimised intervention programme for patients with CHD taking antihypertensives.

A Mobile App for Identifying Individuals With Undiagnosed Diabetes and Prediabetes and for Promoting Behavior Change: 2-Year Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND: To decrease the burden of diabetes in society, early screening of undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes is needed. Integrating a diabetes risk score into a mobile app would provide a useful platform to enable people to self-assess their risk of diabetes with ease. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to (1) assess the profile of Diabetes Risk Score mobile app users, (2) determine the optimal cutoff value of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score to identify undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes in the Chinese population, (3) estimate users' chance of developing diabetes within 2 years of using the app, and (4) investigate high-risk app users' lifestyle behavior changes after ascertaining their risk level from the app. METHODS: We conducted this 2-phase study among adults via mobile app and online survey from August 2014 to December 2016. Phase 1 adopted a cross-sectional design, with a descriptive analysis of the app users' profile. We used a Cohen kappa score to show the agreement between the risk level (as shown in the app) and glycated hemoglobin test results. We used sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve to determine the optimal cutoff value of the diabetes risk score in this population. Phase 2 was a prospective cohort study. We used a logistic regression model to estimate the chance of developing diabetes after using the app. Paired t tests compared high-risk app users' lifestyle changes. RESULTS: A total of 13,289 people used the app in phase 1a. After data cleaning, we considered 4549 of these as valid data. Most users were male, and 1811 (39.81%) had tertiary education or above. Among them, 188 (10.4%) users agreed to attend the health assessment in phase 1b. We recommend the optimal value of the diabetes risk score for identifying persons with undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes to be 9, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.67 (95% CI 0.60-0.74), sensitivity of 0.70 (95% CI 0.58-0.80), and specificity of 0.57 (95% CI 0.47-0.66). At the 2-year follow-up, people in the high-risk group had a higher chance of developing diabetes (odds ratio 4.59, P=.048) than the low-risk group. The high-risk app users improved their daily intake of vegetables (baseline: mean 0.76, SD 0.43; follow-up: mean 0.93, SD 0.26; t81=-3.77, P<.001) and daily exercise (baseline: mean 0.40, SD 0.49; follow-up: mean 0.54, SD 0.50; t81=-2.08, P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: The Diabetes Risk Score app has been shown to be a feasible and reliable tool to identify persons with undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes and to predict diabetes incidence in 2 years. The app can also encourage high-risk people to modify dietary habits and reduce sedentary lifestyle.

Correlates of disease-specific knowledge in Chinese patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the associations of various sociodemographic factors with the level of disease-specific knowledge among Hong Kong Chinese patients with COPD. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 100 Chinese adults with COPD recruited from outpatient clinics was conducted from September 2009 to September 2010. Data on the knowledge specific to COPD and patients' sociodemographics were collected from face-to-face interviews. Primary outcome of disease-specific knowledge was measured using 65-item Bristol COPD Knowledge Questionnaire (BCKQ), summing up the 65 items as the BCKQ overall score. Associations of sociodemographic factors with the BCKQ overall score were evaluated using the linear regression model. RESULTS: The mean BCKQ overall score of our patients was 41.01 (SD: 10.64). The knowledge in topics of "Smoking" and "Phlegm" achieved the first (3.97, SD: 0.82) and second (3.91, SD: 1.17) highest mean scores, respectively, while the topic of "Oral steroids" returned the lowest mean score of 1.89 (SD: 1.64). The BCKQ overall score progressively declined (P<0.001) with increase in education level, with the highest BCKQ overall score of 46.71 at no formal education among all subgroups. Compared to nondrinkers, current drinkers were associated with lower total BCKQ score. CONCLUSION: We found that among COPD patients in outpatient clinics, impairments in the level of COPD knowledge were evident in patients who were current drinkers or had higher level of education.

Validation of a nomogram for predicting regression from impaired fasting glucose to normoglycaemia to facilitate clinical decision making.

BACKGROUND: In Hong Kong, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) is the most popular screening test for diabetes mellitus (DM) in primary care. Individuals with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) are commonly encountered. OBJECTIVES: To explore the determinants of regression to normoglycaemia among primary care patients with IFG based on non-invasive variables and to establish a nomogram for the prediction of regression from IFG. METHODS: This cohort study consisted of 1197 primary care patients with IFG. These subjects were invited to repeat a FPG test and 75-g 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2h-OGTT) to determine the glycaemia change. Normoglycaemia was defined as FPG <5.6 mmol/L and 2h-OGTT <7.8 mmol/L. Stepwise logistic regression model was developed to predict the regression to normoglycaemia with non-invasive variables, using a randomly selected training dataset (810 subjects). The model was validated on the remaining testing dataset (387 subjects). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to evaluate discrimination and calibration of the model. A nomogram was constructed based on the model. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up period of 6.1 months, 180 subjects (15.0%) had normoglycaemia based on the repeated FPG and 2h-OGTT results at follow-up. Subjects without central obesity or hypertension, with moderate-to-high-level physical activity and a lower baseline FPG level, were more likely to regress to normoglycaemia. The prediction model had acceptable discrimination (AUC = 0.705) and calibration (P = 0.840). CONCLUSION: The simple-to-use nomogram could facilitate identification of subjects with low risk of progression to DM and thus aid in clinical decision making and resource prioritization in the primary care setting.

Clinical and patient-reported outcomes of Chinese patients undergoing haemodialysis in hospital or in the community: A 1-year longitudinal study.

AIM: Little is known about the effect of haemodialysis (HD) setting on outcomes of patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). The study aimed at comparing clinical outcomes and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) of patients on community-based (CBHD) and hospital-based haemodialysis (HBHD). METHODS: A prospective cohort of Chinese ESRD patients receiving HBHD (n = 89) or CBHD (n = 117) in Hong Kong were followed up for 12 months. Subjects were assessed on clinical outcomes of dialysis adequacy (Kt/V) and blood haemoglobin and PRO of health-related quality of life (SF-12v2), general health condition (Global Rating Scale (GRS)) and confidence to cope with their illness (Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI)). Differences between groups were analyzed by independent t-tests for the SF-12v2, GRS and PEI scores. χ(2) tests were used to analyze the difference in proportion of patients reaching the targets of Kt/V and blood haemoglobin and with GRS > 0 and PEI > 0. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were performed to assess the adjusted difference-in-difference estimation. RESULTS: The mean PEI and GRS scores of CBHD patients at 12 months were significantly higher than those of HBHD patients. CBHD patients had significantly greater improvement in self-efficacy and were more likely to be enabled after 12 months than the HBHD patients. CONCLUSION: The study showed similar clinical outcomes and PRO between CBHD and HBHD but CBHD was more effective than HBHD in promoting patient enablement over a 12-month period. The results suggest added value for patients receiving CBHD and support the transfer of HD care from the hospital to the community.