A randomised controlled trial on the effects of a structural education module among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome on nutrition and physical activity changes.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a complex metabolic, endocrine and reproductive disorder that has a huge impact on the life of women. To ascertain the effectiveness of health education module among women with PCOS. METHODS: This single-centre, randomised controlled trial was conducted on female staff of the University Putra Malaysia who were diagnosed with PCOS. Subjects were randomly assigned into intervention (n = 34) and control group (n = 35). In the intervention group, they need to take part in 8 education sessions in total over 6 months, and feedback was collected at the end of the session. RESULTS: Primary outcome was changes in knowledge, attitude and practise of nutrition. Secondary outcomes were eating attitude and behaviour as well as knowledge, attitude and practise towards physical activity. After 6-months of intervention, there was a significant difference observed in nutrition knowledge 1 score (p < 0.001) and nutrition knowledge 2 score (p = 0.01) between intervention and control groups. Similarly, there was a significant difference observed in international physical activity questionnaire score (p = 0.02) between intervention and control groups. However there was no significant changes for attitude and practice of nutrition, eating attitude as well as knowledge, attitude and practise of physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that 6-months of education intervention can improve nutrition and physical activity knowledge. Based on this study, the education module may be considered an effective intervention for women with PCOS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Name of the registry: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12617000135314. Date of registration: 24/01/2017. URL of trial registry record: https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=372037.

A Review on the Assessment of the Efficacy of Common Treatments in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome on Prevention of Diabetes Mellitus.

Objective: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition amongst women of reproductive age that can result in increased mortality and morbidity in women due to increased risk of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of common treatments of PCOS on the predictors of diabetes in non-diabetic PCOS women. Materials and methods: An extensive search was performed on the publications in three medical databases including pubmed, scopus and google scholar from 1995 till 2017. The articles were screened based on their quality and included in this systematic review. A total of 25 articles including cohort, randomised controlled trial, review and meta-analysis were included in the review. Results: This systematic review revealed that the effect of lifestyle modification might be low in PCOS subjects due to high drop-out rate while the benefits of this intervention including weight and fat reduction may not be achieved by medical interventions. Metformin treatment may result in improvements in insulin sensitivity while its weight reduction effect is still not documented in PCOS subjects. Thiazolidendiones might be tolerated by the PCOS subjects and may result in similar effects as metformin but this effect should be documented by further studies. Conclusion: Combination of lifestyle modification with metformin or thiazolidinedions might improve the outcome of the prevention strategies. On the other hand this study revealed a different response to treatments in non-obese compared with obese PCOS subjects.

Sexual Dysfunction in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a combination of chronic anovulation, obesity, and hyperandrogenism and can affect sexual function in women of reproductive age. It is also associated with endometrial cancer. Our aim was to evaluate the frequency and predisposing factors of sexual dysfunction in PCOS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 16 married women with a definite diagnosis of PCOS were recruited. Sexual function was assessed in the domains of desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain using the female sexual function index (FSFI) questionnaire. Patients were also assessed for mental health using the depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21) questionnaire. Presence of hirsutism was assessed using the Ferriman-Gallwey (FG) scoring system. Demographic data were obtained from patients during in-person interview. RESULTS: Sexual dysfunction was present in 62.5% of patients with the domains of arousal and lubrication particularly affected (93.8% and 87.5%, respectively). Patients with symptoms of depression and anxiety were significantly more likely to suffer sexual dysfunction than those without these symptoms (p=0.04 and p=0.03 respectively). Patients with stress symptoms reported higher orgasm dysfunction than those without (p=0.02). No significant difference in any of the FSFI score domains was observed between patients with and without hirsutism. CONCLUSIONS: PCOS patients markedly suffer from sexual dysfunction and therefore it seems appropriate to be screened for intervention. Poor mental health conditions that may be the result of infertility or other complications of PCOS should also be considered as curable causes of sexual dysfunction in these patients.

Identification of competencies for Malaysian occupational safety and health professionals.

Competencies of occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals have become a concern due to the significance of safety management in the field of safety engineering. The purpose of this article is to identify competencies needed by OSH professionals. These competencies are required by professionals in administrating and enforcing legislations related to OSH in Malaysia. This study used Delphi technique in three rounds of data collection. The benefits of this research approach are the use of experts in gaining opinions without time and geographical restraints. The results show 25 generic competencies with combinations of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies and 33 functional or specific competencies including knowledge and skills needed by OSH professionals. Both generic and functional competencies are also divided into threshold and differentiating competencies that would be used to differentiate average and excellent performance of OSH professionals.