Care needs assessment of older adults with dementia in a semi-rural district in Vietnam: A community-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The increasing needs of people living with dementia (PLWD) in Vietnam present an enormous public health challenge. Vietnam is an understudied country, and little is known regarding the overall unmet needs of caregivers or the demographic risk factors associated with unmet caregiving needs. This study aimed to determine the burden of unmet care needs of community-dwelling PLWD and identify sociodemographic risks associated with unmet care needs. METHODS: A cross-sectional study in a rural area facing urbanisation in Hanoi, Vietnam recruited PWLD-caregiver dyads with multistage sampling. We utilised the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) instrument to evaluate care needs across four domains. Caregivers rated PLWD needs, with higher scores indicating greater unmet needs. The Mann-Whitney test was employed for comparing two groups, while the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for comparisons involving more than two groups in the analysis, and a P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Among 90 PLWD participating in the study, the overall mean care needs score was 11.6 ± 4.3, with only 16.2% of PLWD having their care needs met. Environmental and physical needs were more frequently met than psychological or social needs. Only 48.0% and 43.9% of environmental and physical needs were met respectively, and a meagre 20.9% and 23.6% for psychological and social needs. Unmet care needs were more frequent for PWLD who were female, single or divorced, had lower monthly household income, or who were in more advanced stages of dementia, as indicated by Clinical Dementia Rating scores ≥1. CONCLUSIONS: Unmet needs for PWLD are common. Increased caregiver education, resources, and services in Vietnam are urgently required to improve the quality of life for this population.

Changes in Adolescents' Psychosocial Functioning and Well-Being as a Consequence of Long-Term COVID-19 Restrictions.

This work studied self-reports from adolescents on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their behaviors, relationships, mood, and victimization. Data collection was conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 in five countries (Sweden, the USA, Serbia, Morocco, and Vietnam). In total, 5114 high school students (aged 15 to 19 years, 61.8% females) responded to our electronic survey. A substantial proportion of students reported decreased time being outside (41.7%), meeting friends in real life (59.4%), and school performance (30.7%), while reporting increased time to do things they did not have time for before (49.3%) and using social media to stay connected (44.9%). One third of the adolescents increased exercise and felt that they have more control over their life. Only a small proportion of adolescents reported substance use, norm-breaking behaviors, or victimization. The overall COVID-19 impact on adolescent life was gender-specific: we found a stronger negative impact on female students. The results indicated that the majority of adolescents could adapt to the dramatic changes in their environment. However, healthcare institutions, municipalities, schools, and social services could benefit from the findings of this study in their work to meet the needs of those young people who signaled worsened psychosocial functioning, increased stress, and victimization.

Excessive radon-based radiation in indoor air caused by soil building materials in traditional homes on Dong Van karst plateau, northern Vietnam.

Radon-based radiation from natural soil building materials is an important factor likely influencing residents' health as a contributing source of natural radiation. This survey aims to quantify the nuclide-specific α-radiation of isotopes 222Rn and 220Rn in common types of houses in a region of northern Vietnam, Dong Van karst plateau, to preliminarily (i) evaluate the total annual effective dose rates and (ii) assess the relative risk of cancer induction from indoor α-radiation for inhabitants. The average 222Rn concentrations in all house types were lower than 100 Bq m-3, but 220Rn abundances were far higher than 222Rn, even up to >1000 Bq m-3 in air close to a wall of unfired-soil bricks. The estimated total annual effective dose rates from indoor 222Rn and 220Rn and their progenies to residents with daily exposure of 13 h in the various types of houses range from 3.1 to 4.3 mSv a-1 for houses constructed with modified materials, but up to higher than 6 mSv a-1 in houses with raw building materials. The average risk of developing lung cancer as a consequence of a lifetime exposure to indoor α-radiation in affected homes ranges from 3.9% to 14.6%. 220Rn and its metallic progenies contribute more than 80% of the total average lung cancer risk from total radon, being responsible for a range of 2.7-14.6% of the risk of developing lung cancer.