Adverse Birth Outcomes among Indigenous in Kelantan, Malaysia for the Years 2018-2020: Proportions and Associated Maternal Factors.

This study aimed to measure the proportion of adverse birth outcomes among all births and maternal factors associated with low birth weight among Indigenous (Orang Asli) infants in Kelantan, Malaysia. Proportionate stratified random sampling was done to select 327 samples from five antenatal centres involved with Orang Asli in Kelantan. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine maternal factors associated with low birth weight among Orang Asli infants. The proportion of low birth weight was measured at 16.2% (substantially exceeding the national rate), preterm birth at 7.3%, stillbirth at 0.6%, early neonatal death at 0.6%, and macrosomia at 0.9%,. Maternal factors associated with low birth weight infants include primiparity (AdjOR: 2.88; 95% CI: 1.44,5.78), anaemia in pregnancy (AdjOR: 2.33; 95%CI: 1.18,4.61) and hypertension (AdjOR: 4.21; 95%CI: 1.23,14.44). In conclusion, far-reaching antenatal services and nutrition policy are essential to reduce the proportions of low birth weight among Orang Asli.

Making Health Services Adolescent-Friendly in Northeastern Peninsular Malaysia: A Mixed-Methods Study.

A mixed-methods study was conducted in a Malaysian state beginning with a cross-sectional quantitative study to determine the relationship between clinic characteristics and clinic score of adolescent-friendliness. Subsequently, perceptions of healthcare providers on the facilitating factors for the provision of adolescent-friendly health services were explored qualitatively to support the quantitative findings. Availability of trained healthcare providers, adequate privacy, dedicated adolescent health services team, and adolescent health promotional activities were the clinic characteristics that significantly (p < 0.05) related with clinics' scores of adolescent-friendliness. The facilitating factors required for adolescent-friendly health services were (1) healthcare providers' commitment and prioritization towards adolescent-friendly health services; (2) organizational supports; (3) appropriate clinic settings; and (4) external supports for adolescent health promotional activities. The qualitative findings reaffirmed those of the quantitative study on the significant clinic characteristics required for adolescent-friendly health services. This study provides valuable insight for the Ministry of Health to elicit the required facilitating factors to further improve the quality of adolescent health services in Malaysia.

A Reliability Study of the Malay Version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire among Adolescents Attending Health Clinics in Northeastern Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: The need for client feedback in assessing healthcare services is widely recognized. However, little is known about the satisfaction of adolescent clients utilizing healthcare services in Malaysia. To the best of our knowledge, there is no validated instrument to measure the satisfaction of adolescent clients attending health clinics in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the reliability of the Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire among adolescents attending health clinics in northeastern Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2019 among adolescents aged 10-19 years attending four designated health clinics in the northeastern state of Peninsular Malaysia. The test for Cronbach's α was performed to determine the internal consistency reliability. RESULTS: There were a total of 85 adolescent clients involved in this study. The mean age of respondents was 15.6 years. The majority of respondents were female, Malay, students, and had attained a secondary level of education. The mean total satisfaction score was 78.35. The internal consistency reliability according to the Cronbach's α of the domain was 0.854, which is considered highly reliable. The corrected item-total correlation for the domain was acceptable as it was ≥0.4. CONCLUSION: The Malay version of the Malaysian Ministry of Health's Adolescent Client Satisfaction Questionnaire has excellent internal consistency reliability. Therefore, it may be recommended as a tool to measure the satisfaction level among adolescents attending health clinics in Malaysia.

Comparison of body weight among hormonal and non-hormonal users in a Malaysian cohort.

OBJECTIVES: Weight gain remains an issue for contraceptive users due to the high prevalence of obesity. This retrospective study compares the weight gain between hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptive users in government health clinics in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. METHODS: A total of 380 women who had used the same contraceptive method for at least twelve months were recruited in this study. Covariance analysis was done to compare the weight gain between hormonal and non-hormonal contraceptive users, while studying the same confounders [age, household income, number of pregnancies, and baseline body mass index (BMI)]. RESULTS: Hormonal methods were more commonly used. The mean weight gain among hormonal users (adjusted mean 2.85, 95% CI 2.45, 3.24) was significantly higher than non-hormonal users (adjusted mean 0.46, 95% CI -0.73, 1.65; p-value <0.001), after controlling for age, household income, number of pregnancies, and baseline BMI. CONCLUSION: The possibility of weight gain following the use of hormonal methods should be investigated and non-hormonal methods should be considered to prevent weight gain.