PURPOSE This study investigated breast cancer patients' involvement level in the treatment decision-making process and the concordance between patients' and physician's perspectives in decision-making. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted involving physicians and newly diagnosed breast cancer patients from three public/teaching hospitals in Malaysia. The Control Pref...

This paper will present the socioeconomic profile and nutritional status of children aged 1-6 years in the rubber smallholdings of Peninsula Malaysia. A total of 323 households were involved in this study. The sociodemographic data were obtained through interviews with heads of households using a set of questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements were taken from 506 children aged 1-6 years from...

Pregnancy women coincide with numerous anatomical and physiological changes, which are believed to have a harmful effect on the quality of life related to foot health. The goal of this research was to identify and compare the impact foot health and overall health in a sample of pregnancy women and women without pregnancies with normalised reference values.A sample of 159 participants of a mean ...

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To investigate the demand for traditional out-of-hours general practitioner (GP) emergency care in Switzerland including GPs' satisfaction and reasons for encounter (RFE). METHOD During a 2-month period (2009), a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was performed in GPs participating in the mandatory out-of-hours service in the city of Zurich, Switzerland....

OBJECTIVE To determine if an intervention for preschool-aged children in primary care is effective in reducing screen time, meals in front of the television, and BMI. METHODS A randomized controlled trial was conducted at a primary care pediatric group practice in Toronto, Canada. Three-year-old children and their parents were randomly assigned to receive a short behavioral counseling interve...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Establishment of a colonoscopy reporting system is a prerequisite to determining and improving quality. This study aimed to investigate colonoscopists' opinions and the actual situation of a colonoscopy reporting system in a clinical practice in southeastern area of Korea and to assess the factors predictive of an inadequate reporting system. METHODS Physicians who performed c...

BACKGROUND State-specific, health care-associated infection (HAI) cost estimates have not been calculated to guide Department of Public Health efforts and investments. METHODS We completed a cost identification study by conducting a survey of 117 acute care hospitals in NC to collect surveillance data on patient-days, device-days, and surgical procedures during 1 year. We then calculated expe...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the effect of the new 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) semen analysis reference values on reclassifying previous semen analysis parameters and definition of patients with male factor infertility. DESIGN A multi-institutional retrospective chart review. SETTING University and private male infertility clinics. PATIENT(S) Men referred for infertility evaluation. I...

OBJECTIVES Two to three weeks after the explosion of a fireworks storage facility in a residential area (May 2000, Enschede, The Netherlands) we assessed the self-reported physical and mental health among those affected by the disaster. METHODS A questionnaire survey was conducted among 3792 residents, passers-by, and rescue workers, who were involved in and/or affected by the disaster and we...

BACKGROUND Shortened treatment regimens for tuberculosis are under development to improve treatment outcomes and reduce costs. We estimated potential savings from a societal perspective in Brazil following the introduction of a hypothetical four-month regimen for tuberculosis treatment. METHODS Data were gathered in ten randomly selected health facilities in Rio de Janeiro. Health service cos...