A Case Report of Steroid Withdrawal Syndrome / 가정의학회지

We report a case of steroid withdrawal syndrome in a 74-year-old woman who was suspected of having an occult exogenous Cushing’s syndrome secondary to prolonged traditional complementary medicine use. She presented with non-specific symptoms of lethargy, malaise, and poor oral intake with weight loss for 1 month, and investigations showed suboptimal 9 AM cortisol level. She has responded well to steroid replacement.

Hemiballismus in Uncontrolled Diabetes Mellitus / 가정의학회지

Hemiballismus, a subtype of chorea, is a rare movement disorder, and is most commonly found secondary to stroke. Movements are involuntary, violent, coarse, and have a wide amplitude. There is increasing report of hemiballismus occurring in non-ketotic hyperglycemia. Spontaneous improvements or remissions were observed in many patients, and treatment should be directed towards the cause of hemiballismus. There is no randomized control trial to guide clinicians in deciding the best treatment option when managing hemiballismus. Symptomatic treatment includes the use of drugs such as dopamine receptor blocker and tetrabenazine. Surgical treatment is reserved for severe, persistent, and disabling hemiballismus. This case is of an elderly woman with long standing uncontrolled diabetes who presented with abnormal movement in her left upper limb for 2 months, which resolved slowly with good control of her glucose levels. Treating physicians need to have a high index of suspicion to prevent mismanagement of the condition.

Patients’ blood pressure control and doctors’ adherence to hypertension clinical practice guideline in managing patients at health clinics in Kuala Muda district, Kedah

background: blood pressure (bP) control among Malaysian is poor and doctor’s adherence to clinical practice guideline (cPG) has been a well-known factor that may improve it. this study was designed to evaluate patients’ bP control, doctors’ adherence to the latest hypertension cPG and their association. Factors associated with bP control and cPG adherence was also examined. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kuala Muda district’s health clinics. 331 medical records were selected using stratified random sampling and standard proforma was used for data collection. the latest edition of the Malaysian cPG on hypertension was employed to define related variables. results: A total of 160 patients (48.3%) had controlled bP and it was significantly associated with patients’ age (adjusted Odds ratio, aOr= 1.03, 95% cI: 1.004, 1.05, p= 0.016) and systolic bP at presentation (aOr= 0.95, 95% cI: 0.93, 0.96, p< 0.001). About 60.7% of the medical records showed doctor’s good level of cPG adherence. this adherence has significant association with presence of chronic kidney disease (aOr= 0.51, 95% cI: 0.31, 0.85, p= 0.007) and cardiovascular disease (aOr= 2.68, 95% cI: 1.04, 6.95, p= 0.030) in the patients and physicians’ treatment intensification (aOr= 2.00, 95% cI: 1.26, 3.19, p= 0.009). However, no association was found between bP control and cPG adherence. conclusion: Hypertension control in this study was poor and the prevalence of physicians with good level of cPG adherence was slightly above average. these findings are important for relevant stakeholders to strategise an action plan to improve hypertension management outcome.