Safety of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine in adolescent patients of UP-PGH

Background@#In response to the pandemic brought about by COVID-19, vaccines were developed immediately. Together with adhering to safety protocols, vaccines are needed to help decrease the mortality and morbidity. As with any other, COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated based on efficacy and safety. Real world data is important in the recommendation of vaccines.@*Objectives@#This study aims to assess the short-term safety of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccines administered to Filipino adolescents from October 15, 2021 to December 15, 2021 at the Philippine General Hospital. The number and type of local and systemic reaction within 7 days of vaccination were determined.@*Methods@#This is a retrospective cohort study. The review of the recorded events was done through an electronic diary that was accessed from the official Electronic Medical Records of University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH). This included solicited and prespecified local and systemic reactions that occurred within 7 days of receipt of vaccine dose. Descriptive statistics was used to present the data.@*Results@#Out of the 1,756 BNT162b2 vaccines administered (Dose 1- 890; Dose 2- 866), 13% (N=221) indicated having adverse reaction. Injection site pain was the overall most common reaction with majority (81%) experiencing it within 7 days of vaccination. Systemic reactions made up 60% of the reactions after Dose 1 and 85% of the reactions after Dose 2. This includes tiredness, headache and fever. None of the reactions required hospitalization or further workup.@*Conclusion@#BNT162b2 vaccine has a good safety profile among adolescents vaccinated at UP-PGH, since most of the reported adverse events within 7 days of vaccination were local and systemic reactogenic reactions that did not necessitate hospitalization or work-up. No serious adverse events were reported. Further follow-up is suggested to assess longer term safety.

The direct cost of autism and its economic impact on the Filipino family

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background.</strong> The increasing prevalence of autism has significantly impacted the health care spending of many families worldwide. To date, families from low to middle-income countries are burdened with out-of-pocket spending as their local health care systems have yet to incorporate autism-related services into the health care infrastructure.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives.</strong> This study aimed to determine the direct costs of diagnosing and caring for children with autism and analyze its impact on the Filipino family.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods.</strong> The cross-sectional study consisted of a self-administered questionnaire that looked at parents' employment status, family income, and the direct costs for consultations, diagnostic tests, therapy, education, and medications. Study participants were parents living with their child diagnosed with autism, ages 2 to 6 years old at the time of the study.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results.</strong> One hundred fifty-eight parents participated in the survey for the cost of care for children with autism. Sixty-seven (42.4%) of parents received government or subsidized medical services for their children's consultation and/ or intervention, while the rest went to private centers or hospitals. The total costs for all evaluations that confirmed the autism diagnosis ranged from ?1,356 to ?44,634 and averaged ?7,411.80 per child. Overall, the mean cost of interventions post-diagnosis, including therapy, education, medications, and developmental evaluations for the first year, was ?38,868 or ?3,239 per month (21% percent of the monthly expenditures for a household with an income of ?15,000/month). The total cost of care per child was closely related to the family's revenue in the sample population. Families with higher incomes also had higher expenditures for autism-related services.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion.</strong> Autism imposes a significant economic burden on Filipino families, particularly the minimum-wage household earners who spent a higher proportion of their budget (21%) on autism-related services. The wide range of total costs for the care of the children in the study may be explained by the wide variability of the expenses for the services, differences in access to services, socioeconomic status, and the wide variation in needs of children with autism due to the nature of the condition.</p>

Validation of the Filipino version of the written asthma action plan for 5- to 18-year-old patients

@#<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background.</strong> Asthma is a complex disorder characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, airflow obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and an underlying inflammation. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world and its burden of disease is exceedingly high. According to current guidelines, the asthma action plan is a cornerstone in the management and control of asthma exacerbations. Written action plans are now recommended for all children with asthma as part of initial home management of acute wheezing episodes and exacerbations. Translating the written asthma action plan to Filipino and testing it for cultural content validity and reliability will make it useful on a wider scale in our country, help reduce morbidity, and improve asthma control in the Filipino pediatric population.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objectives.</strong> To perform content and cultural validation and reliability testing of the Filipino Written Asthma Action Plan (FWAAP).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Methods.</strong> The Written Asthma Action Plan was translated to Filipino following conventional translational steps: 1) forward translation, 2) back translation, 3) pilot testing and validation, 4) final translated version. We conducted a cross-sectional study and administered the FWAAP during pilot testing among children and caregivers with asthma attending an asthma clinic.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Results.</strong> We included 31 patients. The participants considered the FWAAP to be relevant to their disease, understandable, concise and useful in the management of asthma. The tool was shown to be highly consistent (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.9235 showing that the. Seigel and Castellan's Kappa (Inter-rater or Inter-observer consistency) showed inter-rater agreement of 0.9615 (kappa of 0.7787) and 0.923 (kappa of 0.8846) respectively showing adequate inter-rater agreement.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion.</strong> The Filipino asthma action plan is a reliable and valid tool for managing asthma in the home setting.</p>

Safety of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine in adolescent patients of UP-PGH

Background@#In response to the pandemic brought about by COVID-19, vaccines were developed immediately. Together with adhering to safety protocols, vaccines are needed to help decrease the mortality and morbidity. As with any other, COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated based on efficacy and safety. Real world data is important in the recommendation of vaccines. @*Objectives@#This study aims to assess the short-term safety of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccines administered to Filipino adolescents from October 15, 2021 to December 15, 2021 at the Philippine General Hospital. The number and type of local and systemic reaction within 7 days of vaccination were determined. @*Methods@#This is a retrospective cohort study. The review of the recorded events was done through an electronic diary that was accessed from the official Electronic Medical Records of University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH). This included solicited and prespecified local and systemic reactions that occurred within 7 days of receipt of vaccine dose. Descriptive statistics was used to present the data. @*Results@#Out of the 1,756 BNT162b2 vaccines administered (Dose 1- 890; Dose 2- 866), 13% (N=221) indicated having adverse reaction. Injection site pain was the overall most common reaction with majority (81%) experiencing it within 7 days of vaccination. Systemic reactions made up 60% of the reactions after Dose 1 and 85% of the reactions after Dose 2. This includes tiredness, headache and fever. None of the reactions required hospitalization or further workup. @*Conclusion@#BNT162b2 vaccine has a good safety profile among adolescents vaccinated at UP-PGH, since most of the reported adverse events within 7 days of vaccination were local and systemic reactogenic reactions that did not necessitate hospitalization or work-up. No serious adverse events were reported. Further follow-up is suggested to assess longer term safety.

Dietary primary prevention of allergic diseases in children: the Philippine guidelines

Allergic diseases, such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema, and food allergy, are preventable diseases. Primary prevention strategies of allergic diseases have been in scrutiny. Effective prevention strategies maybe started prenatally, postnatally, during infancy, and even during childhood. These guidelines have been prepared by the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the Philippine Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. They aim to provide evidence-based recommendations for the dietary primary prevention of allergic diseases in children. The primary audience of these guidelines is all healthcare practitioners who manage patients with potential allergic conditions. These guidelines are based on an exhaustive review of evidences, mostly systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, and cohort studies. However, there are still many gaps in the evidence of dietary primary prevention of allergic diseases.

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis in Filipino adults based on the National Nutrition and Health Survey 2008

BACKGROUND: There has been no documented data on the prevalence of allergic rhinitis among Filipino adults. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of allergic rhinitis among adults in the Philippines. METHODS: Using a multi-staged cluster sampling methodology, this study evaluated 7,202 adults from 3,744 households, 79 provinces and 17 regions. A pre-validated written questionnaire for allergic rhinitis based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies of Childhood was used as the survey instrument. RESULTS: The response rate obtained from the interview was 94.1%. The overall prevalence of nose symptoms in the past 12 months was 20% while prevalence of nose symptoms at any time in the past was 23.8%. The proportion among both sexes was similar. The prevalence was highest among the respondents 40-49 years old. The overall prevalence of nose and eye symptoms for the past twelve months was 14.0%. The prevalence of respondents who reported presence of nose problems for the past twelve months was similar across the 12 months of the year with highest rates noted in the months of June and May. Respondents from the rural area (22.1%) reported a higher prevalence of nose symptoms for the past twelve months compared to respondents from urban area (18%). There was no significant difference in prevalence of nose symptoms among residents living in coastal and/or inland areas. CONCLUSION: The overall prevalence of allergic rhinitis in the Philippines based on the 2008 National Nutrition and Health Survey is 20.0%.