Self-Care Activities Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In Penampang, Sabah And Its Association With Depression, Anxiety And Stress

@#Performing self-care activities can be challenging but it is important for favourable outcomes of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It may be influenced by psychological problems. Therefore, this study examined the level of self-care activities and the presence of psychological problems among patients with T2DM. The association between these activities and the psychological problems was assessed too. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a public health clinic in Sabah. Data was collected between July and September 2017 using a validated self-administered questionnaire which include the depression, anxiety and stress scale-21 (DASS-21) and the summary of diabetes self-care activities (SDSCA) questionnaire. About 91% of 331 participants took diabetes medications in ≥6 days per week. They followed a healthful eating plan, inspected feet and exercised 30 minutes a day in 5.0 (IQR 4.0), 4.0 (IQR 7.0) and 1.0 (IQR 4.0) days per week respectively. Among owners of glucometer, the median (IQR) of monitoring blood glucose was 1.0 (1.0) days per week. The participants with depression, anxiety and stress were 4.5%, 8.8% and 5.7% respectively. Following a healthful eating plan (p<0.001) was found to be significantly associated with anxiety; those with anxiety practised this activity in fewer days than those without anxiety. Generally, self-care activities were poorly practiced by the participants, except for taking diabetes medications. Thus, the patients should be encouraged to improve their self-care activities. Psychological problems were also found to be uncommon. However, anxiety symptoms should not be ignored as it may negatively affect their adherence to healthy diet.

Clinical and Sociodemographic Predictors of the Quality of Life among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Background: The quality of life (QoL) describes the multidimensional self-perceived well-being of a person, which is an important diabetes outcome. This study aimed to measure the QoL scores among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), as well as their clinical and sociodemographic predictors. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 180 randomly sampled patients at a primary care clinic on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire containing the Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life-18 (ADDQoL-18) was used. Results: Most of the respondents (96.7%) were Malay, with a median (interquartile range, IQR) age of 54.0 (14.0) years old. The majority of them were females (60.0%), married (81.1%) and from low-income families (63.3%), who attained a secondary education or lower (75.6%). Only 49.4% of them were employed. The mean (standard deviation, SD) ADDQoL-18 average weighted impact score was −4.58 (2.21) and all 18 domains were negatively affected, particularly the living condition, family life and working life. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the age (adjusted B = 0.05, P = 0.004) and insulin use (adjusted B = −0.84, P = 0.011) were QoL predictors. Conclusion: T2DM negatively impacts the patient’s QoL in all aspects of their life. The QoL improvement with age suggests that the older patients had accepted and adapted to their illness. The need to improve the QoL among insulin users was also highlighted.

Premature Ejaculation and Quality of Life Among Men Atending Klinik Kesihatan Jaya Gading, Kuantan

Introduction: Premature ejaculation (PE) is an important sexual problem among men attending health clinic. Impacts of this condition towards quality of life still require further exploration.Aims: To determine the proportion and determinants for PE and theirs quality of life Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 290 respondents was conducted at a primary health clinic over the period of five months (Nov 2015-March 2016). A self-administrated questionnaire that consisted of socio-demographic questionnaire, clinical characteristics, premature ejaculation diagnostic tool (PEDT) and WHO quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) was usedResults: The proportion of PE was 33.9% with PE 18.1% (49/271) and probable PE 15.8% (43/271). Multivariate analysis showed that level of education (p=0.002, OR 3.281/95% CI 1.183, 9.101) and hypertension (p=0.047, OR 1.788/95% CI 1.008, 3.170) were the only predictors for PE after controlling self-reported erectile dysfunction, pulmonary and neurological disorder. PE patients had lower median scores quality of life in all four domain namely physical health, psychological, social relationship, environment (all domains with p<0.001).Conclusion: The proportion of men diagnosed with premature ejaculation in this study is high. This condition is possibly associated with level of education and hypertension. Men with PE had lower quality of life in domains of physical health, psychological, social relationship and environment. Hence, it is recommended for PE screening among male attendees to primary health clinic especially those with hypertension and moderate level of education.