Psychological Distress, Obsessive Compulsive Thoughts about Drinking, and Alcohol Consumption in Young Adult Drinkers.

Psychological distress is an important predictor of heavy drinking, especially among lower-income drinkers. The mechanisms underlying this effect have not been well characterized. One possibility is that distressed individuals are more vulnerable to obsessive and compulsive thoughts about drinking. We hypothesized that: 1) distress would predict obsessive and compulsive thoughts about alcohol, which in turn would predict drinking, and 2) effects would be particularly pronounced among lower-income drinkers. Young adults (n=105) were recruited from an urban university and completed the Brief Symptoms Index (BSI), the Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), and a 90-day timeline follow-back (TLFB) drinking interview. Consistent with the hypotheses, drinkers with higher levels of distress (BSI) exhibited higher levels of obsessive and compulsive drinking-related thoughts, which in turn were related to drinking over the past ninety days (p's <.0001). Path analyses revealed that the BSI had a significant indirect effect on drinking outcomes through increased OCDS. Furthermore, conditional process analyses revealed that effects were particularly pronounced among drinkers with lower household incomes. Findings highlight the importance of psychological distress as a predictor of obsessive and compulsive thoughts about alcohol, as well as drinking behavior, and underscore the critical need to address psychological functioning among lower-income drinkers in particular.

Cost estimates of COVID-19 clinical management in Myanmar.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to estimate the cost of clinical management of COVID-19 infected patients based on their severity by exploring the resources used in health care provision in Myanmar. METHODS: A multicenter retrospective cost analysis of COVID-19 patients was performed using the micro-costing approach from the perspective of the health system. It covered two cost components, namely direct and indirect cost of treating a patient. Input data and their quantities were obtained from COVID-19 Standard Treatment Guidelines of Ministry of Health and Sports, and administrative and financial records of resource utilization of three designated health facilities in Yangon Region. Valuation of these resources was based on the price list from the Procurement Section of the Ministry. RESULTS: This study estimated the unit cost of clinical management of COVID-19 infected patients with no symptom to be 953,552 MMK(717 USD), with mild-moderate symptoms to be 1,155,222 MMK(869 USD) and with severe-critically ill conditions to be 5,705,052 MMK(4290 USD). Average cost for a patient par day was 86,687 MMK(65 USD) for asymptomatic patients, 105,020 MMK(79 USD) for mild-moderate patients and 283,252 MMK(214 USD) for severe-critically ill patients. Since the first case detected till December 31, 2020, COVID-19 clinical management cost was accounted for 139 Billion MMK (104 Million USD) for total 124,630 confirmed cases. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 pandemic has caused health systems to incur the significant health care expenses. Timely implementation of the sustainable, affordable and efficient policy for COVID-19 responses is of utmost important for every nation especially in the face of a pandemic. This study provides the fundamental inputs for strategic planning, for future economic evaluations of different policy interventions, and policy recommendations for health systems to remain resilient during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar.

Myanmar diabetes care model: Bridging the gap between urban and rural healthcare delivery / Journal of the ASEAN Federation of Endocrine Societies

@#There has been significant magnitude of problems of diabetes in Myanmar, according to the estimates of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the recent National Survey on the prevalence of diabetes. There has been a wide gap of equity between the urban and rural healthcare delivery for diabetes. Myanmar Diabetes Care Model (MMDCM) aims to deliver equitable diabetes care throughout the country, to stem the tide of rising burden of diabetes and also to facilitate to achieve the targets of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs (2013-2020). It is aimed to deliver standard of care for diabetes through the health system strengthening at all level. MMDCM was developed based on the available health system, resources and the country's need. Implementation for the model was also discussed.