Osman Ali

Prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia and usefulness of HbA1c as a diagnostic criterion

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus among Malaysians aged ≥ 30 years of age has increased by more than twofold over a 20‐year period. This study aimed to determine the current status and to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of the HbA1c cut‐off point of 48 mmol/mol (6.5%).

Effects of pesticide use on semen quality among farmers in rural areas of Sabah, Malaysia.

Effects of Pesticide Use on Semen Quality among Farmers in Rural Areas of Sabah, Malaysia: Feroz Hossain, et al. School of Medicine, University Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia

Prevalence of Abnormal Glucose Tolerance and Risk Factors in Urban and Rural Malaysia

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes among rural and urban Malaysians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3,879 Malaysian adults (1,335 men and 2,544 women). All subjects underwent the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). RESULTS The overall prevalence of prediabetes was 22.1% (30.2% in men and 69.8% in women). Isolated impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were found in 3.4 and 16.1% of the study population, respectively, whereas 2.6% of the subjects had both IFG and IGT. Based on an OGTT, the prevalence of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes was 12.6% (31.0% in men and 69.0% in women). The prediabetic subjects also had an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors. CONCLUSIONS The large proportion of undiagnosed cases of prediabetes and diabetes reflects the lack of public awareness of the disease.

New Medical School produces Sabah’s first medical graduates

The Medical School established at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2003, has recently produced its first graduates. Doctors were urgently required to provide for the needs of both urban dwellers and scattered rural communities. The curriculum has an emphasis on tropical and other regional diseases. The School has to rely on the support of overcrowded public hospitals in Kota Kinabalu. Proactive steps have been taken to attract trainees from local hospitals to increase the proportion of local academic staff. We anticipate with confidence that they will prove to be good doctors, and will serve the health needs of Sabah.

Effective public health education in men's health

Men have been marginalized, despite the fact that they were more dominant than females. They always have a higher risk of injury due to occupational hazards and have higher mortality than females. In general, rate of injury at works, roads, schools and places of recreation are higher among men. Similarly, the physical disabilities are higher in males. Prevalence rates of hypertension and newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus are also higher among men. This reflects the high rate of exposure to risk factors in men such as improper food intake, smoking and alcohol intake. In addition, men do not take action immediately to get treatment when they have symptoms of disease. It is quite common, the disease is detected late in men and they are exposed to early death. It is a habit of men who are not concern about their health as they usually are the head of the family and the main breadwinner. They should be strong or look strong in order to support the family economically and socially. This causes them not to take serious precautions to prevent disease. Men are also less prepared to attend the health talk, less attending the health screening or providing time for recreation and eating nutritious meal. Effective preventive action should be taken by the government and NGOs to promote male involvement in disease prevention activities in order to maintain the continuity of humankind in the future.

Magnitude of elderly male morbidities in selected hospitals of Northern Borneo, Sabah

Background: As the Malaysian population has reached up to 28.25 million in 2010 and life expectancy of Malaysia has attained up to 71.6 for males and 76.4 for females, a significant increase in elderly morbidity is expected in the coming years. State health department of Sabah, Malaysia, is trying hard to improve the health of its 3.5 million people in Northern Borneo. Kudat and Kota Belud hospitals are covering the medical care needs of about 81,000 and 93,000 populations respectively. Objective: To highlight the hospital burden borne by elderly morbidities in two selected hospitals of Northern Borneo, a review of in-patient records from the above hospitals was done for 2009. All male in-patients aged 60 and above were included. Results: The study revealed the illness pattern of elderly males in two district hospitals. Although hypertension and heart diseases took the highest rank, malaria, tuberculosis and diarrhoea were still found to be a problem for elderly in both hospitals. The male admission for Chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease was significantly higher than female, whereas hospital fatality among male elderly was lower than their female counterparts. Universally, priorities are given to women and children, and hence men’s health is often left out of the focus. Conclusions: This study presented a glimpse of male morbidities among elderly population of Sabah, Malaysia. However, results may not reflect the actual morbidity of elderly males in the community as this study was a hospital based retrospective case review. Thus, we recommend a community based survey.