SLEEP QUALITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG MALAYSIAN PHARMACY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

University students tend to have poor sleeping pattern, especially those who took professional courses. Poor sleep quality may affect one’s mental and physical well- being and quality of life (QoL). Thus, this study aims to determine the sleep quality of pharmacy students, factors associated with it, and their QoL. A cross-sectional study was conducted using questionnaires involving undergraduate pharmacy students in Universiti Sains Malaysia. The Pittsburgh Sleeping Quality Index (PSQI) was used to determine the sleep quality, while QoL was determined using Short Form-36 Survey (SF-36). Poor sleepers were defined as having a PSQI score of ≥ 5. Independent t-test and Chi-square test were used to compare between variables. A total of 256 respondents completed the questionnaires. Majority (n = 215, 84%) of the respondents were poor sleepers. Results showed a nearly 3-fold increase in the risk of being a poor sleeper among those taking more than 20 credit units (odds ratio [OR] 2.73; 95% [confidence interval] CI: 1.38, 5.39). The mean score for QoL in seven domains was 61.5 ± 20.1. Respondents were shown to have good physical functioning (mean: 87.2 ± 18.4) but having a low score in the ‘energy or fatigue’ domain (mean: 47.0 ± 16.8). One domain in QoL, ‘emotional well-being’, was found to be significantly lower among respondents with poor sleep (p = 0.035). In conclusion, the majority of the respondents had poor sleep quality and a higher credit unit was a factor for poor sleep quality. With regards to QoL, respondents had good physical functioning but poor vitality and sleep quality had affected their emotional well-being.

A Comprehensive Health Profile of Youths Living with a “Hikikomori” Lifestyle

To understand the health impacts of “hikikomori” lifestyle and to establish its first comprehensive health profile, a cross-sectional study was designed to measure how well the cases of hikikomori youths of Hong Kong were living, in terms of social, mental and physical aspects. This study involved 104 eligible participants at age 19.02 year-old who had completed the set of questionnaires and a series of anthropometric and physical health measurements. Despite SF36 score of 84.0 indicated good physical functioning in general, participants were lived sedentarily with high incidence of hypertension at 15.4% and prehypertension at 31.7%. Occurrence of hypertension in cases living as hikikomori >6 months was 3-times higher than those newly onset cases. The blood pressure levels were correlated with age and all obesity index parameters measured including waist circumference and body mass index. Half of the hypertensive cases involved the elevation of systolic blood pressure, which suggested higher odds of cardiovascular complications. Participants were mentally stable living with moderate levels of perceived stress and state anxiety, but borderline clinical depression. In conclusion, the hikikomori lifestyle could be a risk behavior that may harm the younger generation physically by promoting obesity and hypertension and probably other chronic illnesses.

How Do Community-Dwelling Persons with Alzheimer Disease Fall Falls in the FINALEX Study

Background: People with dementia are at high risk for falls. However, little is known of the features causing falls in Alzheimer disease (AD). Our aim was to investigate how participants with AD fall. Methods: In the FINALEX (Finnish Alzheimer Disease Exercise Trial) study, participants’ (n = 194) falls were followed up for 1 year by diaries kept by their spouses. Results: The most common reason for falls (n = 355) was stumbling (n = 61). Of the falls, 123 led to injuries, 50 to emergency department visits, and 13 to fractures. The participants without falls (n = 103) were younger and had milder dementia than those with 1 (n = 34) or ≥2 falls (n = 57). Participants with a Mini Mental State Examination score of around 10 points were most prone to fall. In adjusted regression models, good nutritional status, good physical functioning, and use of antihypertensive medication (incident rate ratio [IRR] 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54–0.85) protected against falls, whereas fall history (IRR 2.71, 95% CI 2.13–3.44), osteoarthritis, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, higher number of drugs, drugs with anticholinergic properties, psychotropics, and opioids (IRR 4.27, 95% CI 2.92–6.24) were risk factors for falls. Conclusions: Our study provides a detailed account on how and why people with AD fall, suggesting several risk and protective factors.

SELF-REPORTED PHYSICAL FUNCTIONING AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH IT AMONG HIV INFECTED ADULTS ON ANTIRETROVIRAL TREATMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR HOSPITAL, ETHIOPIA

Introduction: With the advent of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) are living longer with chronicity. Reduced physical functioning decreases quality of life of people living with HIV and AIDS. Objective: This study was intended to assess self-reported physical functioning and factors associated with it among adult outpatients living with HIV and AIDS who are on ART at the University of Gondar Hospital HIV Care Clinic. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 313 adults living with HIV and AIDS from March to May 2013. The Short Form-36 physical functioning subscale was used to assess physical functioning. The physical functioning subscale was transformed to range from 0 to a 100 to make all values on same metric, and mean was calculated. Finally normbased scoring method was used to determine whether they have good or poor physical functioning. Result: Total mean score of physical functioning was 59.43 (SD=10.7). Among 313 participants, 191 (61%) reported good physical functioning. More than half of the subjects (61%) were independent in work-capacity. Two hundred and nineteen (70%) individuals were independent in mobility and 96.8% in self-care. Good physical functioning was associated with CD4 counts ≥250 cells/mm3 [AOR=1.84, 95% CI:1.02,3.31], excellent general health [AOR=4.14,95% CI:2.12, 7.07], absent or very mild bodily pain [AOR=4.04, 95% CI: 2.03,6.59] and high bodily energy [AOR=7.70, 95% CI: 4.32, 8.52]. Conclusion: This study found that majority of the subjects had good physical functioning and were independent in self-care activities. Higher CD4 counts, vitality, general health and level of mild bodily pain were factors determining physical functioning. This research indicates the need of designing rehabilitation strategies for people living with HIV and AIDS.

The outdoor mobility and leisure activities of older people in five European countries

ABSTRACTMany gerontological studies have dealt with the leisure activities of older people and they have generated many important theories. Although outdoor activities and mobility promote good health in old age, both decrease with increasing age as people lose physical and mental functions. This paper examines the outdoor and indoor leisure activities of 3,950 older adults and their variations by personal and environmental characteristics in Germany, Finland, Hungary, The Netherlands and Italy. The main dimensions of activity were established by factor analysis, and in all countries four factors were found: home activities, hobbies, social activities, and sports activities. Both similar and distinctive pursuits characterised each dimension among the five countries. ‘Home activities’ mainly comprised indoor activities, but the other three dimensions involved more physical mobility. The scores of various socio-environmental characteristics on the factors enabled the attributes of the participants to be profiled. Sports activities and hobbies were performed more often by younger men, by those with good physical functioning and by those who drove cars. Social activities were performed more by women and those who used public transport. Home activities were more frequently performed by those with low physical function and women.