Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2013
Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, cognitive impairment and caregiver burden in patients with dementia.
This study aims to determine the relationships between behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), cognitive impairment and burden of care of patients with dementia. ⋯ Patients' BPSD and male gender, but not cognitive impairment, were associated with CB. Even though CB was experienced more among caregivers with better education, all caregivers should be screened to ensure their general well-being.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2013
Testing the agreement of medical instruments: overestimation of bias in the Bland-Altman analysis.
The Bland-Altman method is the most popular method used to assess the agreement of medical instruments. The main concern about this method is the presence of proportional bias. The slope of the regression line fitted to the Bland-Altman plot should be tested to exclude proportional bias. The aim of this study was to determine whether the overestimation of bias in the Bland-Altman analysis is still present even when the proportional bias has been excluded. ⋯ Testing the slope of regression line of the Bland-Altman plot does not remove the artifactual bias in the prediction.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyA comparison of smoking behaviour characteristics between Caucasian smokers in the United Kingdom and Malay smokers in Malaysia.
There is evidence that smoking behaviour differs by ethnicity. This study aims to compare smoking behaviour characteristics between Caucasian and Malay smokers. ⋯ Malays smoke as a means of socially integrating. This has important public health implications. Social reasons and the social environment play a role in smoking uptake, smoking maintenance and smoking cessation and this should be borne in mind for strategies planning to promote smoking cessation.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyHow well does self-reported adherence fare compared to therapeutic drug monitoring in HAART?
The aim of the study was to determine how well self-reported adherence fares compared to therapeutic drug monitoring in monitoring HAART adherence. ⋯ Self-reported adherence is a surprisingly accurate instrument for measuring HAART adherence compared to TDM and can be reliably used in practice in resource-poor settings.
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Preventive medicine · Jan 2013
Do older people with visual impairment and living alone in a rural developing country report greater difficulty in managing stairs?
Managing stairs is a challenging activity of daily living (ADL) for older people. This study aims to examine the association between visual impairment and difficulty in managing stairs among older people living alone and those living with others. ⋯ In a sample of older people aged 60 years and over, those living alone with visual impairment had greater difficulty in managing stairs than those living with others. Identification of these groups of older people is useful for targeting interventions.