1.Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine for children with egg allergy: Is admission for inpatient vaccination necessary?
Tan Mei See ; Teoh Ewe Jin ; Hor Chee Peng ; Angeline Yeoh Aing Chiee
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2016;71(4):157-160
Introduction: Children who develop any hypersensitivity
reaction to eggs are routinely referred to hospital for
Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccination as inpatients to
prevent anaphylaxis. We aimed to study the association
between hypersensitivity reactions after egg exposure and
similar reactions after MMR immunisation; and examine the
necessity of hospital admission for vaccination.
Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted
in Paediatric Department in Bukit Mertajam Hospital,
Penang, between March and December 2014. Children
referred from local polyclinics for inpatient MMR vaccination
because of a history of egg allergy were recruited. The
children were observed in the ward for post vaccination
allergic reactions. Concurrently, a group of children without
egg allergy was recruited from those admitted for other
illnesses but had recent MMR vaccination at polyclinics.
Parents of these children were interviewed and asked if they
had observed any reactions post vaccination. In both
groups, sociodemographics, medical history and family
history of atopy were collected.
Results: Eighty-seven subjects were recruited in this study.
Fifty-four infants with egg allergy had previous mild allergic
reactions after exposure to eggs or egg-related products.
They were associated with a family history of egg
hypersensitivity, personal history of acute gastroenteritis
and upper respiratory tract infections. Two of them
developed cutaneous rashes post vaccination during
observation, but none developed anaphylactic or
anaphylactoid reactions. Two infants among those without
egg allergy had post vaccination fever. There was no
association between egg allergy and hypersensitivity
reactions to MMR vaccine (p=0.632).
Conclusions: MMR vaccine can be safely administered to
children with mild egg allergy, hence admission for
vaccination in the hospital is not warranted. Risk
stratification is required to ensure only infants with severe
reactions will be admitted for vaccination.
Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine
2.A Review of Stroke Research in Malaysia from 2000 – 2014
Cheah Wee Kooi ; Hor Chee Peng ; Zariah Abdul Aziz ; Irene Looi
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2016;71(3 Suppl.):58-69
Over 100 articles related to stroke were found in a search
through a database dedicated to indexing all literature with
original data involving the Malaysian population between
years 2000 and 2014. Stroke is emerging as a major public
health problem. The development of the National Stroke
Registry in the year 2009 aims to coordinate and improve
stroke care, as well as to generate more data on various
aspects of stroke in the country. Studies on predictors of
survival after strokes have shown potential to improve the
overall management of stroke, both during acute event and
long term care. Stroke units were shown to be effective
locally in stroke outcomes and prevention of stroke-related
complications. The limited data looking at direct cost of
stroke management suggests that the health economic
burden in stroke management may be even higher.
Innovative rehabilitation programmes including braincomputer
interface technology were studied with
encouraging results. Studies in traditional complementary
medicine for strokes such as acupuncture, Urut Melayu and
herbal medicine were still limited.
Stroke
3.Barriers to implementing a national health screening program for men in Malaysia: An online survey of healthcare providers
Chirk Jenn Ng ; Chin Hai Teo ; Kar Mun Ang ; Yong Leng Kok ; Khalid Ashraf ; Hui Ling Leong ; Sri Wahyu Taher ; Zakiah Mohd Said ; Zainal Fitri Zakaria ; Ping Foo Wong ; Chee Peng Hor ; Teng Aik Ong ; Husni Hussain ; V Paranthaman P Vengadasalam ; Chiu Wan Ng ; Kavitha Agamutu ; Mohamad Aznuddin Abd Razak
Malaysian Family Physician 2020;15(1):6-14
Introduction: This study aimed to determine the views and practices of healthcare providers and
barriers they encountered when implementing the national health screening program for men in a
public primary care setting in Malaysia.
Methods: An online survey was conducted among healthcare providers across public health clinics in
Malaysia. All family medicine specialists, medical officers, nurses and assistant medical officers involved in the screening program for adult men were invited to answer a 51-item questionnaire via email or WhatsApp. The questionnaire comprised five sections: participants’ socio-demographic information, current screening practices, barriers and facilitators to using the screening tool, and views on the content and format of the screening tool.
Results: A total of 231 healthcare providers from 129 health clinics participated in this survey.
Among them, 37.44% perceived the implementation of the screening program as a “top-down
decision.” Although 37.44% found the screening tool for adult men “useful,” some felt that it was
“time consuming” to fill out (38.2%) and “lengthy” (28.3%). In addition, ‘adult men refuse to answer’
(24.1%) was cited as the most common patient-related barrier.
Conclusions: This study provided useful insights into the challenges encountered by the public
healthcare providers when implementing a national screening program for men. The screening tool for
adult men should be revised to make it more user-friendly. Further studies should explore the reasons
why men were reluctant to participate in health screenings, thus enhancing the implementation of
screening programs in primary care.