Introduction: Many mental health disorders have onset during adolescence. To date, the data on the correlates of anxiety is still lacking. Therefore, this study is crucial to determine the factors associated with anxiety among school-going adolescents in Malaysia. Methodology: This study was based on 26,892 school-going adolescents from 212 selected schools in Malaysia. Anxiety was measured using Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Associations between anxiety, sociodemographic characteristics and variables of interest were examined using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Overall, 10,540 (39.7%) school-going adolescents had anxiety. Anxiety was positively associated with female (odds ratio, OR [95% confidence interval, CI] = 1.30 [1.19,1.42]) compared to male counterpart, feeling loneliness (1.78 [1.54,2.05]) compared to not lonely, unable to sleep due to worry of something (1.79 [1.56,2.05]) compared to able to sleep, being bullied (1.66 [1.48,1.87]) compared to not being bullied, physical abuse (1.33 [1.18,1.49]) compared to no physical abuse, verbal abuse (1.47 [1.35,1.59]) compared to no verbal abuse, current drinker (1.23 [1.06,1.43]) compared to not current drinker, current drug use (1.84 [1.43,2.35]) compared to not current drug use, ever had sex (1.17 [1.01,1.36]) compared to never had sex, physically inactive (1.16 [1.06,1.26]) compared to physically active and internet addiction (2.59 [2.37,2.83]) compared to no internet addiction. Chinese ethnic (0.68 [0.50,0.93]) compared to other ethnic, and Form 2 (0.78 [0.69,0.89]) and Form 3 (0.73 [0.65,0.82]) students compared to Form 1 students, were protective of anxiety. Conclusion Prevention and intervention programs for these “at-risk†adolescents should be planned holistically towards reducing the risk factors.

Introduction: Internet usage has changed the way adolescents socialize. This study aims to determine the determinants of internet addiction among school-going adolescents in Malaysia. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study involving 27,455 school-going adolescents from 212 selected schools in Malaysia, as part of the 2017 National Health and Morbidity Survey that implemented a two-stage stratified cluster sampling design. Data collection via a self-administered questionnaire was conducted from March till May 2017. Results: Overall, 8,049 (29.0%) school-going adolescents had internet addiction. Internet addiction was positively associated with male (odds ratio, OR [95% confidence interval, CI] = 1.20 [1.08,1.34]) compared to female, Chinese ethnicity (1.67 [1.12,2.48]) compared to other ethnicity, feeling loneliness (1.37 [1.20,1.57]) compared to never feel lonely, unable to sleep due to worrying of something (1.40 [1.17,1.67]) compared to able to sleep, insufficient parental supervision (1.30 [1.14,1.48]) compared to sufficient parental supervision, depression (1.67 [1.48,1.89]) compared to no depression, anxiety (2.12 [1.95,2.30]) compared to no anxiety and stress (2.26 [1.96,2.61]) compared to no stress. The odds of having internet addiction increase from Form 2 (1.51 [1.28,1.78]), Form 3 (2.37 [2.01,2.80]), Form 4 (2.60 [1.76,3.85]) to Form 5 adolescents (2.96 [1.98,4.41]) compared to Form 1 adolescents. Conclusions Our results suggest that being a male, of Chinese ethnicity, higher form level, feeling loneliness, unable to sleep due to worrying of something, insufficient parental supervision, depression, anxiety and stress were positively associated with internet addiction among school-going adolescents.

Background: Pre-existing comorbidities can predict severe disease requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission among COVID-19 cases. We compared comorbidities, clinical features and other predictive factors between COVID-19 patients requiring ICU admission for intubation/mechanical ventilation and all other COVID-19 cases in Selangor, Malaysia. Methods: Field data collected during the COVID-19 outbreak in Selangor, Malaysia, up to 13 April 2020 were used, comprising socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities and presenting symptoms of COVID-19 cases. ICU admission was determined from medical records. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with ICU admission requiring intubation/mechanical ventilation among COVID-19 cases. Results: A total of 1287 COVID-19-positive cases were included for analysis. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (15.5%) and diabetes (11.0%). More than one third of cases presented with fever (43.8%) or cough (37.1%). Of the 25 cases that required intubation/mechanical ventilation, 68.0% had hypertension, 88.0% had fever, 40.0% had dyspnoea and 44.0% were lethargic. Multivariate regression showed that cases that required intubation/mechanical ventilation had significantly higher odds of being older (aged 360 years) [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 3.9] and having hypertension (aOR = 5.7), fever (aOR = 9.8), dyspnoea (aOR = 9.6) or lethargy (aOR = 7.9) than cases that did not require intubation/mechanical ventilation. Conclusion: The COVID-19 cases in Selangor, Malaysia requiring intubation/mechanical ventilation were significantly older, with a higher proportion of hypertension and symptoms of fever, dyspnoea and lethargy. These risk factors have been reported previously for severe COVID-19 cases, and highlight the role that ageing and underlying comorbidities play in severe outcomes to respiratory disease.