The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic affects people's health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), especially in those who have suspected COVID-19 symptoms (S-COVID-19-S). We ...examined the effect of modifications of health literacy (HL) on depression and HRQoL. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 14 February to 2 March 2020. 3947 participants were recruited from outpatient departments of nine hospitals and health centers across Vietnam. The interviews were conducted using printed questionnaires including participants' characteristics, clinical parameters, health behaviors, HL, depression, and HRQoL. People with S-COVID-19-S had a higher depression likelihood (OR, 2.88;
< 0.001), lower HRQoL-score (B, -7.92;
< 0.001). In comparison to people without S-COVID-19-S and low HL, those with S-COVID-19-S and low HL had 9.70 times higher depression likelihood (
< 0.001), 20.62 lower HRQoL-score (
< 0.001), for the people without S-COVID-19-S, 1 score increment of HL resulted in 5% lower depression likelihood (
< 0.001) and 0.45 higher HRQoL-score (
< 0.001), while for those people with S-COVID-19-S, 1 score increment of HL resulted in a 4% lower depression likelihood (
= 0.004) and 0.43 higher HRQoL-score (
< 0.001). People with S-COVID-19-S had a higher depression likelihood and lower HRQoL than those without. HL shows a protective effect on depression and HRQoL during the epidemic.
ObjectivesWe examined impacts and interactions of COVID-19 response involvement, health-related behaviours and health literacy (HL) on anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) ...among healthcare workers (HCWs).DesignA cross-sectional study was conducted. Data were collected 6 April to 19 April 2020 using online-based, self-administered questionnaires.Setting19 hospitals and health centres in Vietnam.Participants7 124 HCWs aged 21–60 years.ResultsThe COVID-19 response-involved HCWs had higher anxiety likelihood (OR (95% CI)=4.41 (3.53 to 5.51)), higher depression likelihood (OR(95% CI)=3.31 (2.71 to 4.05)) and lower HRQoL score (coefficient, b(95% CI)=−2.14 (−2.89 to −1.38)), compared with uninvolved HCWs. Overall, HCWs who smoked or drank at unchanged/increased levels had higher likelihood of anxiety, depression and lower HRQoL scores; those with unchanged/healthier eating, unchanged/more physical activity and higher HL scores had lower likelihood of anxiety, depression and higher HRQoL scores. In comparison to uninvolved HCWs who smoked or drank at never/stopped/reduced levels, involved HCWs with unchanged/increased smoking or drinking had lower anxiety likelihood (OR(95% CI)=0.34 (0.14 to 0.83)) or (OR(95% CI)=0.26 (0.11 to 0.60)), and lower depression likelihood (OR(95% CI)=0.33 (0.15 to 0.74)) or (OR(95% CI)=0.24 (0.11 to 0.53)), respectively. In comparison with uninvolved HCWs who exercised at never/stopped/reduced levels, or with those in the lowest HL quartile, involved HCWs with unchanged/increased exercise or with one-quartile HL increment reported lower anxiety likelihood (OR(95% CI)=0.50 (0.31 to 0.81)) or (OR(95% CI)=0.57 (0.45 to 0.71)), lower depression likelihood (OR(95% CI)=0.40 (0.27 to 0.61)) or (OR(95% CI)=0.63 (0.52 to 0.76)), and higher HRQoL scores (b(95% CI)=2.08 (0.58 to 3.58)), or (b(95% CI)=1.10 (0.42 to 1.78)), respectively.ConclusionsPhysical activity and higher HL were found to protect against anxiety and depression and were associated with higher HRQoL. Unexpectedly, smoking and drinking were also found to be coping behaviours. It is important to have strategic approaches that protect HCWs’ mental health and HRQoL.
Background: Healthy eating and physical activity are effective non-pharmacological approaches to boost immune function and contain the pandemic. We aimed to explore the associations and interactions ...between physical activity and healthy eating behavior with COVID-19-like symptoms (Slike-CV19S). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 3947 outpatients, from 14 February to 2 March 2020, at nine health facilities in Vietnam. Data collection included sociodemographic characteristics, healthy eating behavior (using the healthy eating score (HES) questionnaire), physical activity (using the short form international physical activity questionnaire), and Slike-CV19S. The associations and interactions were tested using logistic regression models. Results: Frequent intake of fruits (OR = 0.84; p = 0.016), vegetables (OR = 0.72; p = 0.036), and fish (OR = 0.43; p < 0.001) were associated with a lower Slike-CV19S likelihood, as compared with infrequent intake. Patients with higher HES levels (OR = 0.84; p = 0.033 for medium HES; OR = 0.77; p = 0.006 for high HES) or being physically active (OR = 0.69; p < 0.001) had a lower Slike-CV19S likelihood, as compared to those with low HES or physical inactivity, respectively. Patients with medium HES who were physically active (OR = 0.69; p = 0.005), or with high HES and physically active (OR = 0.58; p < 0.001), had a lower Slike-CV19S likelihood, as compared to those with low HES and physical inactivity. Conclusions: Healthy eating behavior and physical activity showed single and combinative impacts on protecting people from Slike-CV19S. Strategic approaches are encouraged to improve healthy behaviors, which may further contribute to containing the pandemic.
We examined factors associated with health literacy among elders with and without suspected COVID-19 symptoms (S-COVID-19-S).
A cross-sectional study was conducted at outpatient departments of nine ...hospitals and health centers 14 February-2 March 2020. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess patient characteristics, health literacy, clinical information, health-related behaviors, and depression. A sample of 928 participants aged 60-85 years were analyzed.
The proportion of people with S-COVID-19-S and depression were 48.3 and 13.4%, respectively. The determinants of health literacy in groups with and without S-COVID-19-S were age, gender, education, ability to pay for medication, and social status. In people with S-COVID-19-S, one-score increment of health literacy was associated with 8% higher healthy eating likelihood (odds ratio, OR, 1.08; 95% confidence interval, 95%CI, 1.04, 1.13;
< 0.001), 4% higher physical activity likelihood (OR, 1.04; 95%CI, 1.01, 1.08,
= 0.023), and 9% lower depression likelihood (OR, 0.90; 95%CI, 0.87, 0.94;
< 0.001). These associations were not found in people without S-COVID-19-S.
The older people with higher health literacy were less likely to have depression and had healthier behaviors in the group with S-COVD-19-S. Potential health literacy interventions are suggested to promote healthy behaviors and improve mental health outcomes to lessen the pandemic's damage in this age group.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic causes a huge burden for affected countries. Several public health interventions were applied to contain the infection. However, the pandemic itself and the lockdown ...measure negatively influence people's lifestyles and psychological health. Purpose: To explore determinants of healthy dietary intake and depression, and examine the interaction between healthy dietary intake and COVID-19 lockdown on depression. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 18 hospitals and health centers from February 14 to May 31, 2020. Data of 8,291 outpatients were collected including patients' characteristics, clinical parameters, health literacy, healthy dietary intake (using the healthy eating score, HES), other health-related behaviors, and depression (using the patient health questionnaire, PHQ). Depression was defined as PHQ score ≥ 10. Results: Protective factors of healthy dietary intake and depression were higher education, better medication payment ability, higher social status, more physical activity, and higher health literacy, whereas older age, ever married, own business or other types of occupation, lockdown, suspected COVID-19 symptoms, and comorbidity were associated with lower HES scores and a higher depression likelihood. Besides, overweight/obesity and alcohol drinking were associated with lower HES scores. As compared with patients not under lockdown and with lowest HES score, those who were under lockdown and with lowest HES score had 10.6 times higher depression likelihood (odds ratio, OR, 10.60; 95% CI 6.88, 16.32; p < 0.001), whereas people with higher HES score had 15% lower depression likelihood (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.82, 0.89; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Healthy dietary intake and depression were determined by several sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral factors. Lockdown measure affects people's dietary intake behavior and depression. Importantly, healthy dietary intake potentially modifies the negative effect of lockdown on depression.
Background: The infodemic has been co-existing with the COVID-19 pandemic with an influx of misinformation and conspiracy theories. These affect people’s psychological health and adherence to ...preventive measures. eHealth literacy (eHEALS) may help with alleviating the negative effects of the infodemic. As nursing students are future healthcare professionals, having adequate eHEALS skills is critically important in their clinical practice, safety, and health. This study aimed to (1) explore the eHEALS level and its associated factors, and (2) examine the associations of eHEALS with preventive behaviors, fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S), anxiety, and depression among nursing students. Methods: We surveyed 1851 nursing students from 7 April to 31 May 2020 from eight universities across Vietnam. Data were collected, including demographic characteristics, eHEALS, adherence to preventive behaviors (handwashing, mask-wearing, physical distancing), FCV-19S, anxiety, and depression. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed appropriately to examine associations. Results: The mean score of eHEALS was 31.4 ± 4.4. The eHEALS score was significantly higher in males (unstandardized regression coefficient, B, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 0.15 to 1.73; p = 0.019), and students with a better ability to pay for medication (B, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.39 to 1.19; p < 0.001), as compared to their counterparts. Nursing students with a higher eHEALS score had a higher likelihood of adhering to hand-washing (odds ratio, OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.22; p < 0.001), mask-wearing (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.19; p < 0.001), keeping a safe physical distance (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.25; p < 0.001), and had a lower anxiety likelihood (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92 to 0.99; p = 0.011). Conclusions: Nursing students who were men and with better ability to pay for medication had higher eHEALS scores. Those with higher eHEALS scores had better adherence to preventive measures, and better psychological health. The development of strategies to improve eHEALS of nursing students may contribute to COVID-19 containment and improve their psychological health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to evaluate hemodialysis patients’ dietary knowledge, especially among those with COVID-19 related symptoms, in order to identify appropriate strategies ...in managing their mental health. The study’s purposes were to test the psychometric properties of the hemodialysis dietary knowledge (HDK) scale, and to investigate the modifying impact of HDK on the associations of suspected COVID-19 symptoms (S-COVID-19-S) with anxiety and depression among hemodialysis patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2020 to March 2021 at eight hospitals across Vietnam. Data of 875 hemodialysis patients were analyzed, including socio-demographic, anxiety (the generalized anxiety disorder scale, GAD-7), depression (the patient health questionnaire, PHQ-9), S-COVID-19-S, HDK, health literacy, and digital healthy diet literacy. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and logistic regression models were used to analyze the data. The HDK scale demonstrates the satisfactory construct validity with good model fit (Goodness of Fit Index, GFI = 0.96; Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index, AGFI = 0.90; Standardized Root Mean Square Residual, SRMR = 0.05; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, RMSEA = 0.09; Normed Fit Index, NFI = 0.96; Comparative Fit Index, CFI = 0.96, and Parsimony goodness of Fit Index, PGFI = 0.43), criterion validity (as correlated with HL (r = 0.22, p < 0.01) and DDL (r = 0.19, p < 0.01), and reliability (Cronbach alpha = 0.70)). In the multivariate analysis, S-COVID-19-S was associated with a higher likelihood of anxiety (odds ratio, OR, 20.76; 95% confidence interval, 95%CI, 8.85, 48.70; p < 0.001) and depression (OR, 12.95; 95%CI, 6.67, 25.14, p < 0.001). A higher HDK score was associated with a lower likelihood of anxiety (OR, 0.70; 95%CI, 0.64, 0.77; p < 0.001) and depression (OR, 0.72; 95%CI, 0.66, 0.79; p < 0.001). In the interaction analysis, the negative impacts of S-COVID-19-S on anxiety and depression were mitigated by higher HDK scores (p < 0.001). In conclusion, HDK is a valid and reliable tool to measure dietary knowledge in hemodialysis patients. Higher HDK scores potentially protect patients with S-COVID-19-S from anxiety and depression during the pandemic.
Determining the best therapy for HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis in resource-poor settings is controversial. In this trial in Vietnam, initial therapy with amphotericin B with flucytosine had ...better outcomes than amphotericin B alone or with fluconazole.
There are approximately 1 million cases of cryptococcal meningitis annually and 625,000 deaths.
1
Treatment guidelines recommend induction therapy with amphotericin B deoxycholate (0.7 to 1 mg per kilogram of body weight per day) and flucytosine (100 mg per kilogram per day).
2
However, this treatment has not been shown to reduce mortality, as compared with amphotericin B monotherapy.
2
,
3
Flucytosine is frequently unavailable where the disease burden is greatest, and concerns about cost and side effects have limited its use in resource-poor settings.
4
Fluconazole is readily available, is associated with low rates of adverse events, and has good penetration into cerebrospinal . . .
Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a virulent virus that causes honeybee disease. DWV can exist as a latent infection in honeybees, outbreak into epidemics, and cause serious damage to beekeeping cross the ...world, including Vietnam.
The two DWV strains circulating in Vietnamese honeybee,
were first isolated from adult honeybees in North Vietnam (DWV-NVN) and South Vietnam (DWV-SVN). Their complete nucleotide sequences were determined, aligned, and compared with other DWV strains
The two Vietnamese DWV strains comprised 10,113 bp and contained a large single open reading frame (ORF) of 2,893 amino acids, initiating at nucleotide 1,130 and terminating at nucleotide 9,812. Multiple nucleotide sequence alignment between these two DWV-VN strains and DWV strains in
was performed. The DWV-VN strains showed a low genetic identity (from 91.4% to 92.0%) with almost of these strains, but lower identities (89.2% and 89.4%) with UK2 and (89.6%) with the China2 strain. Low identities (91.7% and 91.9%) were also observed between the China3 strain (in
) and the DWV-VN strains, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence alignment showed high genetic similarities (97.0%-97.9%) when the USA1, Chile, Italy1, France, UK1, UK2, Japan, Korea2, China1, China2 and China3 strains were compared to the DWV-VN strains. This ratio was 96.7% and 96.8% when the Korea1 strain was compared to the DWV-SVN and DWV-NVN strains, respectively. Numerous amino acid substitutions were identified in the L, VP3, and RdRp sequences. Notably, we observed six substitutions positioned at amino acids 27 (E > I), 98 (S > T), 120 (A > V), 153 (M > T), 170 (D > F), and 174 (Y > F) in the L protein, two amino acid changes at positions 980 (S > A) and 1032 (E > T) in VP3, and one amino acid change at position 2627 (R > C) unique to the DWV-VN strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete genome sequences, RdRp sequences and Simplot analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between DWV-VN strains in
and DWV strains in
. The results suggested that the genetic variations of the DWV-VN strains in
help them to adapt geographical conditions and may lead to change the viral pathogenicity of DWV-VN strains.
Objective. To identify factors associated with increased proportion of early gastric cancer to total detected gastric cancer among patients undergoing diagnostic esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Methods. ...A nationwide survey was conducted across 6 central-type and 6 municipal-type Vietnamese hospitals. A questionnaire regarding annual esophagogastroduodenoscopy volume, esophagogastroduodenoscopy preparation, the use of image-enhanced endoscopy, and number of gastric cancer diagnosed in 2018 was sent to each hospital. Results. The total proportion of early gastric cancer was 4.0% (115/2857). Routine preparation with simethicone and the use of image-enhanced endoscopy were associated with higher proportion of early gastric cancer (OR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.2, p=0.016; OR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.8–4.0, p<0.001, respectively). Esophagogastroduodenoscopies performed at central-type hospitals were associated with higher proportion of early gastric cancer (OR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.2, p=0.017). Esophagogastroduodenoscopies performed at hospitals with an annual volume of 30.000–60.000 were associated with higher proportion of early gastric cancer than those performed at hospitals with an annual volume of 10.000-<30.000 (OR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.6–4.8, p<0.001) and with a volume of >60.000–100.000 (OR 2.7, 95% CI: 1.7–4.2, p<0.001). Only four (33.3%) hospitals reported all endoscopic types of early gastric cancer. Conclusions. The detection of early gastric cancer is still challenging even for endoscopists working in regions with relatively high prevalence. The real-world evidence showed that endoscopic detection of early gastric cancer could potentially improve with simple adjustments of esophagogastroduodenoscopy protocols.
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