Assessing COVID-19 pandemic's impact on essential diabetes care in Manila, the Philippines: A mixed methods study.

The COVID-19 pandemic directly increased mortality and morbidity globally. In addition, it has had extensive indirect ill effects on healthcare service delivery across health systems worldwide. We aimed to describe how patient access to diabetes care was affected by the pandemic in Manila, the Philippines.

Key concepts in clinical epidemiology: Estimating pre-test probability.

Appropriate medical management largely hinges on correctly diagnosing the underlying disease. Often, clinicians are faced with a dizzying array of accurate, albeit expensive and/or invasive diagnostic tests. What tends to be overlooked is that the probability of a disease once the test results are in (post-test probability) is a function of both the probability of the disease before the test was done (pre-test probability) and the diagnostic accuracy of the test.

Calibration of a physical functioning item bank for measurement of health-related quality of life in Singapore.

Purpose: We aimed to develop and calibrate an item bank to measure physical function (PF) in Singapore, a multi-ethnic city in Southeast Asia.

Methods: We recruited participants from community and hospital settings stratified for age and gender, with and without medical conditions to administer candidate pool of 61-items derived from the people's perspectives. We calibrated their responses using Samejima's graded response model of item response theory (IRT), including model assumptions, model fit, differential item functioning (DIF), and concurrent and known-groups validity.

Developing item banks to measure three important domains of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Singapore.

Objectives: To develop separate item banks for three health domains of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) ranked as important by Singaporeans - physical functioning, social relationships, and positive mindset.

Methods: We adapted the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Qualitative Item Review protocol, with input and endorsement from laymen and experts from various relevant fields. Items were generated from 3 sources: 1) thematic analysis of focus groups and in-depth interviews for framework (n = 134 participants) and item(n = 52 participants) development, 2) instruments identified from a literature search (PubMed) of studies that developed or validated a HRQOL instrument among adults in Singapore, 3) a priori identified instruments of particular relevance.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Hamilton axial spondyloarthritis questionnaire and development of a Chinese version in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

Objective: To cross-culturally adapt the Hamilton axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) screening questionnaire and develop a Chinese version for use in a multi-ethnic Asian population in Singapore.

Methods: Consenting participants newly referred from primary care to a rheumatology specialist outpatient clinic for evaluation of possible axial SpA were studied. The original axial SpA questionnaire was revised based on inputs from cognitive debriefing interviews (CDIs) and discussions with an expert panel of rheumatologists and the developer.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the connective tissue disease screening questionnaire and development of a Chinese version in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

Objectives: To cross-culturally adapt the Connective Tissue Disease (CTD) Screening Questionnaire (CSQ) in a multi-ethnic Asian population in Singapore.

Methods: An expert panel of accredited rheumatologists evaluated the content validity of the original CSQ. Consenting participants newly referred from primary care to a rheumatology specialist outpatient clinic for evaluation of possible CTDs were studied.

Developing a comprehensive, culturally sensitive conceptual framework of health domains in Singapore.

The increasing focus of healthcare systems worldwide on long-term care highlights the need for culturally sensitive Health-Related Quality of Life instruments to accurately capture perceived health of various populations. Such instruments require a contextualized conceptual framework of health domains, which is lacking in some socio-cultural contexts. We developed a comprehensive and culturally sensitive conceptual framework of health domains relevant to the Singaporean population.

Using best-worst scaling choice experiments to elicit the most important domains of health for health-related quality of life in Singapore.

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instruments are sometimes used without explicit understanding of which HRQOL domains are important to a given population. In this study, we sought to elicit an importance hierarchy among 27 HRQOL domains (derived from the general population) via a best-worst scaling survey of the population in Singapore, and to determine whether these domains were consistently valued across gender, age, ethnicity, and presence of chronic illnesses. We conducted a community-based study that sampled participants with quotas for gender, ethnicity, age, presence of chronic illness, and interview language.