Examining predictors for 6-month mortality and healthcare utilization for patients admitted for heart failure in the acute care setting.

Background: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a leading cause of mortality and hospitalization. Past studies reported increased healthcare spending in the last year of life in high-income countries, and this has been characterized as inappropriate healthcare resource utilization. The study aimed to examine potentially (in)appropriate healthcare utilization by comparing healthcare utilization patterns across predicted and observed 6-month mortality among patients admitted for HF.

Elements of Potentially Inappropriate Interventions and Patient Prognostic Profiles at the End of Life in Cardiology: A Qualitative Analysis.

The determination of what makes a medical treatment inappropriate is unclear with a small likelihood of consensus. This study aimed to explore how clinicians in cardiology perceive "inappropriate treatment" and to collate the common profiles of cardiology patients receiving likely "inappropriate treatment" as perceived by clinicians in a multiethnic Asian context. A qualitative study was conducted using semistructured in-depth interviews with 32 clinicians involved in the care for cardiology patients at a large national cardiology center in Singapore.

A systematic review defining non-beneficial and inappropriate end-of-life treatment in patients with non-cancer diagnoses: theoretical development for multi-stakeholder intervention design in acute care settings.

Background: Non-beneficial treatment is closely tied to inappropriate treatment at the end-of-life. Understanding the interplay between how and why these situations arise in acute care settings according to the various stakeholders is pivotal to informing decision-making and best practice at end-of-life.

Aim: To define and understand determinants of  non-beneficial and inappropriate treatments for patients with a non-cancer diagnosis, in acute care settings at the end-of-life.

COVID-19 and the shifting organisation of sex work markets in Singapore.

While past studies have sought to capture how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the health and sexual lives of sex workers internationally, less attention has been paid to the reorganisation of sex markets as a result of COVID-19. We conducted a sequential exploratory mixed methods study using in-depth interviews, cyber ethnography and surveyor-administered structured surveys among sex workers. We report two key findings on how the pandemic has impacted sex markets in Singapore.

Factors Influencing Potentially Futile Treatments at the End of Life in a Multiethnic Asian Cardiology Setting: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Modern medicine enables clinicians to save lives and prolong time to death, yet some treatments have little chance of conferring meaningful benefits for patients nearing the end-of-life. What clinicians perceive as driving futile treatment in the non-Western healthcare context is poorly understood.

Aim: This study aimed to explore clinicians' perceptions of the factors that influence futile treatment at the end of life within a tertiary hospital cardiac care setting.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) on the Health and Social Needs of Sex Workers in Singapore.

We evaluated the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the sex work industry and assessed how it has impacted the health and social conditions of sex workers in Singapore. We conducted a sequential exploratory mixed methods study amidst the COVID-19 pandemic from April to October 2020, including in-depth interviews with 24 stakeholders from the sex work industry and surveyor-administered structured surveys with 171 sex workers. COVID-19 had a substantial impact on sex workers' income.

The impact of healthcare associated infections on mortality and length of stay in Singapore-A time-varying analysis.

Objective: Methods that include the time-varying nature of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) avoid biases when estimating increased risk of death and excess length of stay. We determined the excess mortality risk and length of stay associated with HAIs among inpatients in Singapore using a multistate model that accommodates the timing of key events.

Design: Analysis of existing prospective cohort study data.

Association between meat consumption and risk of breast cancer: Findings from the Sister Study.

Meat consumption has been postulated to increase the risk of breast cancer, but this association has not been consistently seen. We examined the association between consumption of different types of meat, meat mutagens and incident invasive breast cancer. Information on consumption of different meat categories and meat cooking practice behaviors was obtained from 42,012 Sister Study participants who completed a Block 1998 Food Frequency Questionnaire at enrollment (2003-2009) and satisfied eligibility criteria.