Availability, price and nutritional assessment of plant-based meat alternatives in hypermarkets and supermarkets in Petaling, the most populated district in Malaysia.

This study investigated the availability, price, nutritional composition, and quality of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) in supermarkets and hypermarkets in Petaling, the most populated district in Malaysia. The survey covered 85 stores through on-site visits, identifying 251 unique PBMA products from 42 brands. The PBMAs were categorized into nine groups: Burgers/Patties, Coated Meat, Luncheon Meat, Minced Meat, Pastries, Pieces/Chunks/Fillets/Strips, Prepacked Cooked Meals, Sausages, and Seafood Balls/Cakes/Meatballs.

Presentation of Breast Cancer and Impact of Patient Navigation on Timeliness of Diagnosis and Treatment and on Adherence to Treatment Recommendations in a Multicenter Network in Malaysia.

Purpose: Breast cancer deaths disproportionately affect women living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Patient navigation has emerged as a cost-effective and impactful approach to enable women with symptoms or suspicious mammogram findings to access timely diagnosis and patients with breast cancer to access timely and appropriate multimodality treatment. However, few studies have systematically evaluated the impact of patient navigation on timeliness of diagnosis and treatment in LMICs.

Perceptions, attitudes and beliefs towards soya among healthy Asian women participating in a soya randomised controlled trial.

The soya-breast cancer risk relationship remains controversial in Asia due to limited and inconsistent research findings and is exacerbated by difficulties in recruiting and retaining participants in intervention trials. Understanding public perceptions towards soya is important for designing effective intervention trials. Here, we administered a close-ended, quantitative survey to healthy, peri- and post-menopausal Asian women in the Malaysian Soy and Mammographic Density (MiSo) Study to assess perception towards soya and explore motivators and barriers that affect study adherence using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Belief (COM-B) Model and Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF).

Barriers to help-seeking for Malaysian women with symptoms of breast cancer: a mixed-methods, two-step cluster analysis.

Background: Improving help-seeking behaviour is a key component of down-staging breast cancer and improving survival, but the specific challenges faced by low-income women in an Asian setting remain poorly characterized. Here, we determined the extent of help-seeking delay among Malaysian breast cancer patients who presented at late stages and explored sub-groups of women who may face specific barriers.

Methods: Time to help-seeking was assessed in 303 women diagnosed with advanced breast cancer between January 2015 and March 2020 at a suburban tertiary hospital in Malaysia.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Soy Isoflavone Intake on Mammographic Density among Malaysian Women.

Soy intake is associated with lower breast cancer risk in observational studies concerning Asian women, however, no randomized controlled trials (RCT) have been conducted among Asian women living in Asia. This three-armed RCT assessed the effects of one-year soy isoflavone (ISF) intervention on mammographic density (MD) change among healthy peri- and postmenopausal Malaysian women. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.

Risk stratification and assessment framework for international travel and border measures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic - A Malaysian perspective.

Background: Guided by the best practices adapted from national and international bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), this paper aims to develop and provide an empirical risk stratification and assessment framework for advancing the safe resumption of global travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: Variables included in our model are categorized into four pillars: (i) incidence of cases, (ii) reliability of case data, (iii) vaccination, and (iv) variant surveillance. These measures are combined based on weights that reflect their corresponding importance in risk assessment within the context of the pandemic to calculate the risk score for each country.

Measurement challenge: protocol for international case-control comparison of mammographic measures that predict breast cancer risk.

Introduction: For women of the same age and body mass index, increased mammographic density is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk. There are multiple methods of measuring mammographic density and other features in a mammogram that could potentially be used in a screening setting to identify and target women at high risk of developing breast cancer. However, it is unclear which measurement method provides the strongest predictor of breast cancer risk.

Feasibility of Patient Navigation to Improve Breast Cancer Care in Malaysia.

Purpose: Late stage at presentation and poor adherence to treatment remain major contributors to poor survival in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Patient navigation (PN) programs in the United States have led to improvement in diagnostic or treatment timeliness, particularly for women in lower socioeconomic classes or minority groups. To date, studies of PN in Asia have been limited.

Patient-reported outcome measures among breast cancer survivors: A cross-sectional comparison between Malaysia and high-income countries.

Objectives: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in high-income countries (HICs) suggest that physical, emotional, and psychological needs are important in cancer care. To date, there have been few inconsistent descriptions of PROs in low-income and middle-income Asian countries. Using a standard questionnaire developed by the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM), we compared the perceived importance of PROs between patients in Malaysia and those in HICs and between clusters of Malaysian women.

A case-control study of breast cancer risk factors in 7,663 women in Malaysia.

Background: Breast cancer risk factors have been examined extensively in Western setting and more developed Asian cities/countries. However, there are limited data on developing Asian countries. The purpose of this study was to examine breast cancer risk factors and the change of selected risk factors across birth cohorts in Malaysian women.

Physical activity and mammographic density in an Asian multi-ethnic cohort.

Background: Physical activity is a modifiable lifestyle factor associated with reduced breast cancer risk. Mammographic density is a strong, independent risk factor for breast cancer, and some breast cancer risk factors have been shown to modify mammographic density. However, the effect of physical activity on mammographic density, studied predominantly among Caucasians, has yielded conflicting results.

Performance of a subsidised mammographic screening programme in Malaysia, a middle-income Asian country.

Background: The incidence of breast cancer in Asia is increasing because of urbanization and lifestyle changes. In the developing countries in Asia, women present at late stages, and mortality is high. Mammographic screening is the only evidence-based screening modality that reduces breast cancer mortality.

Differences in mammographic density between Asian and Caucasian populations: a comparative analysis.

Purpose: Mammographic density is a measurable and modifiable biomarker that is strongly and independently associated with breast cancer risk. Paradoxically, although Asian women have lower risk of breast cancer, studies of minority Asian women in predominantly Caucasian populations have found that Asian women have higher percent density. In this cross-sectional study, we compared the distribution of mammographic density for a matched cohort of Asian women from Malaysia and Caucasian women from Sweden, and determined if variations in mammographic density could be attributed to population differences in breast cancer risk factors.

International Consortium on Mammographic Density: Methodology and population diversity captured across 22 countries.

Mammographic density (MD) is a quantitative trait, measurable in all women, and is among the strongest markers of breast cancer risk. The population-based epidemiology of MD has revealed genetic, lifestyle and societal/environmental determinants, but studies have largely been conducted in women with similar westernized lifestyles living in countries with high breast cancer incidence rates. To benefit from the heterogeneity in risk factors and their combinations worldwide, we created an International Consortium on Mammographic Density (ICMD) to pool individual-level epidemiological and MD data from general population studies worldwide.