Precision medicine in Asia enhanced by next-generation sequencing: Implications for Thailand through a scoping review and interview study.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) significantly enhances precision medicine (PM) by offering personalized approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of unmet medical needs. Little is known about the current situation of PM in Asia. Thus, we aimed to conduct an overview of the progress and gaps in PM in Asia and enrich it with in-depth insight into the possibilities of future PM in Thailand.

Perspectives of pain specialists, patients, and family members on long-term opioid use for chronic non-cancer pain: a qualitative study.

Background: Opioids are currently prescribed for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP), and some patients use opioids continuously for long-term treatment. Stakeholders' awareness about long-term opioid therapy is essential for improving the safety and effectiveness of pain treatment. The purpose of this study is to explore the perspectives of pain specialists, patients, and family caregivers about long-term opioid use in CNCP management.

Health and long-term care of the elderly with dementia in rural Thailand: a cross-sectional survey through their caregivers.

Objective: To describe the circumstances of the elderly with dementia and their caregivers' characteristics in order to examine factors related to activities of daily living (ADL) and household income to propose a long-term care policy for rural areas of Thailand.

Setting: A cross-sectional study at the household level in three rural regions of Thailand where there were initiatives relating to community care for people with dementia.

Participants: Caregivers of 140 people with dementia were recruited for the study.

Unique health identifiers for universal health coverage.

Identifying everyone residing in a country, especially the poor, is an indispensable part of pursuing universal health coverage (UHC). Having information on an individuals' financial protection is also imperative for measuring the progress of UHC. This paper examines different ways of instituting a system of unique health identifiers that can lead toward achieving UHC, particularly in relation to utilizing universal civil registration and national unique identification number systems.

Need for Internal Medicine Subspecialists in Thailand.

Background: Matching supply side of the Internal Medicine (IM) subspecialists to the demand for complex medical care at referral medical centers would lead to more efficient health system management and ultimately optimal clinical outcome. The second decade of the universal health coverage policy in Thailand has raised the awareness on how to reach equitable utilization goals of good quality medical services, while barriers of accession have been removed. More accurate evidence-based human resource planning is timely needed.

Hospitalizations of Diabetes Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition - Universal Coverage Scheme at a Referral Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand: Five-Year Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Universal coverage (UC) scheme covers most of the population in Thailand (76.3%) and diabetes (DM) was the most prevalent ambulatory disease in most health care centers. Rajavithi Hospital is designated as one of the top referral hospital in Bangkok.

Health financing lessons from Thailand for South Africa on the path towards universal health coverage.

Five years after the release of its Green Paper on National Health Insurance (NHI),years after the institution of NHI pilot sites and following the recent release of the White Pa 4 per on NHI, South Africa (SA) needs to move beyond the phase 1 plans of policy making and healthening activities to phase 2 - putting into place the legal and institutional frameth system strengworks and systems for implementation of its universal health coverage (UHC) system. In doing so, SA can draw on considerable practical lessons from other countries' reforms in managing UHC with favourable equity outcomes over the past decade. We outline some potentially significant lessons from the Thai health financing system for SA.

Epidemiology of Age-Related Macular Degeneration among the Elderly Population in Thailand.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and associated factors of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Thailand.

Material And Method: This cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2010. Five provinces were selected and people aged 50 years and over were invited for eye examination.

Treatment seeking and health financing in selected poor urban neighbourhoods in India, Indonesia and Thailand.

This article presents a comparative analysis of socio-economic disparities in relation to treatment-seeking strategies and healthcare expenditures in poor neighbourhoods within larger health systems in four cities in India, Indonesia and Thailand. About 200 households in New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Jogjakarta and Phitsanulok were repeatedly interviewed over 12 months to relate health problems with health seeking and health financing at household level. Quantitative data were complemented with ethnographic studies involving the same neighbourhoods and a number of private practitioners at each site.

Catastrophic health expenditure in an urban city: seven years after universal coverage policy in Thailand.

Abstract. This study explored the burden of household out-of-pocket health expenditure on urban inhabitants with different socio-economic status and health insurance schemes in Nakhon Sawan Municipality. This study employed a cross sectional survey by using a structured questionnaire.

Cost of acute and sub-acute care for stroke patients.

Background: Stroke is an important health problem that imposes socioeconomic burdens.

Objective: To explore provider costs and to examine predictive factors for cost of acute and sub-acute inpatient services for stroke patients.

Material And Method: The present study design was prevalence-based cost-of-illness with micro-costing approach.

Using utilisation data to estimate future demand for medical internists: the impact of demographic demand driver in Thailand.

The demand for medical doctors can be estimated in many ways. The most challenging approach is the model based on population demand and anticipated contextual factors. The eighth national medical education meeting of Thailand in 2009 called for the need to estimate future demand for medical specialists in Thailand to proper plan for postgraduate trainings of royal colleges of medical specialists.

Economic Evaluation of Rehabilitation Services for Inpatients with Stroke in Thailand: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: Rehabilitation can restore function and prevent permanent disability in patients with stroke. There is, however, only one study on cost-effectiveness of rehabilitation in Thailand. Our objective was to evaluate the cost-utility of rehabilitation for inpatients with stroke under Thai settings.

HIV prevention with positives and disclosure of HIV status: practice and views of Thai healthcare providers.

Objective: The present study provides information from health care providers about sexual practices of and preventive and disclosure counseling for People Living with HIVand AIDS (PLWHA).

Material And Method: A survey of health care providers attending HIV prevention workshops was undertaken using self-administered and anonymous questionnaires.

Results: Of 678 respondents, 72% were nurses.

Coordinating care and treatment for cancer patients.

Survival following a diagnosis of cancer is contingent upon an interplay of factors, some non-modifiable (e.g., age, sex, genetics) and some modifiable (e.

Prevalence of low back pain among rice farmers in a rural community in Thailand.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among rice farmers in a rural community in Phitsanulok, Thailand.

Material And Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 283 rice farmers in Wangnamkhu subdistrict, Muang district, Phitsanulok province, a rural community in Lower Northern Thailand. Face-to-face interviews with a structured closed-end questionnaire were performed to collect information on the presence of LBP in lifetime, within the last 12 months prior to and at the time of the present study.

Comparison of physical fitness between rice farmers with and without chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To compare physical fitness between rice farmers with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and a healthy control group.

Material And Method: Sixty-eight rice farmers with CLBP were matched according to age and sex with healthy farmers. All subjects underwent nine physical fitness tests for body composition, lifting capacity, static back extensor endurance, leg strength, static abdominal endurance, handgrip strength, hamstring flexibility, posterior leg and back muscles flexibility and abdominal flexibility.

New casemix classification as an alternative method for budget allocation in thai oral healthcare service: a pilot study.

This study aimed to develop a new casemix classification system as an alternative method for the budget allocation of oral healthcare service (OHCS). Initially, the International Statistical of Diseases and Related Health Problem, 10th revision, Thai Modification (ICD-10-TM) related to OHCS was used for developing the software "Grouper". This model was designed to allow the translation of dental procedures into eight-digit codes.

eHealth in Thailand: the current status.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines eHealth as the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health. Thailand is one of the leading countries in emerging and developing economy that the use of ICT applications is pervasive including eHealth. However, the status of eHealth in Thailand hasn't been assessed.

Sexual practice among Thai HIV-infected patients: prevalence and risk factors for unprotected sex.

Positive prevention which focuses on prevention of HIV transmission from those already infected to those uninfected is an important issue for HIV prevention. A self-administered questionnaire on sexual practice survey of HIV-infected patients attending HIV clinics was undertaken. Of the 1160 patients, 53% knew their HIV status after being ill and 59% believed that they got infection from their regular sexual partner.

Casemix classification payment for sub-acute and non-acute inpatient care, Thailand.

Background: There is a need to develop other casemix classifications, apart from DRG for sub-acute and non-acute inpatient care payment mechanism in Thailand.

Objective: To develop a casemix classification for sub-acute and non-acute inpatient service.

Material And Method: The study began with developing a classification system, analyzing cost, assigning payment weights, and ended with testing the validity of this new casemix system.

Access to services and complications experienced by disabled people in Thailand.

The number of people with disabilities who have experienced complications such as bedsores or joint problems in Thailand is increasing. This has an impact on the health system and on the community. This paper aimed to study the accessibility of the health system to disabled people and the complications experienced by them.

Policy characteristics facilitating primary health care in Thailand: A pilot study in transitional country.

Background: In contrast to the considerable evidence of inequitable distribution of health, little is known about how health services (particularly primary care services) are distributed in less developed countries. Using a version of primary health care system questionnaire, this pilot study in Thailand assessed policies related to the provision of primary care, particularly with regard to attempts to distribute resources equitably, adequacy of resources, comprehensiveness of services, and co-payment requirement. Information on other main attributes of primary health care policy was also ascertained.

Factors influencing health information technology adoption in Thailand's community health centers: applying the UTAUT model.

Background: One of the most important factors for the success of health information technology (IT) implementation is users' acceptance and use of that technology. Thailand has implemented the national universal healthcare program and has been restructuring the country's health IT system to support it. However, there is no national data available regarding the acceptance and use of health IT in many healthcare facilities, including community health centers (CHCs).

Profile of hospital charges for chronic conditions by health status and severity level: a case study of 4 provinces in Thailand.

The objective of this study is to identify charges for common chronic patients, by health status and severity of illness. Patients having 4 common chronic diseases-diabetics, hypertension, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and chronic renal failure-from 4 provinces were included (between 2002 and 2004). Patients were classified into clinically defined and health plan categories; charges were analyzed according to core health status and severity level of the chronic disease groups.