Abida Sultana

• MBBS
• Researcher at Nature Study Society of Bangladesh

Psychosocial health is a major palliative care concern globally. Patients and caregivers engaged in palliative care may experience deteriorated mental and social health conditions. Global evidence informs a high burden of depression, anxiety, psychological distress and other mental health problems among the palliative care populations. Those challe...

Due to the restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, different population groups have adapted to varying screen time levels, which may have profound implications on their physical and mental wellbeing . Several empirical studies included in this review reported a sudden upward change in screen time across dif...

Background A growing burden of mental health problems has become a global concern amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Sleep disorders are major mental health problems associated with increased psychosocial stressors; however, no research synthesis is available on the epidemiology of it. In this systematic scoping review, we aimed to a...

Psychosocial health is a major palliative care concern globally. Patients and caregivers engaged in palliative care may experience deteriorated mental and social health conditions. Global evidence informs a high burden of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and other mental health problems among the palliative care populations. Those chall...

Psychosocial health is a major palliative care concern globally. Patients and caregivers engaged in palliative care may experience deteriorated mental and social health conditions. Global evidence informs a high burden of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and other mental health problems among the palliative care populations. Those chall...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted every frontier of human lives. When it comes to emergency care for any health emergency for individuals, or primary care where people make their first contact with the health system in a country, this pandemic has shown the lack of preparedness on delivering medical care in both settings. An...

The use of digital screens, including television, computers, mobile phones, and smart devices, can be associated with a wide range of health outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, different population groups may have been adapted to varying levels of screen time, which may have profound implications on their health and wellbeing. The available evi...

COVID-19 pandemic is affecting mental health and wellbeing across populations. The continued burden of psychosocial stressors in different contexts necessitates multipronged interventions that address mental health problems and associated disparities. Global evidence suggests that social capital plays a critical role in determining mental health ou...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected health systems globally with a growing need for hospital beds and other institutional resources. Older adults are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and associated adverse outcomes, whereas they often experience chronic diseases requiring institutional care. Hospital at home (HAH) is a s...

Burnout is a major occupational problem among healthcare providers, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The frontline health workforce is experiencing a high workload and multiple psychosocial stressors which may affect their mental and emotional health, leading to burnout symptoms. Moreover, sleep deprivation and a critical lack of psychosoci...

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic affecting health and wellbeing globally. In addition to the physical health, economic, and social implications, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. This narrative review reflected on scholarly articles on the epid...

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is impacting health globally, whereas older adults are highly susceptible and more likely to have adverse health outcomes. In Bangladesh, the elderly population has been increasing over the past few decades, who often live with poor socioeconomic conditions and inadequate access to healthcare services. These...

Objectives: Transmission of infectious diseases is often prevented by quarantine and isolation of the populations at risk. These approaches restrict the mobility, social interactions, and daily activities of the affected individuals. In recent novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, quarantine and isolation are being adopted in many context...

Background Homelessness is a major problem that critically impacts the mental health and well-being of the affected individuals. This umbrella review aimed to evaluate the current evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders among homeless people from evidence-based systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Methods We followed the Preferred Reportin...

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic affecting health and wellbeing globally. In addition to the physical health, economic, and social implications, the psychological impacts of this pandemic are increasingly being reported in the scientific literature. This narrative review reflected on scholarly articles on the epidemiol...

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is impacting human health globally. In addition to physical health problems, a growing burden of mental health problems has become a global concern amid this pandemic. Sleep disorders are major mental health problems associated with increased psychosocial stressors; however, no research synthesis is av...

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is critically impacting health and wellbeing around the world. In addition to physical health problems, COVID-19 is increasingly reported to be associated with mental health problems across populations. Evidence from the current pandemic and earlier infectious disease outbreaks suggests that several...

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is impacting health globally, whereas older adults are highly susceptible and more likely to have adverse health outcomes. In Bangladesh, the elderly population has been increasing over the past few decades, who often live with poor socioeconomic conditions and inadequate access to healthcare services. These...

Background: Transmission of infectious diseases is often prevented by quarantine and isolation of the populations at risk. These approaches restrict the mobility, social interactions, and daily activities of the affected individuals. In recent novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, quarantine and isolation are being adopted in many contexts...

Mental disorders are highly prevalent in different population groups in Bangladesh. Effective policymaking and evaluation may need economic evidence on complex mental health problems. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the current evidence on the economic burden of mental disorders in Bangladesh. We searched six major databases and add...

Objective: Dating violence (DV) is a psychosocial problem which impacts the health and wellbeing of affected individuals. Many studies have reported a high prevalence and various determinants of DV; however, there is a gap of consolidated evidence on this problem. This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the current evidence on the prevalence and d...

Burnout is a major occupational problem among healthcare providers. During coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the frontline health workforce is experiencing a high workload and multiple psychosocial stressors, which may affect their mental and emotional health, leading to burnout symptoms. Moreover, sleep deprivation and a critical lack of ps...

p>With ever-increasing prevalence of various mental disorders worldwide, a comprehensive evaluation of the prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is needed to strengthen the knowledge base. This umbrella review aims to summarize the current evidence on the prevalence of comorbid psychi...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has critically impacted global health systems and economies, especially in developing countries. Those countries have been struggling to address the preexisting burden of diseases with limited resources, which will become even more challenging during COVID-19. The economic implications related to COVID-19 in those...

Mental disorders are highly prevalent in eight South Asian countries, yet there is a gap of a synthesized overview of the prevalence of mental disorders in this region. This umbrella review aims to summarize the prevalence of mental disorders from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of South Asian studies. A systematic search of 11 major databases...

Background: Transmission of infectious diseases is often prevented by quarantine and isolation of the populations at risk. These approaches restrict the mobility, social interactions, and daily activities of the affected individuals. In recent novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, quarantine and isolation are being adopted in many contexts...

With ever-increasing prevalence of various mental disorders worldwide, a comprehensive evaluation of the prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is needed to strengthen the knowledge base. This umbrella review aims to summarize the current evidence on the prevalence of comorbid psychiat...

Background: High burden of mental disorders among sexual minorities including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population is well documented. Digital platforms are increasingly being used by sexual minorities to communicate with each other, but there is no systematic review of digital interventions that can improve mental health among sexual...

Introduction: Homelessness is a major problem that critically impacts the mental health and wellbeing of the affected individuals. This umbrella review aimed to evaluate the current evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders among homeless people from evidence-based systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Methods: We followed the Preferred Report...

Objectives: Mental disorders are highly prevalent in eight South Asian countries, yet there is a gap of a synthesized overview of the prevalence of mental disorders in this region. This umbrella review aims to summarize the prevalence of mental disorders from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of South Asian studies. Materials and methods: A syst...

Objectives: To synthesize the evidence on the effects of exposure to natural environment on mental health to inform future policymaking, practice, and research. Methods: A systematic search of nine major databases and additional sources were conducted using relevant keywords for the natural environment and mental health till November 2019. We inclu...

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) against doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals is a growing public health concern affecting health systems in low- and middle-income countries. In India, incidents of WPV against health workforce have become common in recent years. However, there is no synthesized evidence on the nationwide burden o...

With ever-increasing prevalence of various mental disorders worldwide, a comprehensive evaluation of the prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is needed to strengthen the knowledge base. This umbrella review aims to summarize the current evidence on the prevalence of comorbid psychiat...

p>With ever-increasing prevalence of various mental disorders worldwide, a comprehensive evaluation of the prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is needed to strengthen the knowledge base. This umbrella review aims to summarize the current evidence on the prevalence of comorbid psychi...

p> Objective: Dating violence (DV) is a psychosocial problem which impacts the health and wellbeing of affected individuals. Many studies have reported a high prevalence and various determinants of DV; however, there is a gap of consolidated evidence on this problem. This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the current evidence on the prevalence an...

p> Objective: Dating violence (DV) is a psychosocial problem which impacts the health and wellbeing of affected individuals. Many studies have reported a high prevalence and various determinants of DV; however, there is a gap of consolidated evidence on this problem. This umbrella review aimed to synthesize the current evidence on the prevalence an...

Public health emergencies like natural disasters may affect lives in a given geographic area without discriminating among individuals living in that region. 1 However, people with low-income and other socioeconomic disparities suffer more during and after such emergencies. 2 For such disadvantaged populations, inadequate access to resources essenti...

This current evidence informs several insights about health-related and socio-economic burden among the family caregivers of children suffering from heart diseases in India. Firstly, a low number of studies shows a research gap in this area, which require further studies to better understand the challenges experienced by family caregivers. Secondly...

Background: A high burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is contributing to high mortality and morbidity in India. Recent advancements in digital health interventions, including mHealth, eHealth, and telemedicine, have facilitated patient-centered care for NCDs. Objective: This systematic review aims to evaluate the current evidence on digita...

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are facilitating the work of modern healthcare organisations to leverage the power of big data in clinical practice (1). In most cases, AI-based systems improve clinical decision-making using multiple layers of information and pre-specified algorithms (2). In addition, recent AI technologies like machine le...

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are facilitating the work of modern healthcare organisations to leverage the power of big data in clinical practice. In most cases, AI-based systems improve clinical decision-making using multiple layers of information and pre-specified algorithms. In addition, recent AI technologies like machine learning c...

Background: Many studies have reported the widespread application of digital technologies in improving mental health. However, little is known about how these technological advancements can help the geriatric population who suffer from a wide range of mental disorders. There is no extensive review of evidence which can guide effective policy-making...

Background: High burden of mental disorders among sexual minorities including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population is well documented. Moreover, digital platforms are increasingly being used by sexual minorities to communicate with each other. Many studies have shown how platforms facilitate health and well-being in different ways, bu...

Purpose: A massive humanitarian crisis has forced nearly a million Rohingya refugees to seek shelter in Bangladesh from their homeland Myanmar since August 2017. Mass atrocities and ethnic cleansing operations against Rohingya people are well documented by various UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations. Although numerous reports and resea...

Bangladesh passed a new Mental Health Act in 2018, which replaced the outdated 105-year-old Lunacy Act, 1912. The country has a high burden of mental health disorders with few mental health services reported in a nationwide survey. A systematic review4 revealed the prevalence of mental disorders as 3·4–22·9% in children and 6·5–31·0% in adults in B...

Bangladesh is one of the signee countries of the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, which adopted a broader vision of expanding primary health care to the grassroots level of the nation. Enormous efforts were made to establish health facilities at a community level by 1985, resulting in a significant improvement in population health indicators despite t...

On August 25, 2017, the military and paramilitary forces of Myanmar launched “clearance operations” against the Rohingya population in Rakhine state of Myanmar. In the resulting humanitarian crisis, a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) report estimated that the number of deaths crossed 9000 within the first 31 days of these “operations”. In addition to...

Violence against health workforce has become a public health concern affecting the lives of the health professionals and the overall health service delivery to a greater extent. Common forms of workplace violence faced by healthcare professionals include verbal abuse, physical assault, bullying, sexual harassment and racial harassment. The scenario...