Hafiz T.A. Khan

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor of Public Health and Statistics at University of West London

Previous studies conducted in Japan had revealed an association between social support and life satisfaction among the elderly and the importance of informal support. A plethora of formal social support had been established when the Japanese Government introduced the LTCI (Long-Term Care Instrument) system in 2000. This system enabled elderly peopl...

Background Many studies have highlighted the association between frailty, physical activity behaviour (PAB), and well-being, but no study has investigated a potential moderated mediating role of functional difficulty in this relationship. This association may not be the same between different income levels. This study, therefore, assessed the above...

This book will for the first time operationalise “morbidity prevention in aging" as the ideal way to enable everyone to avoid or manage disease over the lifespan. It provides a bifocal view of healthy longevity in crisis situations by helping stakeholders to understand (1) primary prevention of diseases at the population level across the lifespan,...

Background Workplace Age Discrimination Experienced (WADE) can be disorientating and detrimental to well-being. Hence, older employees would like to avoid it, but those who experience it may discriminate against their older peers. WADE may be associated with Age Discrimination of Peers (ADP), and this relationship can be moderated by Occupational H...

Background Research to date suggests that frailty is higher in women and is associated with functional difficulty. This study builds on the evidence by examining the association between frailty and functional difficulty between low- and higher-income groups and between older men and women in these income groups. Methods This study adopted a cross-...

This book uniquely operationalizes "sustainable ageing" as a concept for reimagining ways by which: (1) social and health threats (i.e., climate change events, extreme industrialization, infectious disease outbreak, and war) can constrain the implementation of healthy ageing campaigns or limit their outcomes, and (2) potential transdisciplinary str...

The Concept of Diminishing Life Space posits that neighbourhoods facing health and social threats (i.e., war or violence, climate change, extreme industrialisation, and outbreaks of infectious diseases) may make them unable to support “ageing in place”. Older victims of these threats are less capable of utilising neighbourhood resources (e.g., serv...

The Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021–2030 and related campaigns are promising initiatives aimed at supporting older adults and their families. Some crises that are experienced globally (e.g. climate change, natural disaster/earthquake, war/violence, infectious diseases, and extreme industrialisation), however, can offset the desired outcomes of these...

The use of the geographical information system (GIS) to measure walkability is now commonplace, but the prioritisation of GIS-based measures over psychometric measures may pose serious consequences for practice. Psychometric measures are Likert-type scales used to assess thoughts and feelings about phenomena. Editorial decisions that are independen...

Background: Cervical cancer continues to pose a significant public health issue in Nigeria, characterized by high rates of incidence and mortality. Colposcopy is integral to the cervical cancer screening process and its early detection. However, the uptake of colposcopy screening in Nigeria remains suboptimal, with various factors contributing to t...

Abstract Objective: While public health planners and practitioners are increasingly aware of the role of inequity in health, the burden of disease measures have not kept pace with this knowledge. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence, and patterns of multimorbidity and to understand the burden of multimorbidity in Niger State...

Background Human populations are rapidly ageing worldwide due to declining birth rates and rising life expectancies. This profound demographic shift presents complex public health challenges. Synthesizing evidence on key public health issues impacting ageing populations and policy strategies is required to address these needs. Methods The study em...

Stroke, a significant neurological condition, often results in stroke survivors who are older adults relying on family caregivers, including children and spouses, leading to increased challenges for caregivers. This study investigates the experiences of family caregivers caring for stroke survivors who are older adults, focusing on the context of s...

Background and Aim The universal use of patient satisfaction as a measure of quality of healthcare cannot be overemphasized, but studies of healthcare satisfaction between older women and older men with multimorbidity in our contemporary society has been questioned over the years. This paper explores the disparities in patient satisfaction between...

Background Disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) has been used to gain a better understanding of the population’s quality of life. Objectives The authors aimed to estimate age and sex-specific disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) for urban and rural areas of Bangladesh, as well as to investigate the differences in DFLE between males and females...

Throughout the pandemic, healthcare professionals (HCPs) around the world encountered numerous challenges. This study was conducted in the middle of the pandemic, from June to November 2021, and explored the multiple issues that HCPs faced in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thirty doctors and nurses, covering a wide range of workplaces and experiences, were int...

Objective Exposure to tobacco smoke causes numerous health problems in children, and create burden on the population in terms of economy, morbidity and mortality. In order to protect the child from exposure to tobacco smoke in the outdoor environment, sufficient legislative enactments are available in Indian legislation. The objective of the presen...

Background Increasing medical expenditure is viewed as one of the critical challenges in the context of population ageing. Physical activity (PA), as a primary prevention strategy for promoting health, is considered as an effective way to curb the excessive growth in medical expenditure. This study aimed to analyze the association between PA and th...

In Nigeria, the burden of caring for older adults with chronic illness at home significantly impacts family members who are the primary caregivers. This calls for support from relevant stakeholders that can help improve caregiver outcomes. Despite having an informal social support network comprising family, friends, and religious and community grou...

Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with predominantly Muslim populations, has experienced significant economic growth over the past five to six decades. The country is also undergoing major changes in terms of population growth and changing age structure. The increase in life expectancy, lower fertility, decli...

Environmental gerontologists recognise neighbourhood services as a key component of the social and physical environment where people age. Such services play an important role in ageing by facilitating the use of other neighbourhood resources such as parks and social networks. This role, though, depends on the availability, accessibility, and releva...

The neighbourhood plays an important role in health-seeking behaviours, health outcomes, and longevity of residents. In contexts where residents benefit from the use of neighbourhood attributes such as services, parks, and social networks, people age in optimal health in their community. Even so, some crises (i.e. climate change events, the outbrea...

For the first time, this book will operationalize “sustainable ageing” as an approach to the implementation of flagship campaigns (e.g., Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020-2030) toward healthy ageing in contexts experiencing threats (i.e., climate change events, outbreak of infectious diseases, extreme industrialisation, and war/violence). It will compi...

For the first time, this book will operationalize “sustainable ageing” as an approach to the implementation of flagship campaigns (e.g., Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020-2030) toward healthy ageing in contexts experiencing threats (i.e., climate change events, outbreak of infectious diseases, extreme industrialisation, and war/violence). It will compi...

Background Research shows that frailty is associated with higher sedentary behaviour, but the evidence to date regarding this association is inconclusive. This study assessed whether the above association is moderated or modified by gender and age, with sedentary behaviour measured with a more inclusive method. Methods This study adopted a STROBE-...

Background Living in hilly neighbourhoods can be associated with sedentary behaviour, but no study has compared sedentary behaviour and its associations with frailty, chronic diseases, and poor health between flat and hilly neighbourhoods among older adults. This study, therefore, compared older adults’ sedentary behaviour and its association with...

This timely book provides an understanding of how an ageing population can maintain health in the ageing process in their preferred homes and neighbourhoods while coping with global crises of climate change events, infectious diseases, systemic violence, and radical or extreme industrialisation. It is the first-known volume to consider the four cri...

Background:-Research on potential differences in walking between men and women have mixed and inconclusive results, and no study has examined differences in walking between men and women across multiple countries and generations (i.e., young-old, old-old, and oldest-old). This study aimed to compare older men and women with respect to their walking...

Introduction Multimorbidity is a rising health issue globally and it is likely to become challenging in developing countries like Nigeria as they experience economic, demographic, and epidemiological transition. Yet, evidence of prevalence and patterns of multimorbidity, and their determinants, are scarce. This study aims to systematically review s...

Objective The present study examines the association between attitudes towards wife beating and intimate partner violence (IPV) using a dyadic approach in three sub-Saharan countries. Setting We use data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey cross-sectional studies which were conducted between 2015 and 2018 in Malawi, Zambia and Zimba...

Background: Globally, nearly 15% of people suffer from various kinds of disabilities, and China has the largest disabled population in the world. The poor mental health status of people with disabilities has become an essential issue in most countries. The main aim of this study was to explore the potential impact of internet use on depression risk...

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) kept track of COVID-19 data at country level daily during the pandemic that included the number of tests, infected cases and fatalities. This daily record was susceptible to change depending on the time and place and impacted by underreporting. In addition to reporting cases of excess COVID-19-relate...

- The aim of this research is to examine dignity, social inclusion, and sustainability in the care of the elderly. The situation of the elderly in the world reflects fundamental aspects that have not yet been circumvented, neither by local laws, nor by national Constitutions, nor by the UN's global Sustainable Development Goals, SDG. The elderly fa...

Objectives. The study aims to determine the social care need among overweight and obese older adults by identifying the number of social care support receipts from different sources. Methods. A sample of 5640 participants (aged 50 years and over) taken from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Wave 8 dataset. Multivariate logistic regression an...

The problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been becoming a challenging health issue for preschoolers aged 3-5 years as it has severe adverse effect on their psychological, physical, and cognitive development. The scarcity of scientific research on this issue in the context of Bangladesh motivated the authors for conducting this cross-sectional study...

Aim: This study investigated the association between fear of falling and self-care behaviours of older people with hypertension. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was conducted in 2019 on 301 older people with hypertension above the age of 60 years in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the P...

Abstract Background Dishevelled paralogs (DVL1, 2, 3) are key mediators of Wnt pathway playing a role in constitutive oncogenic signaling influencing the tumor microenvironment. While previous studies showed correlation of β-catenin with T cell gene expression, little is known about the role of DVL2 in modulating tumor immunity. This study aimed to...

Available evidence suggests that social networks can contribute to Physical Activity (PA) enjoyment, which is necessary for the maintenance of PA in the ageing process. This study assessed the associations of active and sedentary social networks with PA enjoyment, and ascertained whether walkability moderates or modifies these associations. A cross...

Background and objectives More people are living alone across the life course: in later life this can have implications for practical and psychosocial support. The Covid pandemic emphasised the importance of this when the UK government restricted movement outside of households to limit the spread of disease. This had important ramifications regardi...

From the year 2003 when the first walkability scale was published to date, person-environment fit models and empirical research, some of which was published in Health Promotion International, have encapsulated healthy communities in 'neigh-borhood walkability'. While there is no doubt that neighborhood walkability positively influences health-seeki...

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing among Asian, African, and Caribbean (AAC) populations in the UK, where diet and lifestyle are the main modifiable factors. The effect of generation on the onset of T2D in relation to dietary and lifestyle habits is unclear in these ethnic communities in UK. Thus, the study aims to investigate this issue along wit...

Introduction/Purpose: This study assessed the association between mobility in later life and information technology ability. A cross-sectional design was employed to collect data. Method: The participants were 890 older adults in Accra who were aged 60 years or higher. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to present the findings. Result...

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with increased risky health behavior and poor health outcomes later in life. And little is known about this connection in high-violence, low-resource settings like Nigeria where exposure to ACEs is common throughout the life course. And thus, the study was structured to determine...

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with increased risky health behavior and poor health outcomes later in life. And little is known about this connection in high-violence, low-resource settings like Nigeria where exposure to ACEs is common throughout the life course. And thus, the study was structured to determine...

The important area of research in gerontology is to investigate life of older people after their retirement. There is very little known about retirement life of elderly living in Middle East particularly in Saudi Arabia. The study shows how elderly people integrate into social activities after their retirement in Taif city. People who have permanen...

Mortality forecasts are essential part for policymaking in any aging society. In recent years, methods to model and forecast mortality have improved considerably. Among them, Lee-Carter method is one of the most influential method. In this paper, Lee-Carter method is applied to forecast mortality and life expectancy of Bangladesh. A functional data...

Several studies have compared physical activity (PA) levels between countries, but none of these studies focused on older adults and occupational PA. This study aims to assess potential inequalities in older adults’ occupational PA across six countries and to ascertain whether having multiple jobs interacts with country of residence to modify inequ...

This book will be a compilation of commentaries, theoretical frameworks, and empirical evidence on how neighbourhoods can be re-designed or managed to support older people to maintain optimal health as they age amidst climate change events, radical industrialisation, infectious diseases, war (or violence), and other global crises. This book will dr...

This book will be a compilation of commentaries, theoretical frameworks, and empirical evidence on how neighbourhoods can be re-designed or managed to support older people to maintain optimal health as they age amidst climate change events, radical industrialisation, infectious diseases, war (or violence), and other global crises. This book will dr...

Background: Although Bangladesh has made noticeable progress in reducing the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and being underweight among under-5 children, it has not been very successful in reducing overall severe anthropometric failure (SAF) among them. Therefore, the study aims to identify the prevalence and risk factors of SAF measured by the C...

Background and Objectives More people are living alone across the life course: in later life this can have implications for practical and psychosocial support. The Covid pandemic emphasised the importance of this when the UK government restricted movement outside of households to limit the spread of disease. This had important ramifications regardi...

Background: Detecting COVID-19 pneumonia and differentiating it from community acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been a challenging task for healthcare providers since the pandemic began. We therefore aim to develop and evaluate a simple, non-invasive tool to accurately detect COVID-19 by using digital chest X-ray (CXR). Methods and Results: We performe...

Older women are more likely to live alone in later life in the UK; however, relatively little is known as to how this has an association with poorer health. This paper attempts to fill this research gap, assessing if living alone is a risk factor for poorer health in later life. The Household Panel Survey data, wave 8 were used which was collected...

Background Research to date suggests that information technology use by older adults can be positively associated with social activity, but whether neighbourhood walkability can play a role in this relationship has not been investigated. Aim To assess the associations between information technology use and social activity as well as the moderating...

Background The process of ageing involves a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. The rising proportion of older adults and increase in life expectancy have increased interest in maintaining and promoting cognitive health in later life. Participation in cognitively stimulating activities has been considered to maintain or st...

Objective: To examine the association between childhood stunting and grade completion (as educational outcome) in South Africa. Design: Longitudinal study. Data was obtained using the National Income Dynamics Study over five waves (2008 to 2017). Children were tracked at wave 1 in 2008 until wave 5 in 2017 to determine their total years of schoo...

The aim of the study is to explore the association of obesity by body mass index (BMI) measurements with subjective health status (SHS), objective health status (OHS) and wellbeing status among older adults in England. The sample of 5640 participants (aged 50 years and over) are considered from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing Wave 8 datase...

The importance of developing an effective action-based model of care for multimorbid patients has become common knowledge, but it remains unclear why researchers in Nigeria have not paid attention to the issue. Hence, this study assessed the quality of health services using the Donabedian model and aimed to recommend an effective hospital care deli...

Background – The social support provided or given to others play a key role in healthy ageing. Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that walkable neighbourhoods can positively influence social support given. Higher health self-consciousness may strengthen the positive association between walkability and social support provided. Aim – This stu...

The recent influx of Myanmar Rohingya people are allowed in Bangladesh simply due to humanitarian reason, of which older people are amongst the most vulnerable groups. Utilizing integrated methods, the refugee crisis is being managed jointly by various stakeholders. Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) is an NGO that has been providing support to ol...

Abstract Gender-wise variation in lipid profile among coronary artery disease (CAD) patients is well-known. However, when sample size is small, establishing this association is challenging. The present study utilizes Bayesian paradigm in understanding association between the gender and lipid profile among CAD patients and compares the results with...

Background Morphological evaluation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer is gaining momentum as an immunological biomarker. This experiment evaluates the role of TILs in distant tumors as a measure of abscopal effect from cryoablation of breast cancer. Methods BALB/c mice underwent bilateral orthotopic transplant with 4T1-12B...

Using the stress process model and data from the 2011–2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study examined the effect of spousal caregiving intensity on the depression level of older caregivers in China. The moderating role that socioeconomic status plays in the relationship between spouses was explored by constructing...

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global public health concern, with women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bearing a disproportionately high burden. This study investigates the prevalence and factors correlated with attitudes regarding wife-beating among Bangladeshi women in urban–rural contexts. Methods A sample of 13,03...

Objectives: The study aims to differentiate the risk factors of single and multiple concurrent forms of undernutrition among children under 5 in Bangladesh. Design: A nationally representative cross-sectional study. Setting: Bangladesh. Respondents: Children age under 5 years of age. Outcome measure: This study considered two dichotomous outcom...

Rationale/Aim Falls can have severe consequences particularly for older patients with cancer undergoing ambulatory care. The aim of the study is to identify the predictors of falls in older patients receiving cancer ambulatory care and evaluate the accuracy of the final multivariable model in detecting older patients with falls. Method A retrospec...

Introduction Severe undernutrition among under-5 children is usually assessed using single or conventional indicators (i.e., severe stunting, severe wasting, and/or severe underweight). But these conventional indicators partly overlap, thus not providing a comprehensive estimate of the proportion of malnourished children in the population. Incorpor...

A Scoping Review was conducted to explore key issues that underpin the experiences of family caregivers of older adults with chronic illness. The review aims to identify the gap in literature and synthesise evidence on this topic. Globally, family caregivers of older adults with chronic illness experience burden. Evidence suggests that family careg...

Bangladesh recently experienced a COVID-19 second wave, resulting in the highest number of new cases and deaths in a single day. This study aims to identify the challenges for COVID-19 preventive practices and risk communications and associated factors among Bangladeshi adults. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between December 2020 and Januar...

Objectives This study investigates the prevalence and determinants of undernutrition among children <5 years living in Bangladesh using the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) and highlights the differences between urban and rural areas. Study design Data are drawn from three cross-sectional Bangladesh Demographic Health Surveys condu...

Background Indigenous people, although constitute 1.8% of the country’s population, are one of the most deprived communities of Bangladesh in all sectors. This study was conducted to explore the health status and quality of life of indigenous elderly of Bangladesh as there is scarcity of knowledge regarding this. Methods A mixed-method approach wa...

Background: Life expectancy (LE) at birth is relatively poor in the low- and lower-middle-income countries compared to the developed countries. There are many factors for this poor status of LE in these countries. Communicable disease in the human body is found to be one of the main causes. Aim: To determine the effects of communicable diseases on...

BACKGROUND Bangladesh recently experienced a COVID-19 second wave, resulting in the highest number of new cases and deaths in a single day. This study aims to identify the challenges for COVID-19 preventive practices and risk communications and associated factors among Bangladeshi adults. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted between Dece...

With an increased prevalence of people living alone in later life, understanding the health and wellbeing of older women living alone in the UK is an important area of research. Little is known about health and wellbeing in this population and whether they differ from those who cohabit. This paper fills this research gap. Analysis was undertaken of...

Introduction Severe under-5 child malnutrition (i.e., severe stunting, severe wasting and severe underweight) is high in Bangladesh. The interplay between risk factors needs to be understood to address this complex public health issues. We aim to explore the prevalence and risk factors for severe under-5 child malnutrition in Bangladesh's rural and...

Since many lives and livelihoods have been devastated by Covid-19 in 2020, microcredit provides loans to the poor who do not qualify for traditional bank loans has become an important aid for poverty reduction. This study investigates how microcredit training creates capital for microcredit borrowers both directly and through motivation. Using Abil...

Background There are currently 1.5 million indigenous people in Bangladesh, constituting 1.8% of the total population and representing one of the country’s most deprived communities. This study explores the health status and quality of life along with their determinants among indigenous older people in Bangladesh in order to fill the knowledge and...

Objective This study examines trends and puts forward projections of under-5 mortality (U5M) in Bangladesh and identifies the effects of maternal high-risk fertility behaviours and use of healthcare services. Methods Data from seven waves of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (1994–2014) were analyzed for trends and projections of U5M an...

Objectives: Children, pregnant women and the elderly at a global level are all being dangerously exposed to tobacco use in the household (HH). However, there is no understanding of the familial and socio-cultural factors that provide barriers to ensuring tobacco-free homes in Bangladesh either in urban or rural areas (U&RAs). This study therefore...

The main objective of this research article, is to assess the effect of socio-economic and environmental determinants on the healthy aging status amongst internally displaced migrants and non-migrants nestled within the environmentally stressed regions of Northeastern Nigeria. Methodologically the study utilized secondary data from the Nigerian IDP...

Abstract Objective: This study is concerned with helping to improve the health and care of newborn babies in Bangladesh by exploring adverse maternal circumstances and assessing whether these are contributing towards low birth weight (LBW) in neonates. Study designs and settings: Data were drawn and analysed from the Bangladesh Demographic and He...

Introduction Anemia is a common problem in children particularly in developing countries and taking steps to tackle it is one of the major public health challenges for Nepal. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of individual, household and community level determinants of childhood anemia in Nepal. Methods Data was taken fro...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social challenge with severe health and demographic consequences. Global statistics indicate that more than a third of women have experienced IPV at some point in their lives. In South Africa, IPV is considered a significant contributor to the country’s broader problem with violence and a leading cause...