M. Mazharul Islam

Sultan Qaboos University | SQU · Department of Statistics

(1) Background and Aims: The seasonal factors influencing multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses remain elusive. This study aims to investigate the seasonal variation of MS relapses in Oman and compare it globally. (2) Subject and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on N = 183 Omani MS patients treated at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, a...

While telemedicine has shown promise for diagnosis and treatment, its integration into specialised clinics and mainstream healthcare is slow. A study at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman, investigated parental perceptions of virtual clinics and telemedicine experiences among parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) conducte...

This study compared the sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, and cognitive functioning of children with ADHD with neurotypical children, investigating associations with screening time, comorbidity, and sleep. Conducted in outpatient clinics in two specialised hospitals, it assessed reasoning ability, visual perception, vigilance, attention,...

Objectives Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is known to cause lymphopenia when used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, research on DMF therapy in the Arab world, especially in Oman, is scarce. This study aimed to analyse the prevalence of lymphopenia among Omani patients with MS and their reasons for discontinuing DMF therapy. Methods...

Depressive illnesses in non-Western societies are often masked by somatic attributes that are sometimes impervious to pharmacological agents. This study explores the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for people experiencing treatment-resistant depression (TRD) accompanied by physical symptoms. Data were obtained f...

Background There is a paucity of studies documenting medical malpractice litigation in countries of the Arabian Gulf, such as Oman. Objectives To describe the characteristics of malpractice claims, the outcomes decided by the medical liability committee, and predictors of medical errors. Methods This is a retrospective observational study that re...

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse and neglect have an immediate impact on children and are associated with poorer health and behavioral outcomes in adulthood. This study examined the prevalence of ACEs and their association with socio-demographic factors, physical and mental health, morbidity, and health-harming behavi...

Background and Objective: In addition to the reduction of risk of COVID-19 transmission and mortality, vaccination and compliance with the preventive measures of COVID-19 may have important additional benefits for the improvement of mental health. This study examined the levels and determinants of vaccination, compliance with preventive measures, a...

Maternal morbidity is a significant public health problem, particularly in developing countries, accounting three-fourth of the maternal deaths. There is dearth of information about maternal morbidity in Bangladesh. This study examined the prevalence and determinants of maternal morbidity during pregnancy in Bangladesh. Data for the study was extra...

Background: To keep abreast with the best international practices, the Arabian Gulf countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child treaty, which includes clauses on safeguarding the well-being of children against child abuse and neglect. It has not yet been studied whether the enactment of laws, policies, and facil...

Frequent mental distress (FMD) is a measure of poor mental health days for at least 14 days out of 30 days. It is one of the important dimensions of the health-related quality of life. The underlying causes of FMD are diverse. However, the issue has not been explored extensively due to the lack of reliable data on mental health. The aim of this stu...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) of Omani adults with age and gender differentials, focusing on whether the higher LE of women than men is a gain or burden for women. Method: Data for the study come from multiple sources such as the 2010 population census, the 2008 Wor...

The Waiting time-to-first birth is an important indicator of the reproductive behavior of married women. However, data on waiting time to first birth involve censoring and follow a skewed distribution, and thus need survival analysis techniques to analyze such data. The aim of this study was to model the time to first birth after marriage using sur...

This study aimed to systematically assess the impact of clinical and demographic variables on the diagnostic yield of Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) when applied to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from a consanguineous population. Ninety-seven children were included in the analysis, 63% were male and 37% were females. 77.3% had a suspect...

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the intelligence quotient (IQ) profile among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and identify the most important subscales that predict the IQ. The analysis of an intellectual profile with age and gender differentials and the identification of a battery of subscales of intelligence are important for...

Purpose The aim of this study was to explore the reasons for preferring home as a birth delivery place and identify the socio-economic and cultural factors influencing the choice of delivery place in rural Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach The data for the study come from a community-based cross-sectional study conducted among 464 mothers in...

Although Oman has a very good maternal health care system, little is known about the pattern of utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services in the country in accordance with the WHO guidelines for early initiation of an ANC visit, the optimum frequency of visits by the ANC and the core content of ANC services. This study looked at the timing of th...

Although Oman has a very good maternal health care system, little is known about utilization pattern of antenatal care (ANC) services in the country in compliance with the WHO prescribed guidelines on early initiation of ANC visit, optimal frequency of ANC visits and core contents of ANC services. This study examined the timing of first ANC visit,...

Pattern of health behavior and its association with self-rated Pattern of health behavior and its association with self-rated health: evidence from the 2018 behavioral risk factor surveillance health: evidence from the 2018 behavioral risk factor surveillance system in the United States system in the United States Abstract: Aim: To improve public h...

Background Consanguinity has been extensively studied in the context of its negative health outcomes for offspring and socio-demographic factors, but little evidence-based research has been done on its potential social benefits. Aim To examine the association between consanguineous marriage and the risk of divorce or separation, polygyny, and surv...

This paper examined the pattern of self-rated Health (SRH) status, functional difficulties in health domains, and non-communicable diseases among the Omani adult people. The paper also evaluated the association of SRH with health functional difficulties and chronic diseases. The data for the study obtained from the 2008 Oman World Health survey, in...

Socioeconomic inequality in health domains is a major challenge in public health in both developed and developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess the socioeconomic inequalities in various health domains in Oman. Data for the study was obtained from the 2008 World Health Survey in Oman, which covered a nationally representative...

Background The sharp fall in fertility and mortality in Oman in recent time is quite stunning and more than expected, which is largely remained unexplored. This paper examined the characteristics of demographic changes and the emerging windows of opportunities and challenges for Oman. It also discussed the policy options. Data come from the nationa...

Background: Low birth weight (< 2.5 kg) is an important indicator of health and development of infants throughout their life. Aims: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for low birth weight in Jordan and its association with under‐5 mortality. Methods: In this secondary analysis, data were extracted from the 2012 Jordan P...

Geometric distribution belongs to the family of discrete distribution that deals with the count of trail needed for first occurrence or success of any event. However, little attention has been paid in applying the GLM for the geometric distribution, which has a very simple form for its probability mass function with a single parameter. In this stud...

Oman’s total fertility rate (TFR) reduced sharply from 7.12 in 1999/2000 to 2.86 in 2014 with an average annual rapid declining rate 0.30 per woman. This trend still demands to find the factors that may currently affect the fertility rate in Oman since there is substantial existing TFR rate in Oman. The secondary survey data is used to explore the...

Background & Aim: Little is known about twinning in developing countries due to lack of reliable data. However, the large data set from the national level Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) in developing countries can fill this gap. This paper examines the level, trends and determinants of twin births, and their risk of survival until age five r...

Objectives: This study aimed to provide an updated estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among Omani children. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study was conducted from December 2011 to December 2018. Data were retrieved from the three main autism diagnostic centres in Oman: Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Royal...

Measuring human quality and well-being by the human development index (HDI) is very challenging as it is a composite index of many socioeconomic variables. However, a simple index called literate life expectancy (LLE) by combining life expectancy and literacy only can be used as an alternative measure, which is less data intensive than HDI. LLE is...

Tobacco has negative public health consequences. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with using more than one form of tobacco among people from a low socioeconomic background in Bangladesh in order to inform tobacco control and prevention programs for this population. Inclusion criteria for study subjects w...

Research on twinning in developed countries is well documented, but little is known about twinning in less-developed countries due to a lack of data or data limitations. This study examined the level of, trends in and determinants of twin births and their survival under age five in Jordan, using the 2012 Jordan Population and Family Health Survey (...

Background In addition to the number of antenatal care (ANC) visits, the items of ANC services covered by ANC visits greatly influence the effectiveness of the ANC services. Recently the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended not only to achieve a minimum of eight ANC visits, but also to use a core set of items of ANC services for safe motherh...

Although the mathematics foundation program was introduced in Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) half a decade ago, there has been no evaluation or assessment of the program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the students’ performance in the Mathematics foundation course in SQU and to examine the predictive value of a student’s high school performa...

Background: Consanguinity is a deep rooted cultural trait in Jordan. Aim: To examine the patterns and determinants of declining rates of consanguineous marriage in Jordan during 1990 to 2012 in the context of the changing pattern of socio-economic and demographic conditions. Materials and Methods: The data come from the 1990 and 2012 Jordan Populat...

Please cite this article in press as: Islam M.M., Marium U. Small size at birth as a predictor of increased risk of childhood morbidity, mortality and malnutrition: Evidence from Bangladesh demographic and health survey.

This study examined the recent level, trends and determinants of consanguineous marriage in Jordan using time-series data from the Jordan Population and Family Health Surveys (JPFHSs). According to the 2012 JPFHS, 35% of all marriages were consanguineous in Jordan in 2012. There has been a declining trend in consanguinity in the country, with the r...

Background: Oman sees one of the fastest decline in fertility in recent time, which is largely remained unexplored. This paper analyzes fertility transition in Oman focusing on the relative contributions of the major proximate determinants of fertility. Methods: Data were extracted from national level surveys and the annual report of the Ministry o...

Background: Although birth weight is a key predictor of health and survival of a baby, most developing countries often lack this information for various reasons. Under such circumstances, mother's perceived knowledge about the size of her baby has been advocated as an alternative indicator for birth weight. Objective: The aim of this paper is to...

The aim of this paper is to examine the demographic transition and the emerging window of opportunities and challenges in Bangladesh. The study utilizes time series data from national level population surveys, censuses and the population projections and estimates produced by the United Nations Population Division. The ongoing demographic transition...

Background: Although consanguinity is widely practiced in Oman, the attitude of community towards consanguinity and the awareness of its health consequences to offspring remain largely unexplored. Aim: To analyse the levels and trends of consanguineous marriage and examine community awareness about congenital anomaly associated with consanguinity a...

Contraception is not commonly used by Omani women because of socio-cultural traditions, religious beliefs and poor knowledge but among the users modern contraceptive methods are more popular than traditional methods. Multilevel analysis is conducted to investigate associations between individual and religion level characteristics and different type...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse the pattern of birth weight (BW) and identify the factors affecting BW and the risk factors of low birth weight (LBW) in Oman. Study design: The data for the study came from the 2000 Oman National Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health. The survey covered a nationally representative sam...

Blended Learning showed in the last two decades to be one of the effective ways in education and training. We illustrate our initiative experience with blended learning in the course Calculus I. The main goals we want to achieve are improving students understanding of the course concepts, increasing the level of uniformity in this multi-sections co...

Objectives: Our study aimed to examine the effects of low birth weight (LBW) on the school performance and behavior of elementary school children in Oman. . Methods: Data were gathered through a cross-sectional survey of nine elementary schools from the Muscat and A'Dhahirah regions. The study utilized a unique database created by linking inform...

In this paper, multilevel logistic regression models are developed for examining the hierarchical effects of contraceptive use and its selected determinants in Oman using the 2008 Oman National Reproductive Health Survey (ONRHS). Comparison between single level and multilevel logistic regression models has been made to examine the plausibility of m...

This review article provides an overview of the levels, trends and some possible explanations for the increasing rate of low birth weight (LBW) infants in Oman. LBW data from national health surveys in Oman, and published reports from Oman's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization were collected and assessed between January and August...

Contraceptive use is not popular in Oman because of the traditional sociocultural and religious belief but the contraceptive prevalence rate increases over the years (23.7% in 1995 to 28.9% in 200; World Bank, 2008). The rate of increase is much slower in Oman than in other Arabic countries (in Egypt 48% in 1995 to 60% in 2008; World Bank, 2008). T...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of students of college of Science of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Calculus I course, and examine the predictive validity of student's high school performance and gender for Calculus I success. The data for the study was extracted from students' database maintained by the Deanship of A...

To test the hypothesis that advanced maternal age (AMA) of 35 years and above is associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, we performed a population-based retrospective study using data from the 2000 National Health Survey in Oman. The last pregnancy outcomes of mothers aged ≥35 years were compared with that adult mothers aged 2...

Abstract To evaluate the utility of maternal recalled birth size (BS) as a proxy measure for actual birth weight (BW) when BW data are missing. Data for the study come from the 2000 National Health Survey of Oman. Frequency distribution, sensitivity and specificity analysis, bivariate, and multivariate statistical techniques were used for data anal...

The Sultanate of Oman, like many other Arab countries, has relatively high rates of consanguinity. Reports suggest that the incidence of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) is also high in Oman. This retrospective cross-sectional study was designed to evaluate the number of patients with IEM being followed at the only two tertiary centers in Oman tre...

Background: Preterm births (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW) - the two distinct adverse pregnancy outcomes - are the major determinants of perinatal survival and development. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of LBW and PTB and identify the maternal and neonatal risk factors influencing them. Methods: Data for the study come f...

This paper analyses the levels and trends of childhood mortality in urban Bangladesh, and examines whether children’s survival chances are poorer among the urban migrants and urban poor. It also examines the determinants of child survival in urban Bangladesh. Data come from the 1999–2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The results indicat...

Abstract The current fertility rate in Oman declined dramatically from a very high rate of 8.6 births per woman in 1988 to 4.8 births per woman in 2000, a decline of nearly four births per woman or a decline of 44 percent of total fertility over a period of twelve years. This decline has occurred in the absence of any official national level family...

Background: The long tradition of high prevalence of consanguineous marriages in Omani society may have ramifications for reproductive behaviour and health of offspring. Aim: To examine the relevance of consanguinity to reproductive behaviour, adverse pregnancy outcome and offspring mortality in Oman. Subjects and methods: The data analysed ca...

The purpose of this study was to examine Omani patterns of female nuptiality, including the timing of marriage and determinants of age at a woman's first marriage. The study utilised data from the 2000 Oman National Health Survey. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical methods, including logistic regression analysis, were used for data...

The purpose of this study was to provide levels, trends and determinants of low birth weight (LBW) in Oman using population based health survey data. The data for the study come from the 2000 National Health Survey of Oman. The sample consists of 977 singleton live births that occurred during five years before the survey date. The survey gathered d...

With the rapid economic growth, modernization and infrastructure development over the last four decades, there has been massive increase in automobile usages and car ownership in the Sultanate of Oman, and road traffic accident (RTA) emerged as a serious public health problem. There is a dearth of literature on motorization problem in Oman owing to...

This study examines the relationships between rural to urban migration status and household living conditions, using the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data. The analysis finds significant living condition advantage of rural-urban migrants and urban natives over rural-natives, primarily linked to migration selectivity by educa...

The current fertility rate in Oman declined dramatically from a very high rate of 8.6 births per woman in 1988 to 4.8 births per woman in 2000, a decline of nearly four births per woman or a decline of 44 per cent of total fertility over a period of twelve years. This decline has occurred in the absence of any official national level family plannin...

The practice of consanguineous marriage has been the culturally preferred form of marriage in most Arab and the Middle Eastern countries, including Oman, but due to a paucity of population-based data in the past there is a dearth of information about its form and dynamics in Oman. Recent national-level surveys allow this gap to be filled. This pape...

This paper analyses the levels and trends of childhood mortality in urban Bangladesh, and examines whether children's survival chances are poorer among the urban migrants and urban poor. It also examines the determinants of child survival in urban Bangladesh. Data come from the 1999-2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The results indicat...

As part of the government’s health and family planning effort, the menstrual regulation (MR) services has been declared as an “interim method of establishing nonpregnancy” for a woman at risk of being pregnant to reduce female morbidity and mortality associated with indigenous abortion which is legally restricted in Bangladesh. This policy regardin...

Bangladesh has been passing through a crucial phase of fertility transition. The level of fertility declined dramatically during the early 1990s without any remarkable improvement in socioeconomic and health status, and then remained constant at a high level of 3.3, despite the increased use of contraception. Such fertility transition can be traced...

This study examines the extent of the interrelationship between future fertility intention and subsequent fertility behaviour in rural Bangladesh using longitudinal data. It confirms that fertility intention is an important predictor of subsequent fertility behaviour for rural Bangladeshi women. Women wanting no more children are over three times l...