Natalya Glushkova

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University · Health Research Institute

The present study proposes an exposure model for indoor PM2.5 levels during cooking activities in poorly ventilated Kazakh houses with high emission levels. It aims to identify influencing factors of PM2.5 concentration patterns during cooking and explain the mechanisms underlying the build-up and downtrend of PM2.5 concentrations. The methodology...

The external environment, diet, and lifestyle are the major determinants influencing the development of health disorders. Chronic cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, diseases of digestive system and diabetes mellitus are the five major groups of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the main cause of global mortality worl...

Introduction Disclosure of near-miss medical error (ME) and how to disclose ME to patients remain controversial. Furthermore, available guidelines on the disclosure of ME have primarily emerged in developing countries; however, their suitability for Central Asian states is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of heal...

Poor or suboptimal knowledge of appropriate antibiotic use is a cause for global concern and little is known about Central Asian countries. Therefore, this survey is aimed at evaluating awareness about antibiotic use and resistance among the adult population of Kazakhstan. A cross-sectional study of a random sample was conducted between October 202...

Abstract Background: There is a paucity of robust data on the incidence and causes of cerebral palsy (CP) in Central Asian countries, while this information is important for planning local healthcare services. This epidemiological study was designed to clear the gap in knowledge on both the incidence of CP and the underlying risk factors in the Rep...

A systematic review and narrative synthesis of publications was undertaken to analyze the role of component-resolved diagnosis technology in identifying polysensitization for the provision of allergen-specific immunotherapy to patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. A search of publications was carried out in electronic databases in accordance wi...

Tobacco use was the second-leading risk factor for death, accounting for 15.4% of total deaths in 2019. In 2019, 20.4% (2.7 million) of the adult population in Kazakhstan, 36.5% of men, and 6.0% of women smoked tobacco. A cross-sectional study survey of a random sample (n = 1201) was conducted between October and December 2021 in accordance with th...

b>Background: Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is the one of the major public health problem affecting approximately one billion people all over the world. In recent years, the relationship of allergic diseases with a low concentration of vitamin D has been studied worldwide. An association has been found between small count of serum vitamin D and the de...

With the increase in the elderly population, surgery in aged patients is seeing an exponential increase. In this population, sepsis is a major concern for perioperative care, especially in older and frail patients. We aim to investigate the incidence of sepsis in elderly patients receiving diverse types of surgical procedures and explore the predic...

Cognitive impairment in older adults is a major public concern for Kazakhstan’s aging population. We aimed to (1) administer a neuropsychological test battery (NTB) in domains relevant to aging-associated cognitive impairment in a sample of adults aged 60+ without dementia in Almaty, Kazakhstan; (2) investigate the associations between demographic...

Background Mongolia is a landlocked country, and has been divided into 21 provinces plus the capital city Ulaanbaatar. In our country, Covid-19 was the first internal case (15 Nov 2020) and the first wave of pandemic occurred (peak at 14 Jun 2021) ten months later on World’s first case and wave. The second and third waves were also delayed by two m...

Background After cessation of initial quarantine in Kazakhstan, the COVID-19 outbreak peaked in July 2020, imposing dramatic stress on the country's healthcare system. This study was focused on calculation of updated epidemiological characteristics, on evaluation of available medical workforce and infrastructure and the impact of workforce density...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on economic development, lifestyles and health systems in all countries. Due to the lack of medical interventions, many countries adopted restrictive measures to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Quarantine measures have had an impact on the transmi...

Infertility is a problem that affects millions of couples worldwide and has a significant impact on their quality of life. The recently introduced “Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire (FertiQoL)” quickly became a gold standard for evaluation of the quality of life of patients suffering from infertility. The aim of this study was to determine th...

Background Despite ample international knowledge on cost-effectiveness of total knee arthroplasty (TKA), it has never been a subject of investigation in Kazakhstan or other post-Soviet economies. Our study aimed to carry-out the cost-utility analysis of TKA alone and in comparison with post-surgical rehabilitation and conservative treatment at heal...

Background: The asthma burden is growing worldwide, and this is predisposed by environmental and occupational exposures as well as individual risk factors. This study was aimed at a comparison of diagnostic accuracy of spirometry and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) in asthma screening of adult patients with lung function abnormalities that present...

Background Globally, cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality. Palliative care is designed to meet a range of cancer patients' priority issues, including the management of pain and other cancer-associated symptoms. Routine palliative care envisages the provision of not just medical therapy, but also psychological support, social suppor...

Background Vitiligo is one of the most common hypomelanoses, in which the destruction of functioning melanocytes causes depigmentation of the skin, hair and mucous membranes. The genes encrypting brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) might be the conceivable contributors to the development of vitiligo. T...

INTRODUCTION Patients’ attitudes toward medical errors (MEs) have been studied relatively extensively in developed countries around the world, but little is known about Central Asian countries, especially post-Soviet states. The growing importance of patient safety has raised concerns about who should be held accountable for MEs. Due to a lack of r...

Study question What is the quality of life of Kazakhstani women with infertility and what additional factors can affect it? Summary answer The FertiQoL questionnaire showed the low quality of life of Kazakhstani women and a significant affect some factors. What is known already Studies showed that infertility problems are among the saddest events...

Rationale – The use of 3D image-guided brachytherapy (3D-IGBT) allows adequately optimizing the dose distribution to bring a target therapeutic dose to clinical target volume (CTV), thereby minimizing an impact on critical organs, while ensuring a decrease in the incidence and severity of radiation-caused complications. Use of 3D-IGBT also allows i...

Introduction — Currently, over 500 million people suffer from allergic rhinitis worldwide. For many decades, allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) was the only effective treatment for seasonal allergic rhinitis. The development of molecular allergy diagnostics via ISAC technology allows identifying true and cross-reactive allergens, thereby increa...

Vitiligo is clinically characterized by the appearance of non-symptomatic depigmented macules, but the disorder is highly correlated with a wide range of psychiatric disorders and psychological problems. The aim of our study was to investigate serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) levels in vitilig...

There was a dramatic spread of three novel coronaviruses (CoVs) – severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and SARS-CoV-2 – from the beginning of the twenty-first century. All three infections share similar pathogenesis and clinical presentation, and human-to-human transmissi...

The issue of radiation exposure as a potential cause of cerebrovascular disease raises many concerns. The aim of the present study was to investigate the epidemiology of stroke and transient ischemic attacks (TIA) along with the associated risk factors among the population of East Kazakhstan exposed to ionising radiation from the former Semipalatin...

Background Antibodies against thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) serve as clinical markers of thyroid autoimmune diseases (TAIDs). By trying to elucidate the causes of heterogeneity in autoantibody levels among patients with different TAIDs it becomes possible to clarify the pathophysiology of GD and HT. Objective To investigate the heterogeneity of ep...

The data on seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Kazakhstani population are non-existent, but are needed for planning of public health interventions targeted to COVID-19 containment. The aim of the study was to estimate the seropositivity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Kazakhstani population from 2020 to 2021. We relied on the data obtai...

Background and Objectives: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has emerged as the most devastating syndemic of the 21st century, with worrisome and sustained consequences for the entire society. Despite the relative success of vaccination programs, the global threat of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is still present and further efforts are needed f...

Background Healthcare professionals, public committees and leaders, as well as and people in positions of responsibility, deeply apprehensive with improving patient safety in Kazakhstan. Patient attitude towards of medical error is relatively well studied in developed countries of the world, but little is known about Central Asian countries, especi...

Material and methods: A direct group self-administered questionnaire was conducted amongst 124 students in II, III and IV year of their nursing education. In addition, document analysis of the curriculum and methods of teaching and training have done. Data processing was performed by SPSS v.24. Results: Almost all (96,78%) respondents consider that...

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an ongoing and devastating threat to the lives of people around the world. Healthcare professionals are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, making them the most vulnerable occupational group in terms of the risk of developing COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, ma...

Background and aim: Diabetic patients are at an increased risk for the development of macrovascular complications such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke and lower-limb amputations (LLA). This study aimed to explore a. the incidence of hospital admission for macrovascular complications (AMI, stroke, and LLA); b. to assess the impact of ho...

In recent years, many studies were dedicated to the search for genetic markers in thyroid malignancies, including papillary thyroid cancer. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of BRAFV600E mutation in the PTC in the Kazakh population, to evaluate the relationship between BRAF V600E mutation status and the clinicopathological featu...

The epidemiology of offences against health is a subject of debate in developed nations but it is poorly studied in former socialist economies, to which the countries of Central Asia belong. This study investigated the epidemiology of medical errors and associated compensation payments, pre-trial settlements and court hearings in the Republic of Ka...

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with higher risk of developing infectious disease and COVID-19 is not the exception. There is a need to generate more data on clinical characteristics and risks of COVID19 patients presenting with DM. In this retrospective study we aimed to report on demographic features, clinical data, and outcomes o...

Background Vitiligo is an acquired depigmenting skin disease which is often accompanied by mental distress. There are numerous studies dedicated to local and global prevalence of depression in patients with vitiligo but anxiety has not been recognized as a major mental problem within named population. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety...

Introduction. Protection of maternity and child health is of great medical and social importance. Provision of medical care to women and children in Kazakhstan is the major task for state policy. Still, the data on epidemiological indicators of perinatal care in Kazakhstan are rather limited. This study was aimed at assessment of perinatal care ind...

Medical errors are an inevitable part of the professional activity of a medical worker: they were, are and will be, no matter what technological advances are introduced into medicine. For years, experts have recognized that there are medical errors and that society will compromise. But the desire to reduce their number is a real aim that requires s...

Objectives: The lack of advance planning in a public health emergency can lead to wasted resources and inadvertent loss of lives. This study is aimed at forecasting the needs for healthcare resources following the expansion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the Republic of Kazakhstan, focusing on hospital beds, equipment, and...

BACKGROUND: Over the past decades, patient satisfaction has been increasingly recognized as a powerful tool to measure the quality of health-care services. AIM: This study evaluated the satisfaction of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with current clinical management in Semey, East Kazakhstan, and explored the factors associated with dis...

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic entered Kazakhstan on 13 March 2020 and quickly spread over its territory. This study aimed at reporting on the rates of COVID-19 in the country and at making prognoses on cases, deaths, and recoveries through predictive modeling. Also, we attempted to forecast the needs in professional work...

Over the past decades of years’ general practitioners (GPs) became the front men of health care provision in Kazakhstan. The country’s government is committed to increasing availability of GPs with a focus on teaching of critically thinking professionals capable to maintain the level of care envisaged by international standards. This study aimed at...

Introduction: Eastern and North-Eastern regions of Kazakhstan are considered to be environmentally disadvantaged due to industrial pollution and activity of the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. Ferrous metallurgy is represented by the world’s largest ferroalloy plant located in Aksu. In addition to a ferroalloy plant, Aksu is the home for th...

Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is one of the serious and highly debatable public health problems affecting at least one billion of world population. This study objected to evaluate Vitamin D status in adult population of both sexes residing in different geographical areas of Kazakhstan and to elucidate the possible contributing factors related to VDD....

The present study investigates the rates of depression, anxiety, somatic distress, and fatigue in a rural population of Abayskiy, Borodulikha and Mayskiy districts exposed to radiation from Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in comparison with the unexposed population of Kurchum district. The sample size included 901 people, of whom 656 were residents...

In this study, we investigated the association between depression, anxiety and medication adherence in patients with arterial hypertension living in East Kazakhstan region. The sample size included 795 patients, of whom 403 patients were exposed to radiation at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site from 1949 to 1989, while 395 patients were unexposed...

Objective: Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) of thyroid cysts is not considered to be the standard of care in Kazakhstan, although thyroid nodules are highly prevalent. Patients with cystic nodules >3 cm typically undergo surgery with high rate of disability due to postsurgical hypothyroidism. Adoption of PEI as a standard of care will help redu...

The aim of study was to evaluate the long-term results and complications of percutaneous ethanol injection therapy of the thyroid gland toxic adenoma for a 10-year follow-up period. We conducted a 10-year prospective cohort study of the ethanol sclerotherapy results in 43patients with toxic adenomas of the thyroid gland aged in average 62.59 (57.95...

Anxiety and somatoform disorder in the descendants of people exposed to radiation in Kazakhstan LM Pivina, TK Rakhypbekov, AltA Dyussupov, TI Belikhina, YuM Semenova, AM Manatova, KZh Baildinova, NE Aukenov, NE Glushkova Semey State Medical University, Kazakhstan Background The links between unfavorable environmental state and mental distress h...

Kazakhstan hold one of the first places in mortality statistics from cardiovascular diseases among the countries of the European Union, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions. Early prevention and national screenings in childhood and adolescent ages become the urgent measure for healthy nations. This cross-sectional study was created t...

The article discusses about research of the outcomes assessment using sclerotherapy of thyroid nodules by percutaneous ethanol injection in adult patients with benign nodular thyroid neoplasms. Based on the obtained data during the literature search for the primary analysis were separated works meet the criteria of the clinical trial, used the data...

The GINA based algorithms and the international asthma control test is still not fully implemented in the official protocol diagnostic and treatment of asthma on governmental level. Many difficulties create lack of diagnostic equipment, qualified pulmonologists/allergologists and asthma control schools for patients. We aimed to determine the profil...

Objective: Road traffic collisions (RTC) fatality in Kazakhstan is the highest in European Region. With a fast growing economy, vehicle density in Kazakhstan is steadily increasing, which means that the number of people dying in RTC could continue to increase. Therefore, importance of developing and implementing traffic policy is very high, and exp...

Medical students have close contact with health care services and possess special knowledge about health risk factors, but, all too frequently, they remain unhealthy. In this study, we determined the factors that influence access to health care services in Kazakhstan through identification of the differences in students based on access quality meas...