Poh Ying Lim

• PhD in Biostatistic
• Lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia

Introduction Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. Both new cancer cases and deaths are rising annually. The high cost of cancer treatment and the guilt of being dependent on family members for a long time lead to patients with cancer's self-perceived burden (SPB). Previous studies have shown that different countries, populations, and can...

Diabetes Mellitus (DM)- Type 2 is increasingly prevalent in today’s population. DM remains poorly controlled due to insufficient knowledge and understanding of this disease. Maintaining good diabetic self-care requires knowledge and empowerment. The COVID-19 pandemic had caused a shift of some public attention from non-communicable to communicable...

Deep learning (DL) has shown great promise in electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis, revolutionizing cardiovascular medicine by enabling precise and efficient diagnosis. This study explores the integration of expert knowledge into DL models, creating a flexible structure that adapts during training to refine this knowledge and guides feature separation...

Introduction In the management of medication adherence in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), traditional methods such as verbal guidance and written materials may have certain limitations. Therefore, the development of digital intervention measures may play a key role in addressing these shortcomings. The objective of this study...

Background Adequate nutrition is crucial for optimal child growth and development, especially for children under five. Over the years, the linear programming (LP) approach has been used to develop food-based recommendations (FBRs) for children under five. Objective This scoping review aims to (i) summarize the use of LP in diet optimization to imp...

mothers should practice exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) of their infants for 6 months. Despite the numerous advantages of EBF, the practice remains infrequently adopted. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the various methods used for health education programs and the effectiveness of the programs in improving exclusive breastfeeding. Methods:...

Background Poor diet quality may contribute to undernutrition, particularly affecting young children from low-income households. Therefore, affordable and healthy local food-based recommendations (FBRs) are needed. Objectives This study aimed to (1) identify problem nutrient(s), (2) identify locally available nutrient-dense food sources that can pr...

Introduction: Malnutrition in early life can contribute to lifelong health consequences. Both fathers and mothers can influence children’s feeding, eating behaviours, and body weight status. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between parental factors and body mass index-for-age z-score (BAZ) of Malaysian children aged 6-3...

Aims To investigate the prevalence of rapid response team delays, survival distribution of admission to rapid response team delay and its prognostic factors. Design A retrospective single‐centre study. Methods Data on rapid response team activations from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2022 were retrieved from electronic medical records at a tertia...

Background and objective Pregnant mothers are at risk of many adverse pregnancy outcomes, including infants with low birth weight (LBW). The World Health Organization aimed to achieve a 30% reduction in the number of LBW infants by the year 2025. In this study, we aimed to determine the incidence and determinants of LBW infants among pregnant mothe...

Background The high prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension in Pakistan is predominantly attributed to poor medication adherence. As more than 137 million people in Pakistan use cell phones, a suitable mobile health (mHealth) intervention can be an effective tool to overcome poor medication adherence. Objective We sought to determine whether a nov...

Introduction: Malaria is caused by the bites of an infected female mosquito, a vector-borne disease which the parasite is transmitted to humans. Guinea’s whole population is susceptible to getting malaria. The aim of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the malaria education program using the Health Belief Model (H...

Purpose We aim to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of a sunscreen formulation containing licochalcone A (LicA) and L-carnitine (LC) as an adjuvant to adapalene in the management of acne and post-acne pigmentation (PAH). Patients and Methods A randomized, double-blind, active comparator-controlled trial of 51 patients aged 18 years or ol...

Background Obesity, particularly excessive body fat, is an established risk factor and substantial prognostic determinant in breast cancer. Recent studies suggested that diet-related inflammation plays a key role in obesity. This study aimed to determine the association between energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) and body composition...

Introduction: The instructor-led CPR training method has been used for over 4 decades. However, nurses’ knowledge and skills are still low. Instructor-led CPR training is an extremely capital-intensive programme that requires more time, workforce, and space, thus serving as an impediment to effective learning among the prospective nurses’ trainees....

Purpose: The spread of infectious disease, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has had a significant impact on people worldwide in the past three years. Although people's production and livelihoods are no longer strictly restricted, the fact is that the epidemic is not over. lack of understanding of the disease is one of the most common drivers of...

Background Digital technology tailored for those with limited health literacy has the potential to reduce health inequalities. Although mobile apps can support self-management in chronic diseases, there is little evidence that this approach applies to people with limited health literacy. We aimed to determine the acceptability of a self-management...

Introduction: Malaysia is one of the hardest-hit countries by COVID-19 in Asia. The rapidly rising number of cases had sparked fear among healthcare providers. This study aimed to assess the determinants of fear towards COVID-19 among healthcare providers in primary care settings. Methods: This online-based cross-sectional study was conducted among...

Background: This study aimed to assess the determinants of burnout among healthcare providers in the primary care setting. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1280 healthcare providers aged 18 years and older from 30 primary care clinics in Selangor, Malaysia. In this study, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory was used to...

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have been in great fear due to the high risk of contracting COVID-19 infection at any time. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout in primary care healthcare providers in Malaysia. Methods: This was an on...

Introduction: There is a strong body of evidence advocating parent training programmes in the management of behavioral problems in children. In these programmes, attrition is a major challenge. We aimed to examine the sociodemographic and clinical profiles, parental motivation, and pre-intervention severity of children’s behavioural problems as rat...

Introduction: Premarital sexual behaviour remains an important sexual and reproductive health issue among adolescents in Malaysia. It is also a prohibited act and considered sinful among the Muslims community. This study aimed to identify the determinants of premarital sexual behaviour among the late adolescents age group in Pahang, Malaysia. Metho...

Background: High prevalence of excessive screen time among preschool children is attributable to certain parental factors such as lack of knowledge, false perception about screen time, and inadequate skills. Lack of strategies to implement screen time guidelines, in addition to multiple commitments that may hinder parents from face-to-face interven...

Deep learning (DL) has been introduced in automatic heart-abnormality classification using ECG signals, while its application in practical medical procedures is limited. A systematic review is performed from perspectives of the ECG database, preprocessing, DL methodology, evaluation paradigm, performance metric, and code availability to identify re...

Background Adaptable cardiopulmonary resuscitation/basic life support (CPR/BLS) training are required to reduce cardiac arrest mortality globally, especially among nurses. Thus, this study aims to compared CPR knowledge and skills retention level between instructor-led (control group) and video self-instruction training (intervention group) among n...

Introduction: Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by the bites of infected female mosquitoes that transmit the parasite to humans. In Guinea, the entire population is at risk of malaria infection. The objective of this study is to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the Malaria Free Zone program using the Health Belief Model (...

Disparities in access to health services in rural areas represent a global health issue. Various external factors contribute to these disparities and each root requires specific remedial action to alleviate the issue. This study elucidates an approach to assessing the spatial accessibility of primary care, considering Malaysia’s dual public–private...

Background and objectives: Evidence for gene-diet interactions is lacking among individuals with specific dietary practices including vegetarians. This study aimed to determine the interactions of rs174547 in the fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1) gene with macronutrient such as carbohydrate (particularly fibre), protein and fat intakes on abdominal...

Background The study aimed to evaluate the impact of a health education intervention on nutritional status among adolescent girls in government secondary schools in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council. Methods The study was a randomized control trial among 417 adolescent girls aged 10-19 years old. Data were collected from October 2019 to March 2020 us...

The number of cancer cases and deaths of cancer are increasing year by year [1]. The high cost of cancer treatment and the guilt of patients relying on caregivers for long-term care leads to a high self-perceived burden (SPB) among cancer patients affecting their quality of life, treatment and even cause suicidal ideation [2]. The objective of this...

The literature suggests that some children at increased risk of parentification, which includes children of chronically ill or substance-misusing parents and children of divorced or migrant parents. Despite the necessity for some children to assume adult roles, parentification is potentially harmful. This paper aims to: (i) investigate the parentif...

Introduction: There are a growing number of parents who hesitate to vaccinate their children. Therefore, the current study was conducted to assess future parents-to-be intention to vaccinate their children, as well as to investigate con- tributing factors of vaccination intention and to identify sources of information on childhood vaccination. Met...

Ethnicity, native and/or foreign language knowledge, as well as the learned writing systems potentially influence the development of an individual’s handwriting. The unique education system consisting of National schools, Chinese-medium vernacular schools, Tamil-medium vernacular schools, and Islamic religious schools in Malaysia may have establish...

Atypical eating behaviors displayed by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) predispose them to unhealthy weight gain. We determined the factors associated with body weight status among 261 children with ASD (3–18 years) at nine autism intervention centers. Their mothers completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic backgro...

Although parenting programs have been supported as an effective family-based intervention for children’s behavioral problems, they are underutilized in developing countries. This randomized controlled study aims to determine the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting program (IYPP) in improving behavioral problems in children, parenting st...

Introduction: The usage of back support belt for manual handling activities particularly lifting/lowering of loads in occupational setting has been a sore point of conflicting agreement between industrial practitioners and academician on its effectiveness in prevention of back injuries. As such, this pre-test and post-test experimental study was de...

Background High prevalence of excessive screen time among preschool children is attributable to certain parental factors such as lack of knowledge, false perception about screen time, and inadequate skills. Lack of strategies to implement screen time guidelines, in addition to multiple commitments that may hinder parents from face-to-face intervent...

BACKGROUND High prevalence of excessive screen time among preschool children is attributable to certain parental factors such as lack of knowledge, false perception about screen time, and inadequate skills. Lack of strategies to implement screen time guidelines, in addition to multiple commitments that may hinder parents from face-to-face intervent...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths can occur in hospitals or otherwise. In Malaysia, COVID-19 deaths occurring outside of the hospital and subsequently brought to the hospital are known as brought-in-dead (BID) cases. To date, the characteristics of BID COVID-19 cases in Malaysia are not clear. The objectives of this study are 2-fold: to ex...

Introduction Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. There was a high prevalence of high self-perceived burden (SPB) among cancer patients and this could bring adverse consequences to the physical and mental health of cancer patients, which can lead to suicide if not treated well. This review aims to determine the prevalence of SPB among...

Parenting programs often train parents in improving their parenting practices and parent-child relationship to reduce behavioral problems in children. However, the children’s prosocial behaviors are less examined as an intervention outcome in these programs. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Incredible Years parenting program (I...

The spread of COVID-19 and its subsequent social distancing measures carried a significant psychological burden on many parents worldwide. This study was done to determine the prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress experienced by mothers of children with emotional and behavioral problems (EBP) during the lockdown period in Ma...

Introduction: Failure to prepare students on fire safety and prevention in hostels adequately may result in various losses not limited to life and health but also in terms of properties, intellectual properties, and morale. As practices relates closely to knowledge and attitude, the aim of this study was to investigate the level of their knowledge,...

This study aimed at determining the factors that influence family planning practice among rural women of Pankshin district in Plateau state, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study using a simple random sampling method was conducted from October to December 2019. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection among 302 respondents. Among r...

Introduction: Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. There was a high prevalence of high self-perceived burden (SPB) among cancer patients and this could bring adverse consequences on the physical and mental health of cancer patients, which can lead to suicide if not treated well. This review aims to determine the prevalence of SPB amon...

TB treatment interruption has resulted in delayed sputum conversion, drug resistance, and a high mortality rate and a prolonged treatment course, hence leading to economic and psychosocial affliction. To date, there are limited studies investigating the physico-social risk factors for early treatment interruptions. This prospective multicenter coho...

Knowledge and attitude are essential components of food security as malnutrition remains a critical public health concern among adolescents. The study evaluates the effectiveness of a Triple Benefit Health Education Intervention on knowledge, attitude and food security towards malnutrition among adolescent girls. This was a cluster randomized contr...

Introduction: Over the last decade, tuberculosis (TB) has remained the main cause of death from communicable diseases in Malaysia. This study was aimed to determine the risk factors of unfavourable treatment outcomes (UTO) among new TB cases in Hulu Langat. Methods: A cohort study was prospectively conducted among the new TB cases registered in the...

Background and objectives: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a multidimensional concept that indicated an individual's holistic health, whereby the urban-poor community are susceptible to low HRQoL due to their high vulnerability. This study aimed to determine factors that predicted the HRQoL among the urban-poor school-aged children. Met...

Objective: To determine the level of dengue prevention practices among wet market traders in a Malaysian district and their associated socio-ecological factors including individual, relationships, community and societal factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 246 wet market traders was conducted in a district in Perak state in northwest...

Introduction COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating effect on the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare providers (HCPs) globally. This review is aimed at determining the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, fear, burnout and resilience and its associated factors among HCPs in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods We...

Introduction Although millions of healthcare providers and lay providers are trained globally in CPR each year, there are major gaps in delivering adequate medical emergency care such as poor quality CPR in the hospitals or none performance of CPR in out of hospital settings for people with cardiac arrest. Objective This systematic review aim to h...

Background: Low birth weight and preterm or early-term babies may have a higher risk of poor health. One of the main factors is the weight gain of a pregnant woman during gestational weeks in the second and third trimesters. Changes in weight over a month in a pregnant woman might also have an impact on infant outcomes. This study aimed to investi...

In this study, a school nutrition program (SNP) that incorporates nutrition education and a healthy school canteen environment was developed to improve nutrition knowledge among intervention respondents and provide a healthier environment for them to practice healthy eating. In the current study, we evaluated the impacts of the SNP on eating behavi...

Background In the trauma triage procedure, nurses with good knowledge and skills can start initial treatment immediately pending doctors availability, and before a final diagnosis is made. The Advanced Trauma Life Support/ Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses is one of the most important trauma education programmes to enhance the knowledge and skills of...

BACKGROUND Internet addiction problem is becoming a significant public health concern nowadays, especially during Covid-19 pandemic. Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is one of the most popular questionnaires for evaluating the internet addiction level. Using the same questionnaire in the similar population, the prevalence of IA was ranging from 28.3%...

Poor water sanitation and hygiene practice can be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of health education intervention using information, motivation and a behavioural skill model on water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practice among adolescent girls in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Bor...

Introduction: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the associations of socio-demographic factors, eating behaviours, fast food purchasing by parents for family meals, and availability of neighbourhood fast-food outlets with BMI-for-age z-score (BAZ) among adolescents. Methods: Through multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method, a...

Background: Disparities of access to health services in rural areas is a global health issue, especially in middle income countries including Malaysia. Recent method called enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) exhibit promising results in quantifying the health care accessibility. This study aimed to describe and explore the pattern o...

Despite the advancement of the healthcare system, low birth weight (LBW) remains as one of the leading causes of under-five mortality. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of LBW and its associated factors among 483 third trimester pregnant women recruited from six selected public health clinics in the Federal Territory of K...

Abstract: Selangor is one of the states with lowest public health facility ratios to population as it being the most populated state, encircling urban core of Klang Valley. Therefore, disparities of accessibility could potentially exist in rural Selangor across the spectrum of suburban to the rural areas. This cross-sectional ecological study emplo...

Background Risk governance involves processes and mechanisms to understand how risk decisions are taken and executed. This concept has gained a reputation over time as being essential for emerging comprehensive management that defines the success of an organization. While guiding documents that explain the use of risk management related to nuclear...

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global concern as it continues to kill million people annually despite the availability of effective treatment. One of the social factors affecting the spread of tuberculosis is urbanization. Tuberculosis remains as the leading cause of death from communicable diseases in Malaysia for more than a decade. G...

Inadequate food security contributes to poor health outcome for all, including adolescent girls. The study aims at determining the level of food security and hygiene among adolescent girls. A school-based cross-sectional study was carried out among adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 years old from six schools in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Borno St...

Adolescence is a phase in the life cycle of human beings. Adequate knowledge, attitudes and practices towards malnutrition are necessary for proper growth and development and for their future children. This systematic review aimed to determine the effect of health education intervention to improve the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescen...

Purpose Globally, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency and the most common cause of anaemia during pregnancy. To date, there is lack of established studies investigating factors associated with iron status during pregnancy in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the associations of obstetrical characteristics and...

BACKGROUND On March 18, 2020, the Malaysian government implemented Movement Control Order (MCO) to limit the contact rates among the population and infected individuals. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to forecast the trend of the COVID-19 epidemic in Malaysia in terms of its magnitude and duration. METHODS Data for this analysis was ob...

Background Research landscapes and quality may change in many ways. Much research waste has been increasingly reported. Poorly conducted clinical and biomedical researches are detrimental to the health of the people and healthcare performance with misleading clinical evidence. Efforts to improve research performance will need good data on the profi...

Addressing the gap in knowledge, attitude, and practice among adolescent girls are important as malnutrition has a negative effect on their future generation. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of adolescent girls towards reducing malnutrition in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, Borno State, Nigeria. This was a schoo...

Background Dental caries in primary teeth is a serious oral health concern among children. It can lead to detrimental impacts on a child’s growth, development, and quality of life. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to examine the prevalence of dental caries and its associations with nutritional status, sugar and second-hand smoke exposure...

Introduction and Objective Antibiotics and retinoids have been used for acne vulgaris for decades. Though effective, each has its own drawbacks. Chemical peels have been used for treatment of acne vulgaris with inadequate clinical evidence. We sought to determine the efficacy and safety of Jessner’s solution (JS) in comparison with salicylic acid...

On March 18, 2020 the Malaysian government implemented a 14-day Movement Control Order (MCO) as part of the mitigation plan in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic in the country. The MCO aims to limit the contact rates among the population and hence prevent the surge of infected individuals. However, the trend of the epidemic before and after the MCO...

Background Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of different levels of symptom severity may exhibit a wide range of behaviours and characteristics. There is a limited nutrition-related study on children with ASD of different severity in Malaysia. Aims This cross-sectional study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic fac...

Background: Universities around the world, including Malaysia, have attracted many international students from different countries. Research has reported that acculturative stress resulting from international students' attempts to adjust to the cultures of host countries is one of the most challenging issues that affects their lives in general and...

Numerous studies have investigated the association of MIR499A rs3746444 polymorphism with breast cancer susceptibility, but the results have been inconsistent. In this work, we performed a meta-analysis to obtain a more reliable estimate of the association between the polymorphism and susceptibility to breast cancer. A comprehensive literature sear...

Pediculosis capitis can be found in any age and race although school-age children are the groups that are mostly at risk. The objective of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the health educational module based on KAP Model on the level of knowledge, attitude and practices on Pediculosis capitis among school child...

Background: Recurrent Pediculosis capitis may lead to various physical, economical and psychological consequences. The aim of the study was to determine the level of recurrent Pediculosis capitis, identify the factors associated with the recurrence and its predictors.

Objective To compare the performance of different anthropometric indices including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and a body shape index to predict high blood pressure (BP) in adolescents using the 90th and 95th percentiles as two different thresholds. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Probabilit...

Background: Malnutrition among school children may contribute to adverse health consequences such as non-communicable diseases, poor cognitive performance, psychological distress and poor quality of life that may persist into adulthood. In order to prevent childhood malnutrition, an intervention programme that integrates nutrition education and he...

Hepatitis C infection is a global public health problem. This study was designed to identify the risk factors associated with hepatitis C infection among adult patients in Kedah state, Malaysia. A matched, hospital-based, case–control study was conducted at a tertiary hospital. Cases were adult (aged ≥ 18 years) patients with positive serology test...

Children with emotional and behavioral problems are often managed using medications or behavioral therapy, but in some countries, there is no structured parenting intervention to equip parents from different cultural backgrounds with adequate parenting skills to help these children. This paper aims to synthesize key findings from previous research...

Introduction: Wet markets are predisposed to Aedes breeding due to nature of daily activities that involve frequent water storage and usage of water collecting containers. Large numbers of visitors patronising wet markets could cause rapid spread of dengue infection. This study aimed to determine the level of dengue prevention practices among wet m...

Background: Research landscapes and quality may change in many ways. Much research waste has been increasingly reported. Efforts to improve research performance will need good data on the profiles and performance of past research. Purpose: To describe the characteristics and quality of clinical and biomedical research in Malaysia and Indonesia. Met...

In Malaysia, smoking is the third risk factor with the most disease burden and it was hugely associated with diseases of the heart and lungs. In response to the tobacco epidemic, WHO had adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 21 st May 2003 but despite ratifying to FCTC in 2005 and enforcing various types of policies in the c...

Introduction: Primary care is the first level of contact with the health system to promote health, prevent illness, care for common illnesses, and manage ongoing health problems. Maternal health services were one of the important components of primary care delivered through health clinics and community clinics. It is crucial to ensure scarce resour...