Rakibul M Islam

Monash University (Australia) · Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Despite startling developments in maternal health care services, use of these services has been disproportionately distributed among different minority groups in Bangladesh. This study aimed to explore the factors associated with the use of these services among the Mru indigenous women in Bangladesh. A total of 374 currently married Mru women were...

Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between concentrations of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and fracture risk in community-dwelling older women and explore whether this was explained by the genetic regulation of SHBG. Methods: This prospective cohort study examined 4871 women aged ≥70 years who were not taking medication...

Background Bangladesh faces a rapidly increasing diabetes burden; however, current evidence is lacking. This study examines recent trends and identifies risk factors associated with changes in the prevalence of diabetes and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) among adults in Bangladesh between 2011 and 2022. Methods Data from three cycles of the Banglades...

The increasing prevalence of diabetic complications and tobacco consumption are alarming worldwide. This study aimed to assess the association between tobacco smoking and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) among male smokers with type 2 diabetes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a matched case-control study, participants were recruited from t...

Objective: This study aimed to document the prevalence and severity of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) and sexual symptoms among refugee women in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: This cross-sectional study included refugee women, aged 18-63 years, recruited from community centers and social media between February and July 2023. The Menopause-specific Qua...

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether concentrations of testosterone and its main precursor after menopause, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), are associated with lipoproteins and other lipids in community-dwelling older women. Methods: The Sex Hormones in Older Women (SHOW) study was an observational study of 6358 Australian women, aged...

Objective and rationale To identify and appraise current national and international clinical menopause guidance documents, and to extract and compare the recommendations of the most robust examples. Design Systematic review. Data sources Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Web of Science Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Practice guidanc...

Background Oestrone, predominantly made in fat, is the main circulating oestrogen and important for target tissue oestradiol production in women after menopause. The present study was undertaken to determine the genetic regulation of blood oestrone, measured with precision, in postmenopausal women and to explore associations between the identified...

Background Blood concentrations of testosterone and estrone tend to increase in women aged ≥70 years, whereas concentrations of their precursor hormone dehydroepiandrosterone decline. It is unknown whether these changes influence physical function. We investigated whether concentrations of these hormones were associated with grip strength and self-...

Objective: The Practitioner's Toolkit for Managing the Menopause, developed in 2014, provided an accessible desk-top tool for health-care practitioners caring for women at midlife. To ensure the Toolkit algorithms and supporting information reflect current best practice, the Toolkit has been revised in accordance with the published literature. Me...

Importance Whether dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplementation improves cognitive performance in older women is uncertain. Nonetheless, DHEA supplements are readily available over the counter in several countries and are potentially being used to prevent cognitive decline and dementia. Objective This systematic review was conducted to evaluate t...

Objective: We investigated whether low sex hormone concentrations are associated with depression in older women. Study design: This was a cross-sectional study of Australian women, aged at least 70 years, not taking medications modulating sex hormone levels. Associations between hormones, measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometr...

Background: A comprehensive understanding of temporal trends in the disease burden in Australia is lacking, and these trends are required to inform health service planning and improve population health. We explored the burden and trends of diseases and their risk factors in Australia from 1990 to 2019 through a comprehensive analysis of the Global...

Background: Whereas symptomatic endometriosis may affect work performance, the impact of endometriosis in the general community is not known. Aims: The associations between endometriosis and each of sick leave and work ability, were investigated in a large sample of non-healthcare seeking women. Materials and methods: This community-based, cro...

Refugee and asylum seeker women face a variety of health challenges. However, little is known globally about health problems in these women at midlife and beyond, including menopausal symptoms, sexual dysfunctions and pelvic floor disorders. This scoping review aimed to understand these neglected health issues with respect to prevalence and risk fa...

Dengue is among the fastest-spreading vector-borne infectious disease, with outbreaks often overwhelm the health system and result in huge morbidity and mortality in its endemic populations in the absence of an efficient warning system. A large number of prediction models are currently in use globally. As such, this study aimed to systematically re...

Objective The contribution of testosterone to depression in older women is uncertain. This review was conducted to investigate the association between endogenous testosterone blood concentrations and depression in postmenopausal women. Methods We searched Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases for observational studies with a...

Objective: The role of circulating sex hormones on structural brain ageing is yet to be established. This study explored whether concentrations of circulating sex hormones in older women are associated with the baseline and longitudinal changes in structural brain ageing, defined by the brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD). Design: Prospec...

Objective: This study aims to explore the associations between sex hormones and cognitive performance in older women. Methods: Associations between sex hormones, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and cognitive performance were examined in women aged at least 70 years, without dementia and not using medications that influence sex hormones. Line...

Objective We investigated whether estrone and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations are associated with lipid concentrations in older postmenopausal women. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of 6358 Australian women, aged 70–95 years, recruited between 2010 and 2014. Associations between estrone and SHBG and lipid concentrations...

Importance: The associations between endogenous dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEAS), and depression in older women are uncertain. However, DHEA supplements are widely available over the counter in some countries, and some people may be taking DHEA with the hope of positive mood effects. Objective: This systematic review aimed...

Objective: To explore the associations between endogenous testosterone blood concentrations and muscle mass, strength and performance in community dwelling women. Design, patients, and measurements: Online databases, including Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science, were searched for observational studies, with at least 100 female participants,...

This review was conducted to explore the association between endogenous testosterone blood concentrations and cognitive performance among community dwelling postmenopausal women. We searched Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases for observational studies with at least 100 postmenopausal participants. The results were categoriz...

Background Health-care needs change throughout the life course. It is thus crucial to assess whether health systems provide access to quality health care for all ages. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019), we measured the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index overall and for select age gro...

Background The health risks associated with moderate alcohol consumption continue to be debated. Small amounts of alcohol might lower the risk of some health outcomes but increase the risk of others, suggesting that the overall risk depends, in part, on background disease rates, which vary by region, age, sex, and year.

Dengue fever is among the fastest-spreading vector-borne infectious disease, with outbreaks often overwhelm the health system and result in huge morbidity and mortality in its endemic populations in the absence of an efficient warning system. A large number of prediction models are currently in use globally. As such, this study aimed to systematica...

Background Globally, transport and unintentional injuries persist as leading preventable causes of mortality and morbidity for adolescents. We sought to report comprehensive trends in injury-related mortality and morbidity for adolescents aged 10–24 years during the past three decades. Methods Using the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk...

Background The prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension is increasing among reproductive-aged women in Bangladesh. However, the pattern of contraceptive use among this population remains unknown. We, therefore, explored the pattern of contraceptive use among reproductive-aged women with diabetes and/or hypertension in Bang...

To estimate the age-standardized prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes and identify factors associated with these conditions at individual, household, and community levels. Data from 11952 Bangladeshi adults aged 18–95 years available from the most recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18 were used. Anthropometric measurements and f...

Background: The prevalence of diabetes is increasing in Bangladesh from ∼5% in 2001 to ∼13% in 2017/18 (∼8.4 million cases). The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was also found to be higher at 6% in 2017/18. However, very little is known about the management of diabetes assessed by diabetes awareness, treatment, and control. We aimed to estimate...

Purpose The significance of niacin in embryonic development has clinical implications in the counseling of pregnant women and may be used to inform nutrition recommendations. This study, therefore, aims to review the associations between maternal periconceptional niacin intake and congenital anomalies. Methods A systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE,...

Importance: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) provided systematic estimates of incidence, morbidity, and mortality to inform local and international efforts toward reducing cancer burden. Objective: To estimate cancer burden and trends globally for 204 countries and territories and by Sociodemographic...

Introduction Medical waste management (MWM)-related factors affecting the health of medical waste handlers (MWHs) and their health risks in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) are an important public health concern. Although studies of MWM-related factors and health risks among MWHs in LMICs are available, literature remains under-synthesised...

This study aimed to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and self-rated health (SRH) among US adults and the extent to which blood and urinary metal mixtures explain this association. We used 14 years of repeated cross-sectional data that consists of seven consecutive NHANES cycles from 2003 to 2016 (n = 9497). SRH was measure...

Background Diabetes, particularly type 1 diabetes, at younger ages can be a largely preventable cause of death with the correct health care and services. We aimed to evaluate diabetes mortality and trends at ages younger than 25 years globally using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019.

Sir, It has been suggested by Mahboobifard et al. (2022) that a short-coming of our paper exploring the substitution of serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels for polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) for making the diagnosis of PCOS (Bell et al., 2021) was that we did not use age-specific AMH cut-offs for the participants aged 18–39 years, but use...

Aim: To estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, and to identify the relative importance of risk factors for undiagnosed diabetes among Bangladeshi adults. Method: Data from 11, 421 Bangladeshi adults aged 18 years and older available from the most recent nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 were used....

Background Blood testosterone concentrations in women decline during the reproductive years and reach a nadir in the seventh decade, after which concentrations increase and are restored to those of reproductive-aged women early in the eighth decade. We aimed to establish the association between the concentration of testosterone in the blood and ris...

Objective To synthesise evidence on the primary healthcare system’s readiness for preventing and managing non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Design Systematic review. Data sources Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Scopus were searched from 1 January 1984 to 30 July 2021, with hand-searching references and expert advice. Eligibility crite...

Diabetes Distress (DD)—an emotional or affective state arise from challenge of living with diabetes and the burden of self-care—negatively impact diabetes management and quality of life of T2DM patients. Early detection and management of DD is key to efficient T2DM management. The study aimed at developing a valid and reliable instrument for Bangla...

Background: The prevalence of chorionic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension is increasing among reproductive-aged women in Bangladesh. Pregnancy in women with uncontrolled chronic conditions may increase the risks of adverse consequences, including maternal and child morbidity and mortality. Appropriate contraception use can help women to...

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15–39 years) are lacking. To address this...

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15–39 years) are lacking. To address this...

Introduction: Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Tests of blood lipid concentrations require a blood sample to be taken in a clinical setting, which is costly, time-consuming, and may preclude measurements in a large number of people at risk. Hypothesis/Objective: This study aimed to develop artificial neural network...

STUDY QUESTION Can serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) replace polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) determined by ultrasound as a diagnostic component of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? SUMMARY ANSWER Despite good correlations between serum AMH and PCOM, the use of a high serum AMH as a proxy for PCOM resulted in the reclassification of PCOS in 5%...

Globally, the migration of unaccompanied minors is increasing, however, the experiences of these children have not been examined. We systematically synthesised the existing qualitative literature to examine the experiences of children undergoing forced separation from their parents during migration. The review was structured based on the PRISMA sta...

Objective To document associations between anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and circulating androgens in nonhealthcare-seeking premenopausal women. Design Community-based, cross-sectional study. Setting Eastern states of Australia. Participants Women aged 18–39 years not using systemic hormones, not pregnant or breastfeeding within 3 months, and not...

The purpose of this study was to estimate the age-standardised prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension and to identify their risk factors in Bangladeshi adults. Data from 12 904 adults aged 18–95 years, available from the most recent nationally representative 2017–2018 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were used. Hypert...

Objective: General trends in the epidemiology of hypertension are best described by studying the same population over time, but studies are limited. Using surveys from Bangladesh in 2011 and 2017-18, we examined i) the change in the prevalence of hypertension, ii) the extent to which changes in traditional hypertension risk factors explained the in...

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use (SFU) for cooking has been considered as a public health threat, particularly for women and children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), with limited evidence. Hence, this study investigated the effects of HAP on neonatal, infant, and under-five child mortality in Myanmar. Metho...

Background The prevalence of diabetes is increasing in Bangladesh; however, the management of diabetes assessed by diabetes awareness, treatment, and control, remains poor. We aimed to estimate the age-standardised prevalence of awareness, treatment, and control of diabetes and its associated factors. Methods In this cross-sectional study, data fro...

Background: Chewing tobacco and other types of smokeless tobacco use have had less attention from the global health community than smoked tobacco use. However, the practice is popular in many parts of the world and has been linked to several adverse health outcomes. Understanding trends in prevalence with age, over time, and by location and sex is...

Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use (SFU) for cooking is a major public health threat for women and children in low and middle-income countries. This study investigated the associations between HAP and neonatal, infant, and under-five child mortality in Myanmar. The study consisted of 3249 sample of under-five children in the househol...

Background Ending the global tobacco epidemic is a defining challenge in global health. Timely and comprehensive estimates of the prevalence of smoking tobacco use and attributable disease burden are needed to guide tobacco control efforts nationally and globally. Methods We estimated the prevalence of smoking tobacco use and attributable disease...

This study aimed to examine the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and self-rated health (SRH) among US general adult populations and the extent to which blood and urinary metal mixtures explain these associations. We used 14 years of repeated cross-sectional data that consists of seven consecutive NHANES cycles from 2003-04 to 2015-16...

Objective: To estimate the age-standardised prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension; and to identify their risk factors in Bangladeshi adults 18 years and above using the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2017-18 data. Methods: Data from 12, 904 Bangladeshi adults aged 18 years and older available from the most re...

STUDY QUESTION Does the application of reference ranges for sex steroids and the modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mFG) scale established in the community from which the study sample was drawn, combined with the most conservative polycystic ovary morphology (PCOM) criteria to the recognised diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) improve...

Objective: To examine the associations between internet use and overweight/obesity in people aged 15–49 years in Nepal and the extent to which these associations differ by biological sex. Materials and methods: The study analyzed the nationally representative Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 data. Multivariable ordinal logistic regre...

Objective: Premenopausal risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (RRBSO) may impair sexual function, but the nature and degree of impairment and impact of estrogen therapy on sexual function and sexually related personal distress after RRBSO are uncertain. Methods: Prospective observational study of 73 premenopausal women at elevated risk...

Objective To compare the performance of two anti‐Mullerian (AMH) assays over a range of concentrations, in samples collected from young women Design A cross‐sectional method‐comparison study of 168 non‐healthcare‐seeking women. Participants Included women were aged 18‐39 years, not recently pregnant, breast feeding or using systemic hormones. Me...

Background Diabetes prevalence is increasing in most places in the world, but prevalence is affected by both risk of developing diabetes and survival of those with diabetes. Diabetes incidence is a better metric to understand the trends in population risk of diabetes. Using a multicountry analysis, we aimed to ascertain whether the incidence of cli...

Aim: To estimate the age-standardized prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes, and to identify factors associated with these conditions at individual, household, and community levels. Methods: Data from 11, 952 Bangladeshi adults aged 18+ available from the most recent nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 were u...

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use (SFU) for cooking has been considered a public health threat, particularly for women and children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), with limited evidence. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of HAP on neonatal, infant, and under-five child mortality in Myanmar....

Objective Sex steroid levels in women vary with increasing age from the age of 70 years (70+). Whether this reflects change within individuals with age or a survival advantage is not known. This study aimed to determine the stability of circulating sex steroids and SHBG over time in individual women aged 70+. Design A prospective cohort study. Pa...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), principally ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, are the leading cause of global mortality and a major contributor to disability. This paper reviews the magnitude of total CVD burden, including 13 underlying causes of cardiovascular death and 9 related risk factors, using estimates from the Global Burden of Disea...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), principally ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, are the leading cause of global mortality and a major contributor to disability. This paper reviews the magnitude of total CVD burden, including 13 underlying causes of cardiovascular death and 9 related risk factors, using estimates from the Global Burden of Disea...