Usman Iqbal

UNSW Sydney | UNSW · School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health

BACKGROUND Wrong-site surgery (WSS) remains a critical but preventable medical error, often resulting in severe patient harm and substantial financial costs. While protocols exist to reduce WSS, underreporting and inconsistent documentation continue to contribute to its persistence. Machine learning (ML) models, which have shown success in detectin...

Background Optimal timing for initiating maintenance dialysis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3–5 is challenging. This study aimed to develop and validate a machine learning (ML) model for early personalised prediction of maintenance dialysis initiation within 1-year and 3-year timeframes among patients with CKD stages 3–5. Me...

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Objective To investigate the consistency and reliability of medication recommendations provided by ChatGPT for common dermatological conditions, highlighting the potential for ChatGPT to offer second opinions in patient treatment while also delineating possible limitations. Materials and Methods In this mixed-methods study, we used survey question...

Abstract Background Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a transformative force in clinical decision support (CDS) systems within healthcare. Its emergence, fuelled by the growing volume and diversity of healthcare data, offers significant potential in patient care, diagnosis, treatment, and health management. This study systematically reviews AI's role...

Imagine having a knowledge graph that can extract medical health knowledge related to patient diagnosis solutions and treatments from thousands of research papers, distilled using machine learning techniques in healthcare applications. Medical doctors can quickly determine treatments and medications for urgent patients, while researchers can discov...

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare is progressively becoming pivotal, especially with its potential to enhance patient care and operational workflows. This paper navigates through the complexities and potentials of AI in healthcare, emphasising the necessity of explainability, trustworthiness, usability, transparency an...

Objectives A vast amount of literature has been conducted for investigating the association of different lunar phases with human health; and it has mixed reviews for association and non-association of diseases with lunar phases. This study investigates the existence of any impact of moon phases on humans by exploring the difference in the rate of o...

Background Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-res...

Objective: The popularity of the "bring your own device (BYOD)" concept has grown in recent years, and its application has extended to the healthcare field. This study was aimed at examining nurses' acceptance of a BYOD-supported system after a 9-month implementation period. Methods: We used the technology acceptance model to develop and validat...

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic condition that is associated with multiple comorbidities. Apart from pharmacological approaches, patient self-management remains the gold standard of care for diabetes. Improving patients' self-management among the elderly with mobile health (mHealth) interventions is critical, espe...

Background: Firm conclusions about whether long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug use impacts female cancer risk remain controversial. Objective: We aimed to investigate the associations between PPI use and female cancer risks. Methods: A nationwide population-based, nested case-control study was conducted within Taiwan’s Health and Welfare Dat...

Background: Women’s literacy is often associated with the health status of family members, especially children. Unfortunately, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the rates of women’s literacy (WL) are still very low, and in these areas, children’s mortality rates (CMR) are also very high. This study aims to identify the changes and correlation betw...

Importance: More than 1 billion adults have hypertension globally, of whom 70% cannot achieve their hypertension control goal with monotherapy alone. Data are lacking on clinical use patterns of dual combination therapies prescribed to patients who escalate from monotherapy. Objective: To investigate the most common dual combinations prescribed...

Objectives To use data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) to estimate mortality and disability trends for the population aged ≥70 and evaluate patterns in causes of death, disability, and risk factors. Design Systematic analysis. Setting Participants were aged ≥70 from 204 countries and terri...

Background: Women’s literacy is often associated with the health status of family members, especially children. Unfortunately, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the rates of women’s literacy are still very low, and in these areas, children’s mortality rates are also very high. This study aims to identify the association of women's literacy and chi...

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. Methods: We...

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.

It cannot be deniable that smartphone apps have grown exponentially and are playing a crucial role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries. This paper aims to investigate data privacy, regulations and legal issues on COVID-19 tracking apps. A literature search will be followed the PRISMA guidelines extension for a scoping review....

Background: The increasing rates of Caesarean section (CS) beyond the WHO standards (10–15%) pose a significant global health concern. Objective: Systematic review and meta-analysis to identify an association between CS history and maternal adverse outcomes for the subsequent pregnancy and delivery among women classified in Robson classification (R...

Objectives Considering the therapeutic potential of honey and Nigella sativa (HNS) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, the objective of the study is defined to evaluate the prophylactic role of HNS. Trial design The study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, adaptive clinical trial with parallel group design, superiority framework wit...

Introduction: Over one billion adults have hypertension globally, of whom 70% cannot achieve hypertension control with monotherapy. Data are lacking on patterns of dual combination therapies prescribed to patients who escalate from monotherapy. Methods: We described dual combination therapy utilization using eleven electronic health record database...

Background The opioid epidemic in North America has been driven by an increase in the use and potency of prescription opioids, with ensuing excessive opioid-related deaths. Internationally, there are lower rates of opioid-related mortality, possibly because of differences in prescribing and health system policies. Our aim was to compare opioid pres...

Background: The study, following similar reviews in 2000 and 2010, presents an update of knowledge about external evaluation agencies and accreditation programs. Objective: The study aim was to investigate the current profile of external evaluation agencies identifying their program features, and significant changes and challenges.

BACKGROUND: Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex a...

It cannot be deniable that smartphone apps have grown exponentially and are playing a crucial role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries. This paper aims to investigate data privacy, regulations and legal issues on COVID-19 tracking apps. A literature search will be followed the PRISMA guidelines extension for a scoping review....

Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a...

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate res...

Background Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex an...

Background Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 has targeted elimination of preventable child mortality, reduction of neonatal death to less than 12 per 1000 livebirths, and reduction of death of children younger than 5 years to less than 25 per 1000 livebirths, for each country by 2030. To understand current rates, recent trends, and potential traject...

Background Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabiliti...

Background: Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilit...

Artificial Intelligence’s implementation into medicine, research, and crisis management have changed the way healthcare are delivered to the population. The beneficial qualities of Artificial Intelligence in medicine are profound, but it is a field often subject to grandiloquent claims. Patient’s perspective could be better and understood and their...

Objective: To describe and assess digital health-led diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) effectiveness in improving glycosylated hemoglobin, diabetes knowledge, and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) of Type 1 and 2 Diabetes in the past 10 years. Design: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. The protocol was registered on PROS...

Recent evidence suggests that, in some foci, elimination of onchocerciasis from Africa may be feasible with mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin. To achieve continental elimination of transmission, mapping surveys will need to be conducted across all implementation units (IUs) for which endemicity status is currently unknown. Using boosted...

Objectives Considering the therapeutic potential of honey and Nigella sativa (HNS) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, the objective of the study is defined to evaluate the prophylactic role of HNS. Trial design The study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, adaptive clinical trial with parallel group design, superiority framework with...

Background: Over one billion adults have hypertension globally, of whom approximately 70% cannot achieve blood pressure control goal with monotherapy alone. Data are lacking on patterns of dual combination therapies prescribed to patients who escalate from monotherapy in routine practice. Methods: Using eleven electronic health record databases tha...

This is a supplementary material for the article entitled "Measuring universal health coverage based on an index of effective coverage of health services in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019"

Levothyroxine is a widely prescribed medication for the treatment of an underactive thyroid. The relationship between levothyroxine use and cancer risk is largely underdetermined. To investigate the magnitude of the possible association between levothyroxine use and cancer risk, this retrospective case‐control study was conducted using Taiwan’s Hea...

The number of migrant workers in Taiwan increases annually. The majority is from Indonesia and most of them are female caregivers. This study aims to determine the access to health services and the associated factors among Indonesian female domestic workers in Taiwan. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from February to May 2019, usi...

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the unprecedented devastating catastrophes with severe public health threat globally. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are trying hard to cope with the rapidly changing global scenario and trying to mitigate this double crisis of pandemic and economic recession. This pandemic, has led to major changes in globa...

Objectives To conduct systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies to investigate the impact of diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) apps on adherence in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Methods PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest were searched, in addition to references of i...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of confirmed cases and deaths globally. People were forced to physical and social distancing to prevent or decrease the spread of the disease. However, this new be- havior has led to closure of working places, schools, ports, and even traditional markets. This situation caused crises in many sectors and man...

Background Healthcare workers are usually the first responders during outbreaks and are instrumental in educating the populace about the prevention of different diseases and illnesses. The aim of this study was to assess the association between healthcare workers’ characteristics and knowledge, attitudes and practices toward Zika virus. Methods Th...

Big data is a complex noun that marks sets of data in various formats. Th ere are a lot of challenges in dealing with them, including how to store, search, analyze and share them. In this paper, co-authors deal with relation of big data and artifi cial intelligence and eff ective healthcare insurance plans. In the analysis is taken into account tha...

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a public health priority in Latin America. While the burden of HIV is historically concentrated in urban areas and high-risk groups, subnational estimates that cover multiple countries and years are missing. This paucity is partially due to incomplete vital registration (VR) systems and statis...

Epidemic and pandemic potential of all respiratory diseases of zoonotic origin is well known. In recent history global public health threat was inflicted by zoonotic origin infectious diseases with pandemic potential including, Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fevers, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), influenza A (H5N1), Middle East respirato...

Background Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) involves all people receiving the health services they need, of high quality, without experiencing financial hardship. Making progress towards UHC is a policy priority for both countries and global institutions, as highlighted by the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO's...

Summary Background Rigorous analysis of levels and trends in exposure to leading risk factors and quantification of their effect on human health are important to identify where public health is making progress and in which cases current efforts are inadequate. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a sta...

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countr...

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publ...

Background Rigorous analysis of levels and trends in exposure to leading risk factors and quantification of their effect on human health are important to identify where public health is making progress and in which cases current efforts are inadequate. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a standardise...

Background Lymphatic filariasis is a neglected tropical disease that can cause permanent disability through disruption of the lymphatic system. This disease is caused by parasitic filarial worms that are transmitted by mosquitos. Mass drug administration (MDA) of antihelmintics is recommended by WHO to eliminate lymphatic filariasis as a public hea...

Background Lymphatic filariasis is a neglected tropical disease that can cause permanent disability through disruption of the lymphatic system. This disease is caused by parasitic filarial worms that are transmitted by mosquitos. Mass drug administration (MDA) of antihelmintics is recommended by WHO to eliminate lymphatic filariasis as a public hea...