Original Article
Enhancing guidelines for managing cognitively impaired drivers: Insights from Western evidence for Asian adaptation
Licensing authorities rely on medical certifications of fitness-to-drive when renewing licence for drivers who are at higher risk of crashes. Drivers with cognitive impairment are 2 to 8 times more likely to be involved in a crash compared to those without such impairments,1 and studies show they have a...
Original Article
Prevalence and risk factors of depression and anxiety in primary care
The global prevalence of individuals living with a mental disorder in 2019 was 970 million, with anxiety and depressive disorders being the most common.1 The Singapore Mental Health Study 2016 showed that the lifetime prevalence of at least one mood, anxiety or alcohol use disorder was 13.9% in the...
Letter to the Editor
Suboptimal adherence to medical therapy in patients undergoing lower limb angioplasty in Singapore
Dear Editor,
Chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI) is the advanced stage of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and patients with this condition face a very high risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality. Several guidelines strongly recommend evidence-based medical therapy (EBMT) to reduce cardiovascular risk.1-3 Specifically, all CLTI patients should be...
Commentary
Artificial intelligence innovation in healthcare: Relevance of reporting guidelines for clinical translation from bench to bedside
Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation have revolutionised many sectors and industries, prominently including healthcare during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.1 For example, deep learning, which is a subset of the state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, has shown robust performance in image recognition, speech recognition and natural language processing.2...
Review Article
Managing adult asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 2022 review and current recommendations
Asthma is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease, estimated to affect more than 300 million people worldwide.1 First recognised in December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has evolved into an ongoing global pandemic.2 In May...
Others
Asthma Disease Management: A Provider’s Perspective
The burden of asthma appears to be increasing worldwide, especially in societies undergoing rapid urbanisation, and both morbidity and mortality from asthma have increased in many parts of the world, making it a global health concern. In Singapore, asthma is a highly prevalent problem, with an increasing societal and...
Review Article
Laboratory Safety Aspects of SARS at Biosafety Level 2
In Singapore, the majority of patients suffering from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were cared for at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The dramatic and serious nature of this outbreak in 2003 focussed unprecedented attention on laboratory safety practices.
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Original Article
Diabetic Retinopathy in Type II Diabetics Detected by Targeted Screening Versus Newly Diagnosed in General Practice
The epidemic of type II diabetes mellitus is now recognised worldwide. In India, it has been estimated that the population with type II diabetes would increase by 150% in 2025. As the population with type II diabetes increases, so does the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and other microvascular complications.
This...
Original Article
A Survey of Brain Death Certification – An Impetus for Standardisation and Improvement
Brain death is legally recognised in most developed countries. Certification is usually a prelude to either the withdrawal of cardiorespiratory life support or organ procurement and donation. It is therefore a diagnosis of great significance, and there should be rigorous standards in place to govern the process of brain...
Original Article
Was it Easy to Use an Asthma Control Test (ACT) in Different Clinical Practice Settings in a Tertiary Hospital in Singapore?
In Singapore, asthma is a very common problem. It is estimated that 140,000 individuals in Singapore have current asthma, with a prevalence as high as 20% among school children,1 and 5% among the adult population.2 The increasing trend in the prevalence of asthma and its personal and societal tolls...
Review Article
When Less is More: Can We Abandon Prophylactic Platelet Transfusion in Dengue Fever?
Dengue fever (DF) is the most common mosquito-borne human viral illness worldwide, and has rapidly spread to reach hyper-endemic proportions in the urban tropics over the last quarter of a century. With an estimated 2.5 billion people at risk and a global annual incidence of 50 million cases, DF...
Original Article
Evidence-Based Guidelines on the Use of Opioids in Chronic Non-Cancer Pain—A Consensus Statement by the Pain Association of Singapore Task Force
Studies show that the incidence of chronic pain is approximately 18% in Australia and developed countries in Europe. In Asia, data from Hong Kong and Singapore indicate that chronic pain is experienced by about 10% of adults, with chronic pain being more common in women and older adults. In...