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Value the patient as a person: Answering the call for a person-centred model of care

There has been a change in patients’ attitudes towards healthcare professionals in recent decades, coupled with an increasingly evident shift in the care paradigm....

Impact of pre-existing depression on severe COVID-19 outcomes

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in 2019 had rapidly developed into a global pandemic, causing more than 6.8 million deaths and impacting the...

Leveraging ChatGPT to aid patient education on coronary angiogram

Natural-language artificial intelligence (AI) is a promising technological advancement poised to revolutionise the delivery of healthcare.1 Traditionally, inclusion of technology in the augmentation of...

Surgical margins assessment reduces re-excision rates in breast-conserving surgery

Dear Editor, Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiation therapy for breast cancer offers improved cosmetic results and comparable long-term survival rates as mastectomy.1 However,...

Effects of electroconvulsive therapy on cognition and quality of life in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with a profound impact on patients, their families, caregivers and society. The global prevalence of lifetime schizophrenia is...

Bridging electroconvulsive therapy in schizophrenia with cognition and quality of life

Schizophrenia is one of the most debilitating severe mental illnesses with significant impact,1 irrespective of culture or socioeconomic class.2 Over the decades, antipsychotic medication...

Perception of disease, well-being and financial burden by patients with chronic hepatitis B: A self-reported assessment

Dear Editor, Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection affects approximately 248 million individuals in the world1 and 3.6% of the Singapore population.2 Given the natural history...

Psychosocial impact and treatment trends of hidradenitis suppurativa in Singapore

Dear Editor, Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a common disease with a prevalence of about 1%.1 Patients commonly suffer from pain, disfigurement and psychosocial embarrassment, and...

Diagnostic thresholds for absolute systolic toe pressure and toe-brachial index in diabetic foot screening

Diabetes mellitus is a global healthcare problem. In Singapore, the rising disease burden of this metabolic condition places considerable strain on the healthcare system,...

The Appropriate Use of Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Testing in Rheumatic Diseases

In 1982, Davies and co-workers in Melbourne described the presence of a serum factor that stained the cytoplasm of neutrophil leukocytes by indirect immunofluorescence...

Surface Laser Scanning of the Cleft Palate Deformity —Validation of the Method

Cleft palate morphology and palatal dimensional changes due to growth and treatment have been analysed by numerous quantitative techniques. Many of these methods, however,...

Active Management of a Patient with Endstage Pulmonary Emphysema Using Lung Volume Reduction Surgery and Intensive Rehabilitation

A 65-year-old Chinese man with a 30-pack year history of cigarette smoking was referred to our institution for further management of chronic obstructive pulmonary...

Measuring Health-related Quality of Life in Singapore: Normal Values for the English and Chinese SF-36 Health Survey

Advances in diagnosis and therapy in the second half of the 20th century have lead to impressive improvements in survival for patients with many...

Validity and Reliability of the EQ-5D Self-report Questionnaire in Chinese-speaking Patients with Rheumatic Diseases in Singapore

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) refers to patients’ perceptions of their own functioning and well-being. HRQoL is increasingly being used as a primary or...

Measuring Quality of Life in Chinese Cancer Patients: A New Version of the Functional Living Index for Cancer (Chinese)

Health-related quality of life (QOL) is recognised as an important aspect of patient care. In oncology studies, it may stand as the primary end-point....

Utility and Validity of the Self-administered SF-36: Findings From an Older Population

The shift towards broader health perspectives and the emphasis on patient preferences have led to the development of many health questionnaires and their inclusion...

Critiques on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Assessment techniques appear to have an impact on study strategies1 and to influence the performance of students.2,3 The proper selection of a method of...

Standard Setting in Student Assessment: Is a Defensible Method Yet to Come?

To validate any “adjective”, be it for living or non-living, a criteria or standard is needed. Globalisation, mobility of doctors and the rising number...

Isokinetic Dynamometry in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction

Of all the ligaments of the knee joint, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the most frequently injured despite its structural proficiency and its...

Concurrent Validity of Power Output Derived from the Non-motorised Treadmill Test in Sedentary Adults

The use of the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) for assessing all-out intensity short-duration sprint cycling lasting between 10 and 40 seconds is pervasive. Many...

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Singapore Malay and Tamil Versions of the EQ-5D

The EQ-5D is a widely used preference-based instrument (available in at least 60 language versions and used in more than 800 published studies to...

Staging of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia is Helpful in Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Suggestive of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia

Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), one of the most common diseases of ageing men, affects the quality of life by interfering with normal daily activities...

Psychological Symptoms in People Presenting for Weight Management

Multiple factors contribute to the genesis and maintenance of obesity which is a difficult condition to treat and weight loss is often not maintained....

Diagnostic Accuracy of Anthropometric Indices for Obesity Screening Among Asian Adolescents

Obesity or excess body fat is strongly associated with enhanced risks of morbidity and mortality, and its prevalence is rapidly escalating worldwide. Despite these...

Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Singapore Cancer Patients

Worldwide, the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) by cancer patients is highly prevalent. For cancer specialists, knowledge on CAM use in their...

Health-related Quality of Life is Associated with Diabetic Complications, but not with Short-term Diabetic Control in Primary Care

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major chronic disease globally. With increasing life expectancy, long-term complications of diabetes mellitus leading to significant morbidity and...

Quality of Life in Pathological Gamblers in a Multiethnic Asian Setting

Pathological gambling is categorized under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV-TR) as an impulse control disorder not elsewhere classified....

Asian Adaptation and Validation of an English Version of the Multiple Sclerosis International Quality of Life Questionnaire (MusiQoL)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common disorders of the central nervous system with a lifetime risk of 1 in 400. In...

The Health-Related Quality of Life of Junior Doctors

It is widely reported that junior doctors experience a large amount of work-related stress and fatigue. This has detrimental effects both on the well-being...

Accuracy of self-reported height, weight and BMI in a multiethnic Asian population

Overweight and obesity continue to be one of the most critical public health issues worldwide. Body mass index (BMI) derived from height and weight...