Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes 70% of all death globally. The prevalence of CKD has shown an increasing trend for the past 20 years in Malaysia. Thus, determining the knowledge and awareness of CKD among healthcare students in preparing them to be a good healthcare provider in the future is important. This study aimed to determine the association between knowledge and awareness about CKD among International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) undergraduate students. A crosssectional study was conducted among 108 students using simple random sampling method. The questionnaire was given to the class representative to be self-administered to interested students. It had close-ended questions consisting of Part A to Part D. The scoring given for correctly answered items was one and the total score for Part C was 7 marks. Most of the students were female (70.4%). The mean knowledge score of CKD was 3.65 (SD = 1.12) with nearly half of the students (43.5%) classified as having poor knowledge. Most respondents were aware about CKD (99.1%) and have heard about it from medical personnel (48.1%) and the Internet (25.9%). Further analysis showed that only courses taken by the respondents were significantly associated with knowledge on CKD (p = 0.039). The level of knowledge among undergraduate students is still poor, yet they are aware about the existence of CKD and its aetiology. Therefore, the health sciences curriculum should

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) spend substantial money on hemodialysis (HD) treatment. The growing intersection between socioeconomic status and financial burden represents an emerging challenge to the CKD community. Objective: This study assessed the financial burden of HD treatment on patients at a Malaysian tertiary teaching hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the HD unit at a Malaysian tertiary teaching hospital from January to February 2021. Patients undergoing HD were purposively selected. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic, finances, the patient's health history, treatment costs, and healthcare utilization. In addition, Pearson Chi-Square tests were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 100 patients receiving HD treatment were included in the study. The mean age was 62.06 years (SD = 27.50), with 52% reporting moderate financial burdens. The financial burden was associated with employment status, salary, and income class among HD patients (p <0.05).  Conclusion: Evidence showed a large proportion of Malaysian patients receiving HD treatment came from the B40 income bracket. The findings indicate that financial burdens can impact HD patients and are related to employment status, salary, and income class. Therefore, the ability to identify HD patients' financial needs is critical in nursing practice.

Introduction: Abdominal obesity and inflammation are two independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, the inter-relationship between these two factors among Malay population is fragmented. The purpose of this study is to determine the association between waist circumference as a measure of abdominal obesity and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein as an indicator of inflammation status among Malay obese adults in Kuantan, Pahang. Materials and Methods: Ninety-three apparently healthy obese adults (BMI between 27.5 and 39.9 kg/m2 ) aged between 20 to 62 years old were recruited in this study (68% men and 32% women). Circumference tape was used to measure the waist circumference and fasting venous blood was obtained to determine the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level. Results: On average, the waist circumference of obese men and women was 103 cm (SD = 8.7) and 94 cm (SD = 7.0), respectively. The median (IQR) of the hs-CRP level of the study participant was 3.80 mg/L (1.5, 10.1). The Kendall’s Tau correlation reveals that there is a significant positive linear correlation between waist circumference and hs -CRP level in obese men (r (30) = 0.355, p = 0.006) and women (r (63) = 0.177, p = 0.043). Conclusion: There is a significant inter-relationship between waist circumference and hs-CRP level among apparently healthy obese adults in Kuantan, Pahang. This study suggests that assessment of hs-CRP level is beneficial to predict the risk for future cardiovascular disease event and facilitate the management of obesity in this population. A prospective clinical study is recommended to confirm the findings.

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Objective: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease among adult in Malaysia has been increasing and it is forecasted that the pattern will remain. The risk for malnutrition is prominent especially in the later stage of chronic kidney disease. Early detection of malnutrition is important to prevent further complications. However, limited studies on malnutrition risk has been conducted in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the prevalence and associated risk factor of malnutrition among chronic kidney disease patient attending Nephrology Clinic in Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 70 chronic kidney disease patients using convenience sampling. All patients were explained about the study and informed consent obtained prior the administration of questionnaire. There were three parts of questionnaire to be answered which were on sociodemographic, clinical characteristic and dietary information along with Malnutrition Risk Screening Tool-Hospital to measure the risk for malnutrition. Results: Most of the participants were married (75.7%), had completed primary school (58.6%), currently not working (32.9%), had income between RM 1000 to RM 1999 (37.1%) and living with three or four members in a household (24.3%). Majority had at least one precipitating disease that causes chronic kidney disease such as hypertension (71.4%) followed by diabetes (61.4%) and high cholesterol (30.0%). Almost 21.4% of chronic kidney disease patients screened were at risk for malnutrition. Further inferential analysis shows an association between weight loss (p=0.001) towards risk for malnutrition. Conclusion: Overall, the risk for malnutrition among chronic kidney disease patient was fairly high. This warrant close attention of the healthcare professional that caring for the patients particularly in detection of detrimental weight loss during each follow up visit. A referral to the dietician is important to ensure the patients received adequate counselling and education on dietary management.