The association between fatigue and sarcopenia is not well understood, therefore, this study aimed to compare the sarcopenia measures among elderly with mild and severe fatigue and to determine whether fatigue severity is associated with sarcopenia measures. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on201 elderly (age = 68.45±6.30 years). The elderly was classified into either mild or severe fatigue based on the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), meanwhile, sarcopenia measures include SARC-F score, muscle mass (ASM/height2), calf circumference (CC), upper (handgrip) and lower limb muscle strength, as well as physical performance (gait speed). Data were analyzed using independent t-tests and logistic regression. The results showed that elderly with severe fatigue were significantly older, with lower muscle strength, and slower gait speed (all p-value <0.05). After adjusting for age, fatigue severity remained significantly associated with SARC-F score (OR = 1.583, 95% CI = 1.262-1.986, p-value = 0.001) and CC (OR = 1.103, 95% CI = 1.014-1.200, p-value = 0.022). Moreover,when the SARC-F score was removed from the regression model, fatigue severity was significantly associated with CC (OR = 1.088, 95% CI = 1.006-1.178, p-value = 0.036) and gait speed (OR = 0.011, 95% CI = 0.001-0.168, p-value = 0.001). Based on the results, fatigue severity is associated with SARC-F score, CC, and gait speed, therefore, interventions targeted at sarcopenia measures is recommended to optimize physical endurance in the elderly.

Introduction: Physiotherapy profession requires a reasonably high level of physical fitness. This is due to their nature of job requiring them to do a lot of lifting and transferring of patients, use the extremities to give support and resistance during assessment and treatment, and prescribing exercise not only to patients but also to fit athletes. However, lack of attention was given to the physical fitness of physiotherapy students. The objective was to determine the level of physical fitness among physiotherapy students attending public universities in Malaysia. Methods: Each participant performed six physical fitness tests reflecting the four components of physical fitness. The Tanita-BC730G BIA was used to examine body composition. Push up and curl-up, shoulder scratch and back saver sits and reach (BSSR) and three-min step tests were used to determine muscular endurance, upper and lower limb flexibility and cardiorespiratory endurance, respectively. The scores were then categorized based on the normative values of each test. Results: A total of 261 participants completed all tests. For body composition, 73 (28%) participants were either overweight or obese. When compared to their normative values, both curl-up (17.2±11.2 reps in male and 7.1±8.7 reps in female) and heart recovery rate after the three-min step test (102±22bpm and 114±20bpm) were scored below average. For flexibility test, the BSSR was scored below average only in female (10±3.0 for right side and 11±3.1 for left vs. 12 inches). Conclusion: The level of physical fitness among physiotherapy students in public universities in Malaysia is somewhat below average.

Introduction: As the front line of the health service and the provider of 90% of formal health care services, Klinik Kesihatan plays key role in developing an equitable health service and responding to the needs of different population groups. Thus, it is important to know the epidemiological profile of the people attending Physiotherapy Unit at Klinik Kesihatan in order to understand the role, responsibilities and challenges of physiotherapist working in Klinik Kesihatan. Methods: This is a retrospective study where the clinical records of patients attended Physiotherapy Unit at Klinik Kesihatan Bagan Serai between November 2017 and November 2019 were retrieved. Three categories of information were defined prospectively (i) sociodemographic, (ii) physiotherapy services and (iii) defaulter. Results: Of the 380 evaluation cards selected via random sampling, 350 met the study criteria. Most of the patients who attended Physiotherapy Unit were female (57%), 25-59 years (65%), Malay (69%), married (70%), unemployed (34%) and from the B40 household income (86%). Among the unemployed, majority (73%) of patients who attended the physiotherapy unit are housewife. Main cases referred to physiotherapy were musculoskeletal (90%) with the problem mostly on knee (25%), shoulder (21%) and back (19%). The most common physiotherapy treatment given was therapeutic exercise (56%). As high as 40% default rates were identified within this sample. Conclusion: Understanding the epidemiological profile of patients attending Klinik Kesihatan is important to maximize the benefits of physiotherapy treatment and prevent defaulters.