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Introduction: In Vietnam, the prevalence of hypertension is increasing rapidly. Patients need to be conscious of the disease for timely prevention and treatment. The Hypertension Knowledge Level Scale (HK-LS) is commonly used to assess knowledge about hypertension. Methods: Data collection was took place in a hospital in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam in February 2020 with a total of 184 paticipants. Translation and adaptation of the HK-LS, validate the questionnaire through in-person interviews with outpatients diagnosed with hypertension. The translation process followed WHO guidelines. The appraisal process evaluates through reliability (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) and validity (meaningful relationship between the response results of the scale and the patient’s characteristics). Results: The Vietnamese version of the HK-LS was translated and proven to be reliable (Cronbach’s alpha=0.72) and valid (statistically significant difference between age groups (P=0.021) and educational background (P=0.007). Conclusion: The HK-LS was translated from English into Vietnamese; the questions are clear, intelligible, and suitable for surveying patients in Vietnam.

IntroductionBreast cancer remains one of the major cancers worldwide. In Asia, breast cancer is leading both incidence and mortality rates. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) studies play an important role in clinical treatment. This systematic review aimed to summarize the evidence of HRQoL and associated factors among patients with breast cancer in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia.MethodPerformed according to PRISMA guidelines for systematic review, the studies were searched from three databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus) up to November 2020. The studies which met the predefined eligibility criteria were selected, extracted, and assessed the quality according to the Newcastle—Ottawa Scale (NOS) tool.Results and DiscussionA total of 2,620 studies were searched on the three databases, of which 28 met the selection criteria, then, were included in the systematic review. The Global Health Status (GHS) score of breast cancer patients based on the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire ranged from 56.32 ± 25.42 to 72.48 ± 15.68. The overall HRQoL scores using the FACT-G and FACT-B instruments ranged from 60.78 ± 13.27 to 82.23 ± 12.55 and from 70.29 ± 13.33 to 108.48 ± 19.82, respectively. Factors affecting HRQoL of patients with breast cancer included age, education level, income, marital status, lifestyle, tumor stage, method, and treatment duration. Patient's income showed a consistent effect on HRQoL while the remaining factors reported inconsistent findings across the studies. In conclusion, the HRQoL of breast cancer patients in LMICs in Asia was low and affected by several sociodemographic factors which should be studied more in future research.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has significantly affected health care workers (HCWs), including their mental health. However, there has been limited evidence on this topic in the Vietnamese context. Therefore, this study aimed to explore COVID-19-related, psychological stress risk factors among HCWs, their concerns and demands for mental health support during the pandemic period.Methods: We employed a cross-sectional study design with convenience sampling. An online, self-administered questionnaire was used and distributed through social media among medical and non-medical HCWs from April 22 to May 12, 2020. HCWs were categorized either as frontline or non-frontline. We measured the prevalence of psychological stress using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) instrument. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors associated with psychological stress among HCWs.Results: Among the 774 enrolled participants, 761 (98.3%) eligible subjects were included in the analysis. Most respondents were females (58.2%), between 31 and 40 years of age (37.1%), lived in areas where confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported (61.9%), medical HCWs (59.9%) and practiced being at the frontline (46.3%). The prevalence of stress was 34.3%. We identified significant risk factors such as being frontline HCWs (odds ratio [OR] = 1.77 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–2.67]), perceiving worse well-being as compared to those before the COVID-19 outbreak [OR = 4.06 (95% CI: 2.15–7.67)], and experiencing chronic diseases [OR = 1.67 (95% CI: (1.01–2.77)]. Majority (73.9%) were concerned about testing positive for COVID-19 and exposing the infection to their families. Web-based psychological interventions that could provide knowledge on managing mental distress and consulting services were highly demanded among HCWs.Conclusion: The prevalence of psychological stress among HCWs in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic was high. There were also significant risk factors associated with it. Psychological interventions involving web-based consulting services are highly recommended to provide mental health support among HCWs.

Hypertension knowledge and medication adherence are the success of treatment. We aimed to determine the association between knowledge about hypertension and medication adherence in hypertensive patients. A crosssectional study was conducted in in-person interviews with 360 hypertensive patients using a pre-designed questionnaire. The Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS) assessed patients' knowledge about hypertension. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale assessed patients' medication adherence. Patients' characteristics and medication usage data were obtained from medical records or prescriptions. The mean age of the patients was 59.3±9.55 years. Most patients used only one antihypertensive medication (74.7%), and a calcium channel blocker was the most used (46.4%). Many patients in this study had poor knowledge about hypertension, accounting for 65.28%, though most patients adhered to medication (81.94%). Patients' knowledge of hypertension had a statistically significant association with medication adherence (p=0.002). This research indicated the association between knowledge and medication adherence, so medical personnel consultation is crucial to raise patients' knowledge and improve treatment safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]