To assess awareness of colorectal cancer (CRC) symptoms and risk factors among adults attending Sri Lanka’s largest tertiary care hospital, and to identify sociodemographic predictors of awareness.

Descriptive cross-sectional study.

Outpatient clinics at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), the country’s largest tertiary care centre.

A total of 506 adults (≥18 years) recruited via convenience sampling. Data were collected from May 2022 to May 2023 at the outpatient clinics of the NHSL, the country’s largest tertiary care centre. Eligible participants included clinic attendees as well as accompanying persons of attendees, provided they met inclusion criteria. Individuals with known gastrointestinal conditions or malignancies were excluded.

Primary outcomes: awareness scores of CRC symptoms and risk factors using a culturally adapted Bowel Cancer Awareness Measure questionnaire.

Secondary outcomes: predictors of awareness based on sociodemographic variables.

58.7% (n=297) of participants could not name any CRC symptoms unprompted; blood in stools (n=93, 18.4%) was the most identified symptom unprompted. Prompted awareness improved markedly, with 75.3% (n=381) identifying blood in stools when provided with a list. Similarly, 44.3% (n=224) could not identify any CRC risk factors unprompted; excessive alcohol intake (n=368, 72.7%) and low fibre intake (n=324, 64.0%) were the most commonly recognised risk factors when prompted. The mean symptom awareness score was 5.63 (SD=2.55), corresponding to ‘fair’ awareness, and the mean risk factor awareness score was 5.47 (SD=2.63), also indicating ‘fair’ awareness. Female gender (B=0.669, p=0.008; n=237) and older age (B=0.023, p=0.034) were significantly associated with higher symptom awareness. Awareness was significantly lower among participants with lower education (B = –0.104, p=0.018; n=219) and among the unemployed (B = –0.175, p=0.045; n=152).

Unprompted awareness of CRC symptoms and risk factors was suboptimal in this population, with marked gaps in spontaneous recall. Public health campaigns should prioritise men, younger adults and individuals with lower education to enhance CRC literacy and promote earlier detection.

To assess the relationship of infant growth, feeding practices and tummy time to their motor development at 12 months, with a special focus on how maternal physical activity during late pregnancy relates to infants’ motor skills.

Longitudinal study.

Rural city in the Mid-Southern USA.

16 singleton pregnant women in the third trimester and their term infants were recruited, excluding mother–infant pairs with health issues that impact infants’ motor development and restrict mothers’ physical activity.

Maternal physical activity and sedentary time during the third trimester were measured using Actigraph activity monitors. Labour nurses measured neonatal birth weight and length using standard procedures. Infants’ motor percentiles at 4 and 12 months were measured respectively using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale and Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II test by a licensed paediatric physical therapist. Feeding practices, infants’ time spent in different positions and family composition were evaluated separately at 4 and 12 months using a study-specific survey.

Infant motor percentiles at 4 months were positively associated with their 12-month motor percentiles (r=0.649, p=0.009). For each additional percentile at 4 months, the mean 12-month percentile increased by 0.4. Motor percentiles at 12 months were also positively associated with infants’ birth weight (r=0.553, p=0.026) and length (r=0.637, p=0.008), but not significantly associated with tummy time (r=–0.069, p=0.840). Infant motor percentiles at 12 months were not associated with time spent sedentary (r=–0.134, p=0.634), light activity (r=0.213, p=0.447) or moderate activity (r=–0.050, p=0.858) during the third trimester. At 12 months, breastfeeding status (p=0.576) and having siblings (p=0.230) were not related to motor scores.

Motor percentiles at 4 months, birth weight and length correlated with motor skills at 12 months, whereas tummy time, siblings, and breastfeeding were not significant predictors. Physical activity during pregnancy did not significantly correlate to motor skills at 12 months.

Sex selection is not permitted in Australia; however, there are indirect means for such selection to occur, for example, through sex identification and the early termination of pregnancy. Indirect evidence for such selection, if any, may be inferred from variations in the ‘sex ratio at birth’ (SRB) among different populations. This study aims to characterise the SRBs over 11 years in spontaneous and assisted births in the largely migrant population of Western Sydney.

This is a retrospective cohort study.

Western Sydney Local Health District over three maternity hospitals.

A total of 109 931 births between 2011 and 2020, where gender was assigned at birth, were included in the study.

The primary outcome measured was the SRB between ethnicities and mode of conception.

There was a higher male to female SRB for mothers born in China (SRB=1.12) compared with mothers born in Australia (SRB=1.05). Mothers from China were 1.1 times more likely to have a son. Otherwise, there was no significant difference with the SRB according to year, parity and mode of conception.

Among the Western Sydney population, mothers born in China show a higher male SRB, reflecting a possible sex preference. However, this study is not without some limitations, for which purpose further study is warranted.

This study explored how Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) are being undertaken and the challenges to their successful implementation and sustainability.

A cross-sectional mixed methods online survey.

Primary care in England.

120 clinical pharmacists with experience in conducting SMRs in primary care.

Survey responses were received from clinical pharmacists working in 15 different regions. The majority were independent prescribers (62%, n=74), and most were employed by Primary Care Networks (65%, n=78), delivering SMRs for one or more general practices. 61% (n=73) had completed, or were currently enrolled in, the approved training pathway. Patient selection was largely driven by the primary care contract specification: care home residents, patients with polypharmacy, patients on medicines commonly associated with medication errors, patients with severe frailty and/or patients using potentially addictive pain management medication. Only 26% (n=36) of respondents reported providing patients with information in advance. The majority of SMRs were undertaken remotely by telephone and were 21–30 min in length. Much variation was reported in approaches to conducting SMRs, with SMRs in care homes being deemed the most challenging due to additional complexities involved. Challenges included not having sufficient time to prepare adequately, address complex polypharmacy and complete follow-up work generated by SMRs, issues relating to organisational support, competing national priorities and lack of ‘buy-in’ from some patients and General Practitioners.

These results offer insights into the role being played by the clinical pharmacy workforce in a new country-wide initiative to improve the quality and safety of care for patients taking multiple medicines. Better patient preparation and trust, alongside continuing professional development, more support and oversight for clinical pharmacists conducting SMRs, could lead to more efficient medication reviews. However, a formal evaluation of the potential of SMRs to optimise safe medicines use for patients in England is now warranted.

To analyse patient profiles, transportation patterns and time delays in ischaemic time and door-to-balloon (DTB) time and evaluate the effect of these delays on in-hospital mortality among patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (P-PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) at a tertiary care hospital in Colombo.

Retrospective observational study.

Tertiary care hospital specialising in STEMI treatment, located in Sri Lanka.

The study included adults aged 16–87 years admitted for P-PCI between January 2018 and September 2023, presenting with STEMI and undergoing emergency P-PCI. Patients with incomplete records or unrealistic values on ischaemic time or DTB time were excluded.

Outcome measures include ischaemic time, DTB time and in-hospital mortality. The associations of demographic factors, transfer methods and DTB time with survival rates were analysed.

A total of 1758 patients underwent P-PCI (mean age, 53.0±11.64), with 85.2% being male. The male risk group was 46–60 years (OR, 1.22), whereas the female risk group was predominantly older than 60 years (OR, 1.87). The median ischaemic time was 4 hours and 36 min, and the median DTB time was 110 min. The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.8% (63/1,664). Prolonged DTB times exceeding 120 min were significantly associated with increased mortality (p=0.046), although alternative thresholds (45, 60 or 90 min) were not significant (p>0.05). Binary logistic regression with multiple variables identified female sex (OR, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.168 to 5.435, p=0.018), increasing age (OR 1.05; 95% CI, 1.016 to 1.085, p=0.004) and DTB times (OR, 1.001; 95% CI, 1.000 to 1.002, p=0.027) as independent predictors of mortality.

Despite improvements in DTB times, this study indicates that prolonged delays exceeding 120 min remain associated with increased mortality. Older age and female sex were identified as independent predictors of higher mortality. These findings underscore the need for efficient patient transfer methods and prompt decision-making at the primary healthcare level to minimise delays and disparities in P-PCI outcomes.