The Institute for community health Research (ICHR) at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hue UMP) was developed from a collaboration between Hue UMP, the Health department of 5 provinces in the Central and highland regions of Vietnam and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, with financial, resources and technical support from Atlantic Philanthropies(AP) and QUT. The primary mission of ICHR is to foster stronger connections between universities and the community. In 2014, ICHR had many activities especially cooperation and supported research for health staff from 5 provinces (ThuaThien Hue, Danang, BinhDinh, KhanhHoa, Daklak)  and also teaching staff from Hue UMP. There were a total of 12 titles that were selected and supported from the24 titles ICHR received in 2014.

During the two days of the 7^th and 8^th of January, According to the decision number 2505/ QD-DHYD dated December 26, 2014 by the Rector of Hue university of Medicine and pharmacy, The science council was established to assess the research that was supported financially and technicallyby the Institute for Community health research (ICHR) in 2014. The research from this year were focused on some contents that is of interest to society: accident and injury prevention in specific populations (children, fishermen); Rehabilitation based in the community; picky eating in children; depression in cancer patients; Epidemiological of Dengue fever; Quinvaxem vaccine and synthetic drugs.

The science council has evaluated the quality of these topics regarding the application and high scientific value. The health research was not only a good way to provided scientific evidence for policy management; and planning at the local and health sectors but also contributed to capacity building research for staff in Hue  UMP and provinces in the central and highlands regions of Vietnam.

Main Findings from ICHR research in 2014

There were 328 Stroke patients and their families who participated in this study

The research of Doan Vuong Diem Khanh in 905 elderly over 65 ages in Hue city showed that prevalence of MMSE (+) was 28.8%, the overall prevalence estimates for dementia was 9.4%. Age, medical history of stroke, physical activity and entertainment activity were significantly associated with dementia. The most common health care needs for people living with dementia were medication (76.5%), receiving consultation for  people with dementia (73.3%), and having support and professional advice on how to deal with mental and behavioral disorders (63.5%).

Study on the situation of picky eating and nutritional status of children from 1 to 5 in Hue city. A total of 1100 children participated in this research.  The prevalence of picky eaters based on parents or caregivers’ opinion and according to researchers were 43.3% and 22.2%, respectively. The most common signs of picky eating reported by parents or caregivers were eating slowly, mealtime lasted for over 30minutes (39.7%), eating less (31.7%), keeping the food in his/her mouth (23.5%). 35.9% of picky eaters had signs at the stage of complementary feeding. The prevalence of underweight, overweight and stunting were 7.5%, 3.6% and 10.9%, respectively. There was no relationship between picky eating and stunting (p>0.05) but a strong relationship between picky eating and underweight (p<0.001), wasting (p<0.001). Picky eaters were 4.02 times at risk of underweight compared to non-picky eaters (95% CI: 2.54-6.36). Low birth weight, not eating with family and having picky eaters in the family were associated with picky eating (p<0.05). Improper nourishment was a risk factor of picky eating.

Surveyon the knowledge, attitudes and practice of synthetic drugs and prevention of some STDs among the users of synthetic drugs in Da Nang city. A total of 293 people who had used synthetic drugs participated in this research. The average age of participation was 28,9, the rate people who had enough knowledge about synthetic drugs was between 28,7% and 41,2%. 

 

The relationships between learning strategies, coping with stress and mental health among medical students.This is a longitudinal study carried out during the academic year 2012-2013 on 623 medical students from year 1 to year 5. Findings indicated that students who applied medium level SRL strategies could achieve significantly higher scores for cumulative GPA, clinical GPA and reduce depression, anxiety and stress scores as compared to those who did not apply these strategies.

	SRL (Md,95%CI)	depression (Md,95%CI)	anxiety (Md,95%CI)	Stress (Md,95%CI)
Positive	3.623 [1.7 to 5.9]	-4.84 [-3.52 to  - 6.17]	-2.34 [-0.86 to  -3.82]	-2.012 [-0.628 to -3.392]
Negative	-3.76 [-2.49  to -5.04]	6.364 [5.26 to 7.468]	7.104 [4.276 to 9.94]	7.527 [4.924 to 10.212]

 

Study of hematological indexes in workers exposed to petroleum and pesticides at 2 companies in ThuaThien Hue province in 2014. A total of 384 worker participated in this research. Some blood indexes such as red-blood cells under 3.8 10³µl with a reduction of 23.1% in male, 25.9% in female; white-blood cells under 5x10³µl  with a reduction of 8,5 % in male, 11,7% in female; neutral-multi-core white blood cells under 2x10³µl with a reduction of 14,0%. Lympho and Mono white blood cells  increased with 6,5% and 14,6%. Hb under 11g/dL was 27,9%. HCT under was 8,6%, MCV under was 22,7%. There was an association   between changes in the blood index with occupational age and use of occupational protection devices (p <0.05)

Study of the situation of depressive disorders among cancer patients in Da nang city, 2014.This study used a cross – sectional design. A total of 695 cancer patients wêre participants in this study. The result showed that the overall rate of depression disorder was 35% in which mild status accounted for 64,2%; moderate status was 35,4% and severity was 0,4%. There were 25,2% cancer patients who had happiness with a well- being index and 64,8% of cancer patients had low wellbeing. There were 18% patients who had  low wellbeing related with their depression disorder. The study found that some related factors with depression disorder of cancer patients were education status, shelter, disease severity; stress, supported situation from health staff or family.

The Epidemiological characteristics of dengue hemorrhagic fever period 2007 – 2014 in BinhDinh province, and evaluation of the prevention activities for Dengue fever. The overall average of disease rate / year is 86.5 / 100,000 population, deathrate is 0.18%; the disease is increasing  from May to June and going to the pinnacle from July to December of the year; the incidence of the age group ≤ 15 is 28.3% and group > 15 years old is 71.7%; serious cases  is only 4.6% according to the old clinical classification  and 1.3% according to the new clinical classification; 4 Dengue virus types are in circulation in the province.

The results of an accidental injury study of Nguyen Van Hung in Buon Ma Thuot city, Daklak province in 2013 showed that the overall rate of children with accidental injury was 7,5% (95%CI: 3,2% - 11,2%) and 13,9% for households.  The five main causes of accidental injury amongst children in this research were falling (43,6%); traffic accidents ( 23,2%); animal or insect bite (15,9%); burns (6,8%) and sharps (6,2%). The location of accidental injury were highest at home 43,3% and on the road 27,5%. The prevalence of accidental injuries of children who received first aid was 75,9%. The mortality of accidental injury of children in this research was 0,3%.

Situation of injury and access to health care services among  offshore Fishermen in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province, 2014. A total of 500 offshore fishermen were selected and participated in this study. The results showed that there was an 18% injury rate with the main form of damage being soft tissue injury (62.2%), drowning (is this right? It seems high)(31.1%), burns (3.4%), trauma coordination (2.2%) and fractures (1.1%). The propotion of fishermen who were trained in the first aid skills was 91,6%; prevention ccident injury solutions accounted for 13,6%.

Factors associated with Quinvaxem vaccine coverage among children age 4-6 months in Thuathien Hue province.  The proportion of children who were fully vaccinated by Quinvaxem vaccine from 4-6 months of age was 49.5% (95%CI =43.9-55.1) whereas OPV vaccine, which was given children at the same time, was higher (about 94.5%). The most highlighted reason for why children were not immunized with Quinvaxem vaccine was a shortage of Quinvaxem vaccine (57.3%) and children’s illness (52.4%).

---