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Objective: This study aimed to explore the relationship between urogenital symptom frequency and severity, perception of vaginal treatment burden, and female sexual desire, arousal, and satisfaction. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted with a sample of 326 patients from three tertiary care hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. The frequency and severity of urogenital symptoms, emotional and physical functioning, and treatment burden were assessed using the validated genitourinary syndrome of menopause symptoms and vaginal treatments acceptability questionnaire (GSM‐SVATQ). To examine the mediating roles of emotional and physical functioning, as well as the perceived treatment burden on sexual functioning, a partial least squares‐structural equation model was developed using the SmartPLS 4 Software. Results: The measurement model was successfully established. All constructs had a reliability of > 0.70 and discriminant validity of < 0.90. Emotional, physical and sexual functioning showed an adjusted R2 values of 0.377, 0.282 and 0.169, respectively.The multistep multiple mediator model revealed a full mediation effect of both emotional and physical functioning between symptom, treatment burden and sexual functioning. The model showed high predictive performance with all manifest variables showing lower mean absolute errors compared to the naiive benchmark model. Conclusion: This study enhances our understanding of the relationships between urogenital symptoms, perceived treatment burden, emotional functioning, and sexual well‐being. The findings emphasize the importance of addressing emotional well‐being in managing urogenital symptoms and in addressing emotional factors associated with the use of vaginal treatments. Synopsis: Emotional and physical functioning have mediating roles between urogenital symptoms, treatment burden, and sexual functioning among peri‐ and postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop and validate an electronic, patient‐reported outcomes measure (PROM) specific for genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) patients. The PROM aimed to accurately assess the burden of GSM symptoms, their impact on health‐related and sexual quality of life, and the acceptability of vaginal treatments. Methods: The study encompassed a comprehensive three‐stage approach to the development and validation of the PROM. Initially, during the preliminary design stage, the necessity for a new PROM was recognized, an expert panel was formed, and semi‐structured qualitative interviews were carried out with GSM patients. In the second stage, the study used the five‐step pre‐validation methodology established by Prior et al. to generate and refine the PROM items. The third and final stage encompassed the determination of scale and item content validity indexes to ensure validity. Additionally, the reliability of each construct was evaluated using Cronbach's α. Results: The resulting PROM was named GSM‐SVTAQ (GSM‐symptoms and vaginal treatments acceptability questionnaire). It demonstrated excellent validity in assessing symptoms burden, health‐related and sexual quality of life, and vaginal treatment acceptability, with high content validity indices and strong internal consistency. The scale content validity indices and Cronbach's α coefficients for the three domains were (0.926, 0.939), (0.875, 0.947), and (0.824, 0.855), respectively. Conclusion: The GSM‐SVTAQ stands as the first GSM‐specific, valid, and reliable PROM capable of comprehensively measuring the three components of GSM and the acceptability of vaginal treatments. Its implementation has the potential to significantly enhance patient care and outcomes in GSM management. Synopsis: The study developed and validated GSM‐SVTAQ, a reliable measure for genitourinary syndrome of menopause, assessing symptoms burden, quality of life, and vaginal treatment acceptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine prevalence of depression among undergraduate pharmacy students in Malaysia and its factors. A cross-sectional web-based questionnaire was distributed through email and social media platforms to 19 institutions offering Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons.) in Malaysia. Students were assessed using Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-42 (DASS-42). A total of 610 pharmacy students participated in this study resulted in a response rate of 20.3%. Pearson's Chi square test was used to determine the association between different demographic groups. One-way ANOVA and independent T-test were used to evaluate the difference in depression scores between groups. Based on the depression scores, this study found that 47.4% (n=289) were having depression of different severity. Most of the students presented with moderate depression (18.9%, n=115) followed by mild (14.1%, n=86), severe (7.7%, n=47) and a few students were found to have very severe depression (6.7%, n=41). Compared to students who did not have depression, students who smoke, have separated parents, with family history of mental illness, had recent loss of someone close, and with lower CGPA were statistically significantly associated with depression. This study concluded that depression is highly prevalent among pharmacy undergraduate students in Malaysia. Strategic approaches among various stakeholders mainly the higher education providers are urgently needed to prevent further complications of mental health issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are at risk of acquiring drug-related problems (DRPs). However, there has been a lack of studies on DRPs in patients with RA up to now.Method: This retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia from January 2012 to December 2017 with the purpose of assessing DRPs in RA patients and factors associated with its occurrence. A total of 200 patients who had received pharmacological treatment for RA were enrolled in this study. Assessment of DRPs was based on the Pharmaceutical Network Care Europe tool version 5.01.Results: A total of 289 DRPs with an average of 1.5±1.0 problems per patient were identified, in which 78.5% of the population had at least one DRP. The most common DRPs encountered were adverse reactions (38.8%), drug interactions (33.6%), and drug-choice problems (14.5%). Factors that had significant association with the occurrence of DRPs were polypharmacy (P=0.003), multiple comorbidities (P=0.001), hyperlipidemia (P=0.009), osteo (P=0.040), and renal impairment (P=0.044). These data indicated that the prevalence of DRPs was high among RA patients.Conclusion: Early identification of types of DRPs and associated factors may enhance the prevention and management of RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]