Translation and Validation of American Diabetes Association Diabetes Risk Test: The Malay Version

Background

Early detection of high-risk people for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective assessment tool helps to identify and prevent members of the community from developing this disease. Therefore, this study aims to translate the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diabetes risk test for Malaysians and then evaluate its validity.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2019 and April 2019. The instrument underwent forward and backward translation according to Behling and Law’s technique. Content validity was performed by two experts and face validity was conducted among 35 convenience samples from Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Both were analysed using content validity index and face validity index, respectively.

Results

All respondents were Malay, and had attained tertiary education with a mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 20.63 (2.80) years old and BMI of 30.45 (5.99). Among the respondents, 57.1%, 94.3% and 80% were female, single and having a household income below RM1,500, respectively. The Malay translated instrument achieved high I-content validity index (CVI) [0.5–1.0] and S-CVI/Ave [0.93] as well as high I-face validity index (FVI) [0.86–0.97] and S-FVI/Ave [0.91] for understandability, and high I-FVI [0.77–0.91] and S-FVI/Ave [0.85] for clarity.

Conclusion

The Malay version of the ADA diabetes risk test was found to be a valid survey instrument to be used for the Malaysian adult population.

Determination of calorie and protein intake among acute and sub-acute traumatic brain injury patients

PURPOSE

Malnutrition is a common problem among hospitalized patients, especially among traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. It is developed from hypermetabolism and the condition may worsen under the circumstance of underfeeding or incompatible dietary management. However, the data of nutrient intake especially calorie and protein among TBI patients were scarce. Hence, this study aimed to determine the calorie and protein intake among acute and sub-acute TBI patients receiving medical nutrition therapy in hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah, Terengganu.

METHODS

This observational study involved 50 patients recruited from the neurosurgical ward. Method of 24 h dietary recall was utilized and combined with self-administered food diaries for 2-8 days. Food consumptions including calorie intake and protein intake were analyzed using Nutritionist PRO™ (Woodinville, USA) and manual calculation based on the Malaysian food composition database (2015).

RESULTS

Patients consisted of 56% males and 44% females with the median age of 28.0 (IQR = 22.8-36.5) years, of which 92% were diagnosed as mild TBI and the remaining (8%) as moderate TBI. The Glasgow coma scale (GCS) was adopted to classify TBI severity with the score 13-15 being mild and 9-12 being moderate. The median length of hospital stay was 2 (IQR = 2.0-3.3) days. Calorie and protein intake improved significantly from day 1 to discharge day. However, the intake during discharge day was still considered as suboptimal, i.e. 75% of calorie requirement, whilst the median protein intake was only 61.3% relative to protein requirement. Moreover, the average percentages of calorie and protein intakes throughout hospitalization were remarkably lower, i.e. 52.2% and 41.0%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Although the calorie and protein intakes had increased from baseline, hospitalized TBI patients were still at a risk to develop malnutrition as the average intakes were considerably low as compared to their requirements. Optimum nutrient intakes especially calorie and protein are crucial to ensure optimum recovery process as well as to minimize risks of infection and complications.