Sohail Akhtar

Dr. Sohail Akhtar

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

17Years (2010-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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27 January 2022 in PLOS ONE
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Journal Article
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SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
JNJamal Abdul Nasir
Jamal Abdul Nasir
AAAqsa Ali
Aqsa Ali
MAMubeen Asghar
Mubeen Asghar
RMRizwana Majeed
Rizwana Majeed
ASAqsa Sarwar
Aqsa Sarwar
Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the pooled prevalence of prediabetes and type-2 diabetes in the general population of Malaysia. Method: We systematically searched Medline (PubMed), Embase, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Malaysian Journals Online to identify relevant studies published between January 1, 1995, and November 30, 2021, on the prevalence of type-2 diabetes in Malaysia. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to obtain the pooled prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes. Subgroup analyses also used to analyze to the potential sources of heterogeneity. Meta- regression was carried to assess associations between study characteristics and diabetes prevalence. Three independent authors selected studies and conducted the quality assessment. The quality of the final evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Results: Of 2689 potentially relevant studies, 786 titles and abstract were screened. Fifteen studies with 103063 individuals were eligible to be included in the meta-analyses. The pooled prevalence of diabetes was 14.39% (95% CI, 12.51%–16.38%; I2 = 98.4%, 103063 participants from 15 studies). The pooled prevalence of prediabetes was 11.62% (95% CI, 7.17%–16.97%; I2 = 99.8, 88702 participants from 9 studies). The subgroup analysis showed statistically significant differences in diabetes prevalence by the ethical sub-populations with highest in Indians (25.10%; 95% CI, 20.19%–30.35%), followed by Malays (15.25%; 95% CI, 11.59%–19.29%), Chinese (12.87%; 95% CI, 9.73%–16.37%), Bumiputeras (8.62%; 95% CI, 5.41%–12.47%) and others (6.91%; 95% CI, 5.71%–8.19%). There was no evidence of publication bias, although heterogeneity was high (I2 ranged from 0.00% to 99·8%). The quality of evidence based on GRADE was low. Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that a high prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes in Malaysia. The diabetes prevalence is associated with time period and increasing age. The Malaysian government should develop a comprehensive approach and strategy to enhance diabetes awareness, control, prevention, and treatment. Trial registration: Trial registration no. PROSPERO CRD42021255894; https://clinicaltrials.gov/.

9 September 2020 in BMJ Open
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Journal Article
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SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
JNJamal Abdul Nasir
Jamal Abdul Nasir
ASAqsa Sarwar
Aqsa Sarwar
NNNida Nasr
Nida Nasr
AJAmara Javed
Amara Javed
BBBaki Billah
Baki Billah
Objective The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to summarise the prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes and their associated risk factors in Bangladesh. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Participants General population of Bangladesh. Data sources PubMed, Medline, Embase, Bangladesh Journals Online, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were used to search for studies, published between 1st of January 1995 and 31st of August 2019, on the prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes and their associated risk factors in Bangladesh. Only articles published in the English language articles were considered. Two authors independently selected studies. The quality of the articles was also assessed. Results Out of 996 potentially relevant studies, 26 population-based studies, which together involved a total of 80 775 individuals, were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of diabetes in the general population was 7.8% (95% CI: 6.4–9.3). In a sample of 56 452 individuals, the pooled prevalence of pre-diabetes was 10.1% (95% CI: 6.7–14.0; 17 studies). The univariable meta-regression analyses showed that the prevalence of diabetes is associated with the factors: the year of study, age of patients and presence of hypertension. The prevalence of diabetes was significantly higher in urban areas compared with rural areas, while there was no significant gender difference. Conclusions This meta-analysis suggests a relatively high prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes in Bangladesh, with a significant difference between rural and urban areas. The main factors of diabetes include urbanisation, increasing age, hypertension and time period. Further research is needed to identify strategies for early detecting, prevention and treatment of people with diabetes in the population. PROSPERO registration number CRD42019148205.

26 June 2019 in Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
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Journal Article
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SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
JNJamal Abdul Nasir
Jamal Abdul Nasir
TATahir Abbas
Tahir Abbas
ASAqsa Sarwar
Aqsa Sarwar
Objective: The purpose of this study was assess the time trend of the prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes and risk factors associated with diabetes in Pakistan by using a systematic review and meta–analysis. Methods: A systematic literature search of Embase, PubMed, and the Cochrane library was carried out between January 1, 1995 and August 30, 2018. Diabetes and prediabetes prevalence estimates were combined by the random–effects model. The existence of publication bias was tested by Egger regression. This systematic review was reported following the PRISMA guidelines. Results: The search conceded a total of 635 studies, only 14 studies were considered for meta-analysis. The prevalence of diabetes in Pakistan was revealed 14.62% (10.651%–19.094%; 14 studies) based on 49,418 people using the inverse–variance random–effects model. The prevalence of prediabetes was 11.43% (8.26%–15.03%; 10 studies) based on a total sample of 26,999 people. The risk factors associated with diabetes were mean age (β = 0.48%, 95% CI: 0.21–0.78, p<0.001), the proportion of participants with a family history of diabetes (β = 0. 45%, 95% CI: 0.08–0.82, p =0.018, p<0.001), hypertension (β = 0.40%, 95% CI: 0.06–0.75, p = 0.022), weight (BMI) (β = 0.21%, 95% CI: 0.02–0.4, p=0.030). Conclusions: There has been a continuous increase in the prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes in Pakistan. All parts of the country have been affected, with the highest in Sindh and lowest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The main factors include growing age, family history, hypertension and obesity. A nationwide diabetes care survey on risk factors and prevention policy is highly recommended. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.194 How to cite this:Akhtar S, Nasir JA, Abbas T, Sarwar A. Diabetes in Pakistan: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(4):1173-1178. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.4.194 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

28 September 2020 in PLOS ONE
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SHSardar Hussain
Sardar Hussain
SASohaib Ahmad
Sohaib Ahmad
MSMariyam Saleem
Mariyam Saleem
SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
The main purpose of this paper is to propose two new estimators for estimating the finite population distribution function under simple and stratified random sampling schemes using supplementary information on the distribution function, mean and ranks of the auxiliary variable. The mathematical expressions for the bias and mean squared error of the proposed estimators are derived under the first order of approximation. The theoretical and empirical studies showed that the proposed estimators uniformly perform better than the existing estimators in terms of the percentage relative efficiency.

17 December 2020 in PLOS ONE
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SHSardar Hussain
Sardar Hussain
SASohaib Ahmad
Sohaib Ahmad
SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
AJAmara Javed
Amara Javed
UYUzma Yasmeen
Uzma Yasmeen
In this paper, we propose two new families of estimators for estimating the finite population distribution function in the presence of non-response under simple random sampling. The proposed estimators require information on the sample distribution functions of the study and auxiliary variables, and additional information on either sample mean or ranks of the auxiliary variable. We considered two situations of non-response (i) non-response on both study and auxiliary variables, (ii) non-response occurs only on the study variable. The performance of the proposed estimators are compared with the existing estimators available in the literature, both theoretically and numerically. It is also observed that proposed estimators are more precise than the adapted distribution function estimators in terms of the percentage relative efficiency.

1 July 2012 in International Journal of Forecasting
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Journal Article
Closed access
SASohail Akhtar
Sohail Akhtar
PSPhilip Scarf
Philip Scarf