The COVID-19 pandemic has affected medical students both physically and mentally. Medical students have had to take online classes, which may have decreased their physical activity (PA) and increased their risk of mental health. This research aimed to explore the association between mental health problems and PA levels. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1st–6^thyear medical students, at a university in Southern Thailand; from September to October 2021. The participants completed online questionnaires; including, demographic data, Global Physical Activity, PHQ-9 and the GAD-7 questionnaire. The association between PA levels and mental health was assessed using ordinal logistic regression. Among 325 medical students, 42.8% were males and 51.1% were clinical medical students. The prevalence of moderate to severe depression and anxiety was 31% and 12.9%. In total, 49.7% of participants had low PA levels. Pre-clinical students had a higher risk of depression (OR 2.11 p-value 0.001) and anxiety (OR 2.20 p-value 0.045) than clinical students. We also found that moderate or high PA levels were not a significant factor with mental health status (p-value of depression 0.447, 0.823 and p-value of anxiety 0.362, p-value 0.574, respectively). There were a lot of medical students with moderate to severe depression and anxiety, and about half of those had low PA levels; especially, pre-clinical students that learned online study activities. There was no significant association between PA levels and mental health status. However, the faculty should reconsiderate their medical student to increase physical activities and redesign the curriculum to support their students during these challenging times.

Purpose: Vaccine-preventable diseases have decreased globally. However, measles and diphtheria outbreaks still occur in Southern Thailand, where Muslims are predominant with a documented low vaccine coverage. The purpose of this study was to investigate Muslim parents’ beliefs and factors influencing them to complete immunization of children aged 0–5 years in Y.L. province, Thailand. Method: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted, using focus group discussion with 26 participants. They are parents whose children had complete or incomplete vaccination and community/religious leaders. Data were analyzed using content-analysis and triangulation method was used to ensure trustworthiness. Results: Four major themes emerged from the analysis: (1) positive vaccine beliefs, which included knowledge and awareness of vaccination, trust in vaccine efficacy, and religious beliefs; (2) positive factors influencing positive beliefs and vaccine acceptance, which were accessibility of reliable sources, and imitation of leaders and health-community-network; (3) negative vaccine beliefs, including bias in vaccine efficacy and safety, personal beliefs about sources of vaccines, and religious misconceptions regarding the value of vaccines and Halal concerns; and (4) negative factors influencing negative beliefs and refusal of vaccination, which were perception of disadvantages of vaccines spread by word-of-mouth, trust in person over empirical evidence, religious views based on self-interpretation, and lack of public information on Halal vaccines. Conclusion: Both positive and negative factors influencing complete immunization were found in this study. To enhance vaccine acceptance, health care providers should understand Muslim cultural beliefs by offering parents a chance to express their attitudes and encourage vaccination via religious leaders and community role models.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacted both the physical and mental health of individuals. The resilience quotient (RQ) is an important factor that decreases mental health problems. This study aimed to explore mental health problems and RQ in patients who visit Primary Care Units (PCU). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on participants aged 18 to 60 years who visited the PCU of Songklanagarind Hospital from May 1, 2022, to June 31, 2022. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on baseline characteristics and the Primary Care Assessment, Personal Resource Questionnaire, satisfaction with life scale, Thai RQ, PHQ-9, and GAD-7, and the results were analyzed by descriptive, logistic regression, and Spearman’s rank correlation. Results: Among the 216 participants, 72.2% were female, and the median age was 39 (24,51) years old. Most of them had normal RQ levels (61.1%). Of these, 4.2% and 12.1% exhibited moderate to high levels of depression and anxiety, respectively. This study found that sex (OOR 1.93; 95% CI 1.01–3.74), age (OOR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.06), moderate and high social support levels (OOR 9.51; 95% CI 3.36–28.85), and a high life satisfaction level (OOR 4.67; 95%CI 1.75–13.25) were associated with RQ. Moreover, the results showed that ≥ 3 times visiting PCU (β 1.73; 95% CI 0.39–3.08), BMI (β 0.13; 95% CI 0.04–0.23) and experiencing stressful events (β 2.34; 95% CI 1.32–3.36) were positively associated with depression. Finally, experiencing stressful events (OR 4.1; 95% CI 1.09–15.47) significantly affected anxiety, however, moderate and high life satisfaction levels acted as a protective factor against anxiety (OR 0.19; 95% CI 0.07–0.54 and OR 0.03; 95% CI 0.01–0.16, respectively). Conclusion: Although there were a few patients with moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety, most of them had normal RQ levels. However, there were some patients with low RQ levels which correlated to a high risk of psychiatric diseases such as depression and anxiety. Healthcare providers should focus on interventions that enhance resilience in both proactive and defensive strategies to reduce negative mental problems during these formidable times.

Background: The hypertensive crisis is characterized by poorly controlled hypertension, which can lead to unfavorable outcomes and high utilization. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and factors associated with hypertensive emergency. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study collected data from the hospital information system that included patients greater than or equal to 18 years who were diagnosed with hypertensive crisis (blood pressure ≥180 and/or 120 mmHg) and receiving care from the primary care unit and emergency department from 2020 to 2022. The prevalence and clinical characteristics of these patients were examined. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze factors associated with hypertensive emergency. Results: Among 3329 patients with hypertension, 17.33% had a hypertensive crisis (16.64 vs. 0.69%, urgency and emergency types). Most patients were female (63.6%), with a median age of 66 years. Almost half the patients (42.2%) with hypertensive crisis presented without specific symptoms, and the most common presenting symptom was vertigo/dizziness (27.7%). The initial and after treatment blood pressures were 203/98 and 174/91 mmHg. In the hypertensive emergency, the most common end-organ damage was ischemic stroke (33.3%), hemorrhagic stroke (25%), and acute heart failure (20.8%). An oral angiotensin-converting enzyme (57.5%) was the most commonly administered medication. Multiple logistic regression was performed but did not reveal any statistically significant. Conclusion: Our result revealed a high prevalence of hypertensive crises; most were of hypertensive urgency. The most common presenting symptom was vertigo/dizziness. There was no factor significantly associated with the hypertensive emergency in this study. Further studies should explore the cause of the hypertensive crisis to improve care delivery to patients with hypertension.