Ethnic Variation and its Association with Malaria Awareness: A Cross-sectional Study in the East Nusa Tenggara Province (Indonesia)

Objectives: This study aims to investigate ethnic variation and its association with malaria awareness in the East Nusa Tenggara Province (ENTP), Indonesia. Methods: A community–based cross–sectional study was conducted upon 1495 adults recruited by multi –stage cluster random sampling technique. A malaria awareness related questionnaire was used to collect data alongside a malaria awareness index (MAI). A logistic regression method was applied to quantify the strength of associations of factors associated with the awareness index. Results: Of total participants, 33% were from Manggarai, 32.3% were from Atoni, 30.2% from Sumba ethnicity. The level of MAI was significantly different between these groups with the highest in Manggarai ethnicity (65.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 59.9 — 70.3) and the lowest in Sumba ethnicity (35%, 95% CI: 27.6 — 42.4). The most prominent factors influencing the MAI in Sumba and Manggarai ethnicity were education level, whilst it was socio–economic status (SES) in Atoni ethnicity. The level of MAI was significantly higher for adults with diploma or above education level (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 21.4, 95% CI: 3.59 — 127.7- for Manggarai; AOR: 6.94, 95% CI: 1.81 — 26.6 for Sumba). The level of MAI was significantly higher for adults living in high SES in Atoni (AOR 24.48, 95% CI: 8.79 — 68.21). Conclusions. Poorer education levels and low SES were more prominent factors contributing to lower levels of MAI in rural ENTP. Interventions should focus on improving malaria awareness to these groups to support the national commitment of the Indonesian government to achieve a malaria elimination zone by 2030.

Racial/Ethnic Variation in the Relationship between Educational Assortative Mating and Wives’ Income Trajectories

The share of U.S. marriages involving wives with an educational advantage over their husbands has increased in recent years. Prior work has examined the relationship between educational assortative mating and wives’ labor market participation, but they have not assessed how this relationship varies by race/ethnicity. Drawing on 28 waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we estimate group-based development trajectories to investigate whether the association between educational assortative mating and wives’ income trajectories varies across racial/ethnic groups. White wives are more likely than black and Hispanic wives to be a secondary earner. Black wives are more likely than white and Hispanic wives to be the primary earner. For white wives, higher relative levels of education are associated with greater contribution to couple’s total income. Black wives in educationally hypergamous unions are less likely than other black wives to be a primary or equal earner. For Hispanic wives, differences in income trajectories by educational assortative mating are small and statistically insignificant. Like family structure, the impact of educational assortative mating differs across racial/ethnic groups. Educational assortative mating is a weaker correlate of black and Hispanic wives’ income trajectory than white wives’ income trajectories.

Racial/Ethnic Variation in Residential Fathers’ Time in Childcare and Co-presence with Children

Past research on racial/ethnic minority fathers’ involvement in children’s lives tends to focus on subgroups of fathers and narrow definitions of involvement, making knowledge of racial/ethnic variation in fathering obscure. Using ordinary-least-squared regression models with the 2003-2019 American Time Use Survey (N = 30,622), we compare White, Black, Latino, and Asian residential fathers’ time spent in four childcare activities and 10 additional daily activities when fathers are co-present with children, attending to variation by age of children. Results show that how fathers spend time with children varies by racial/ethnic group across stages of children’s lives. Latino fathers spend more time in presence of young children than other fathers, whereas Black and Asian fathers spend less time in presence of older children than other fathers, with differences concentrated in the amount of downtime spent together. Within father-child co-present time, Black fathers spend more time in religious activities, Latino fathers in shopping, and Asian fathers in hobbies. Considering the narrower arena of childcare, Black and Latino fathers spend less time overall, White fathers spend more time on play, and Black and Asian fathers spend more time teaching children. These findings suggest that broadening assessments of time beyond childcare and being attentive to fathers in different racial/ethnic statuses enrich our understanding of how fathers spend time with children and align more with the whole of family life across children’s developmental stages.

Self-Reported Symptom Study of COVID-19 Chemosensory Dysfunction in Malaysia

Alterations in the three chemosensory modalities – smell, taste, and chemesthesis – have been implicated in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), yet emerging data suggest a wide geographic and ethnic variation in the prevalence of these symptoms. Studies on chemosensory disorders in COVID-19 have predominantly focused on Caucasian populations whereas Asians remain understudied. We conducted a nationwide, multicentre cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire on a cohort of RT-PCR-confirmed adult COVID-19 patients in Malaysia between 6 June to 30 November 2020. The aim of our study was to investigate their presenting symptoms and assess their chemosensory function using self-ratings of perceived smell, taste, chemesthesis, and nasal blockage. In this cohort of 498 patients, 41.4% reported smell and/or taste loss when diagnosed with COVID-19, which was the commonest symptom. Blocked nose, loss of appetite, and gastrointestinal disturbances were independent predictors of smell and/or taste loss on multivariate analysis. Self-ratings of chemosensory function revealed a reduction in smell, taste, and chemesthesis across the entire cohort of patients that was more profound among those reporting smell and/or taste loss as their presenting symptom. Perceived nasal obstruction accounted for only a small proportion of changes in smell and taste, but not for chemesthesis, supporting viral disruption of sensorineural mechanisms as the dominant aetiology of chemosensory dysfunction. Our study suggests that chemosensory dysfunction in COVID-19 is more widespread than previously reported among Asians and may be related to the infectivity of viral strains. Study Registration: NMRR-20-934-54803 and NCT04390165

Ethnic variation in medial orbital wall anatomy and its implications for decompression surgery

Background To describe the inter-ethnic variation in medial orbital wall anatomy between Chinese, Malay, Indian and Caucasian subjects. Methods Single-centre, retrospective, Computed Tomography (CT)-based observational study. 20 subjects of each ethnicity, were matched for gender and laterality. We excluded subjects younger than 16 years and those with orbital pathology. OsiriX version 8.5.1 (Pixmeo., Switzerland) and DICOM image viewing software CARESTREAM Vue PACS (Carestream Health Inc., USA) were used to measure the ethmoidal sinus length, width and volume, medial orbital wall and floor angle and the relative position of the posterior ethmoid sinus to the posterior maxillary wall. Statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0 (IBM, USA). Results There were 12 males (60 %) in each group, with no significant difference in age (p = 0.334–0.994). The mean ethmoid sinus length in Chinese, Malay, Indian and Caucasian subjects, using the Chinese as reference, were 37.2, 36.9, 38.0 and 37.4mm, the mean width was 11.6, 10.5, 11.4 and 10.0mm (p = 0.020) and the mean ethmoid sinus volume were 3362, 3652, 3349 and 3898mm3 respectively. The mean medial orbital wall and floor angle was 135.0, 131.4, 131.0 and 136.8 degrees and the mean relative position of posterior ethmoid sinus to posterior maxillary wall were − 2.0, -0.2, -1.5 and 1.6mm (p = 0.003) respectively. Conclusions No inter-ethnic variation was found in decompressible ethmoid sinus volume. Caucasians had their posterior maxillary sinus wall anterior to their posterior ethmoidal walls unlike the Chinese, Malay and Indians. Awareness of ethnic variation is essential for safe orbital decompression.

Author Correction: Ethnic variation of oral microbiota in children

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.