Interactive Journal of Medical Research

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is associated with severe negative outcomes, including social isolation, depression, and cognitive decline. Despite this, routine ARHL screening is often neglected in primary care due to low awareness, resource limitations, and inefficiencies. A practical risk assessment tool could effectively address this gap.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, including disruptions to family planning (FP) and contraceptive services. The World Health Organization conducted a multi-country study in India, Nigeria and Tanzania to determine the impact of the pandemic on the health system's capacity to provide contraception services. In this manuscript, we present findings of health facility assessment on availability and readiness to provide contraceptive services, and a comparison of trends in contraceptive uptake before and during the pandemic.

In rural Australia, recent trends reveal an exponential increase in the rates of physical inactivity, central obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cancer in the population. The limited rural health workforce, which is struggling to meet this growing burden, is boosted by digital technologies such as My Health Record, Cardihab, Healthdirect, and MindSpot, all of which offer opportunities for improved diagnostics, monitoring, and management of chronic diseases. However, implementing proven digital health technologies in rural communities has been challenging on numerous fronts. This perspective aims to (1) highlight the rural health gap and propose a way forward in implementing evidence-based digital health technologies in the rural, regional, and remote communities of Australia and (2) guide future rural health policy.

The growing administrative burden on clinicians, particularly in medical documentation, contributes to burnout and may compromise patient safety. Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) offer a promising solution to improve documentation processes and address these challenges.

Peers are known to influence the health behaviours and attitudes of adolescents, yet recruitment of these networks is challenging. Previous studies have used web-based respondent-driven sampling (WebRDS) methods to recruit this population, yet none have experimentally investigated the impact of financial reimbursements.

A growing body of evidence has identified that people’s physical health could influence self-rated health and QoL. However, only focusing on physical health is not adequate for the well-being of older adults. The study focusing on the impact of psychological well-being on self-rated health and QoL is still rare.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition characterized by organ dysfunction resulting from dysregulated host response to infections. Approximately 48.9 million people worldwide are diagnosed with sepsis annually, leading to 11 million deaths and representing 19.7% of all global deaths. No specific effective treatments of sepsis, which has a poor prognosis, are available.

The human capacity to process information is limited. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were exposed to a large amount of uncertain and complex health information. This situation made some people experience perceived information overload, which made them unable to adopt appropriate preventive behaviors.

Dementia is a global health challenge, particularly in Nigeria, where limited healthcare infrastructure, cultural stigmas, and poor awareness hinder its care. Telemedicine can improve patient outcomes, increase healthcare access, and support caregivers. However, challenges like poor internet connectivity, digital literacy, and lack of integrated strategies hinder its adoption, particularly in rural areas

The transtheoretical model (TTM) explains the behavioral changes through sequential stages influenced by the balance of perceived benefits and barriers. Although prior studies have identified the inhibitors and facilitators of exercise behavior, only few have elucidated how these factors vary across the stages of behavioral change.

Obesity is increasing among Saudi adolescents, with rural females disproportionately underserved due to limited health education, sociocultural barriers, and scarce resources. While most school programs emphasize weight, global recommendations call for non-weight-centric approaches to avoid stigma. The Green Apple program is a school-based, weight-neutral intervention focusing on energy metabolism, nutrient balance, and dietary sources. Its enhanced version adds a unit on metabolic non-communicable disease (MNCD) prevention, grounded in the health belief model. Although previously tested in urban settings, it has not yet been evaluated among rural female students.

Bowel preparation compliance is an important intervenable factor that affects bowel preparation quality, and improving compliance is an important way to optimize bowel preparation outcomes. Despite its importance, the compliance rate and its influencing factors have not been thoroughly evaluated.