Chuong Nguyen-Dinh-Nguyen

Background: Mental health issues, including stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, are increasingly prevalent among high school students. Despite this growing concern, the related factors to these problems remain insufficiently explored, particularly within the Vietnamese context. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among 789 Vietnamese high school students. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine these associations. Results: The current study revealed significant associations between various factors and stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among high school students. Regarding stress, female students reported higher odds of stress symptoms than males, and those attending gifted schools experienced higher odds compared to their peers in non-gifted schools. Furthermore, students who reported feeling less happy or unhappy or moderately happy had higher odds of stress than those who described themselves as happy or very happy. In terms of anxiety, elevated odds of anxiety were observed among female students compared to male counterparts, those aged 18–20 compared to 16-year-olds, and students with less, unhappy, or moderately happy feelings compared to those with happy and very happy feelings. Regarding depressive symptoms, higher odds of depressive symptoms were found among female students, individuals not living with either parent, those with a family history of mental disorders, students with less, unhappy, or moderately happy feelings, and those who perceived their academic environment as negative or very negative. Conclusion: Being female, having lower perceived happiness, and experiencing negative academic or familial circumstances were significantly associated with higher odds of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the need for targeted mental health interventions, particularly those that address gender-specific needs, enhance students’ well-being, and improve academic and family support systems. These findings support the need for school-based mental health screening and supportive interventions, while recognizing that DASS-21 outcomes reflect symptom burden rather than clinical diagnoses.

Background: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease with increasing prevalence, yet pediatric control rates remain low. Caregivers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices are crucial for effective asthma management. However, validated knowledge, attitudes, and practices scales using advanced statistical methods are limited in the Mekong Delta. Objectives: To develop and validate a knowledge, attitudes, and practices scale for caregivers of asthmatic children. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 260 primary caregivers of children aged 4-16 years with asthma at Can Tho City Children's Hospital from December 2024 to December 2025. Caregivers completed a standardized questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics and a 29-item KAP questionnaire. For scale development and validation, the sample was split into two equal subsamples using the Solomon method. Each domain of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices scale was first examined separately by exploratory factor analysis in subset 1, and the retained factor structure was then tested by confirmatory factor analysis in subset 2. Results: The mean age of caregivers of children with asthma was 38.32 ± 8.194 years. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis eliminated 10 items, retaining 19 items with satisfactory psychometric properties. The Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices domains achieved high composite reliability (CR = 0.875-0.940) and good convergent validity (AVE = 0.503-0.759). HTMT indices were <0.85, demonstrating good discriminant validity. All confirmatory factor analysis models showed good data fit. Conclusion: The 19-item knowledge, attitudes, and practices questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability, serving as a simple, concise, and highly feasible tool for rapid outpatient assessment. This instrument represents a practical and reliable tool for assessing caregiver knowledge, attitudes, and practices in both clinical and research settings.

Objective: To examine biological, maternal, and socio-cognitive determinants of under-five mortality in Vietnam using nationally representative data. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2020–2021, including 4,475 children under five. Bayesian Model Averaging reduced redundancy among correlated predictors and addressed model uncertainty before multivariable logistic regression identified independent predictors. Results: Multiple birth was the strongest risk factor (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.37, 95% CI 4.35–15.87; P<0.001). Receiving prenatal care from a doctor was strongly protective and was associated with a 64% lower odds of death (aOR 0.36, 95% CI 0.25–0.52; P<0.001). Birth interval of at least 4 years, maternal age ≥35 years, and maternal digital connectivity were also associated with better survival. Conclusion: These findings highlight biological vulnerability and modifiable social determinants of child survival in Vietnam, supporting targeted interventions for high-risk births and equitable access to quality maternal and newborn care.

The role of nutrition in managing preterm infants, particularly those classified as very low birth weight (VLBW), is pivotal. Optimal nutrition is vital, as early growth deficits and inadequate neonatal nourishment have been linked to significant long-term developmental issues. In the neonatal intensive care units (NICU), tailored nutritional interventions are necessary to meet the unique dietary needs of these infants. Despite advances in neonatal nutrition, gaps remain in understanding the ideal composition and duration of parenteral nutrition, the process of transitioning to enteral feeding, and the need for breast milk augmentation. This review explores current insights and methodologies in the nutritional management of VLBW infants during the critical transition phase. It addresses existing challenges, recent progress, and future directions in enhancing nutritional care for these at-risk infants, aiming to improve outcomes.