Browsing by Author "Oga-Omenka, Charity"

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Exploring the differential impacts of social isolation, loneliness, and their combination on the memory of an aging population: A 6-year longitudinal study of the CLSA
(Elsevier, 2024) Kang, Ji Won; Oremus, Mark; Dubin, Joel; Tyas, Suzanne L; Oga-Omenka, Charity; Golberg, Meira
Memory plays a crucial role in cognitive health. Social isolation (SI) and loneliness (LON) are recognized risk factors for global cognition, although their combined effects on memory have been understudied in the literature. This study used three waves of data over six years from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to examine whether SI and LON are individually and jointly associated with memory in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults (n = 14,208). LON was assessed with the question: "In the last week, how often did you feel lonely?". SI was measured using an index based on marital/cohabiting status, retirement status, social activity participation, and social network contacts. Memory was evaluated with combined z-scores from two administrations of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (immediate-recall, delayed-recall). We conducted our analyses using all available data across the three timepoints and retained participants with missing covariate data. Linear mixed models were used to regress combined memory scores onto SI and LON, adjusting for sociodemographic, health, functional ability, and lifestyle variables. Experiencing both SI and LON had the greatest inverse effect on memory (least-squares mean: -0.80 [95 % confidence-interval: -1.22, -0.39]), followed by LON alone (-0.73 [-1.13, -0.34]), then SI alone (-0.69 [-1.09, -0.29]), and lastly by being neither lonely nor isolated (-0.65 [-1.05, -0.25]). Sensitivity analyses confirmed this hierarchy of effects. Policies developed to enhance memory in middle-aged and older adults might achieve greater benefits when targeting the alleviation of both SI and LON rather than one or the other individually.
Pre-treatment direct costs for people with tuberculosis during the COVID-19 pandemic in different healthcare settings in Bandung, Indonesia
(Public Library of Science (PLOS), 2025-04-01) Lestari, Bony Wiem; Saptiningrum, Eka; Huria, Lavanya; Fikri, Auliya Ramanda; Daniels, Benjamin; Vasquez, Nathaly Aguilera; Sassi, Angelina; Das, Jishnu; Oga-Omenka, Charity; McAllister, Susan M.; Pai, Madhukar; Alisjahbana, Bachti
The tuberculosis (TB) program was massively disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have impacted on an increase in costs for people with TB (PWTB) and their households. We aimed to quantify the pre-treatment out-of-pocket costs and the factors associated with these costs from patients' perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bandung, Indonesia. Adults with pulmonary TB were interviewed using a structured questionnaire for this cross-sectional study recruiting from 7 hospitals, 59 private practitioners, and 10 community health centers (CHCs) between July 2021 to February 2022. Costs in rupiah were converted into US dollars and presented as a median and interquartile range (IQR). Factors associated with costs were identified using quantile regression. A total of 252 participants were recruited. The median total pre-treatment cost was $35.45 (IQR 17.69-67.62). The highest median cost was experienced by participants from private hospitals ($54.51, IQR 29.48-98.47). The rapid antigen and PCR for SARS-CoV-2 emerged as additional medical costs among 26% of participants recruited in private hospitals. Visiting >-6 providers before diagnosis ($38.40 versus $26.20, p < 0.001), presenting first at a private hospital ($50.68, p< 0.05) and private practitioners ($34.97, p < 0.05), and being diagnosed in the private health sector ($39.98 versus $20.30, p < 0.05) were significantly associated with higher pre-treatment costs. PWTB experienced substantial out-of-pocket costs in the process of diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic despite free TB diagnosis and treatment. Early detection and identification play an important role in reducing pre-diagnostic TB costs.