KK Women's and Children's Hospital

Global Epidemiology of Neonatal and Infantile-Onset Epilepsies and Epilepsy Syndromes (GENIE)

Importance Despite the profound impact of neonatal and infantile-onset epilepsies on neurodevelopmental outcomes and mortality, consolidated global epidemiological evidence remains lacking. Objectives To estimate the global incidence and prevalence of neonatal and infantile-onset...

Poland Syndrome with transverse upper limb deficiency: beyond the vascular disruption hypothesis

Poland syndrome classically presents with unilateral pectoral deficiency and ipsilateral symbrachydactyly. We report a neonate with right pectoral deficiency and carpal-level transverse upper limb deficiency without ectodermal elements. This rare phenotype challenges a single-poi...

Paediatric chronic hepatitis C and the global elimination gap: burden and trends from 1990 to 2023 in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023

Background Paediatric chronic hepatitis C (PCHC) is often asymptomatic and underdiagnosed, and its contemporary global burden remains incompletely characterised. We estimated global, national, and socioeconomic trends in PCHC using Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 estimates, a...

Maternal RSV Vaccination and Complementary Infant-Protection Strategies in Singapore: A Modified Nominal Group Technique Consensus Study

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract disease in infants and a major contributor to infant morbidity and mortality. A previous Singapore consensus addressed RSV disease burden and the role of the monoclonal antibody, nirsevima...

Natural Variation in Transplacental Transfer Efficiency Reveals Distinct Transcriptional Network Architectures of PFAS Effects on Birth Weight and Gestational Age

Abstract Distinguishing effects of environmental exposures mediated through maternal pathophysiology from those operating through direct fetal mechanisms remains a central challenge in environmental epidemiology, with implications for understanding effect heterogeneity on related...

Association of microbial pathways predicted/inferred using 16S and shotgun metagenome with faecal metabolite abundances

The gut microbiome is an essential metabolic organ influencing host health through metabolite production. While metabolite production levels can be directly measured by gas or liquid chromatography, they are commonly inferred from the abundance of metagenomic functional pathways....

Implementing reproductive carrier screening to include diverse Asian populations: insights from Singapore

Abstract Background As part of Singapore’s effort towards precision medicine tailored to Asian diversity, we describe the implementation of a nationwide reproductive carrier screening program. Using a customised 112-gene panel, targeting population-specific recessive genetic dise...

Consensus recommendations for neurofibromatosis type 1 management in Asia Pacific

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a complex multisystem disorder requiring coordinated multidisciplinary care. This study aimed to develop consensus recommendations for NF1 management in the Asia-Pacific region. A modified Delphi process involving two survey rounds and a virtual...

Integrating menopausal neurocognitive and psychosocial dynamics into economic behavior: the Behavioral Finance–Menopausal Cognition (BF-MC) Model (MARiE WP2A study)

Objective: Traditional behavioral finance—which examines how cognitive biases, emotions, and context shape economic decision-making— often assumes cognitive stability, rationality, and consistent risk evaluation, based largely on male-dominated samples. Emerging evidence from the...

Terminal discharge of the imminently dying from hospital to home: A realist evaluation

Background: Rapid terminal discharge home is increasingly prevalent, yet processes remain inconsistent and stressful for both clinicians and families. A harmonised ‘compassionate discharge’ protocol was collaboratively developed by providers across settings to improve overall exp...

Pediatric outpatient referrals to a tertiary centre in Singapore: a 10-year review of referral characteristics and attendance patterns

Singapore, a high-income country with declining birth rates, operates a primary care–led referral system for pediatric specialist services. Understanding referral characteristics, waiting times and attendance rates are important for service planning and the efficient use of healt...

Automated Vision-Based Sensing of Paediatric Pain Using 2D-Facial Landmark Trajectories Derived from 3D Geometric Normalisation and a Spatial-Temporal Attention Long Short-Term Memory (STA-LSTM) Network

Background: Accurate pain assessment in children remains challenging because conventional behavioural assessment tools are subjective and provide only intermittent observations. This study evaluated a vision-based sensing system for automated paediatric pain detection using two-d...

Quality and concordance of international paediatric sepsis guidelines: a cross-sectional appraisal from the SENTINEL International study

Objectives To evaluate the methodological quality of hospital-specific paediatric sepsis clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from sites participating in an international study using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) tool and to assess the consi...

Early adolescent self-harm: examining prevalence and risk factors in a multi-ethnic Asian birth cohort

Abstract Background Early adolescence marks a vulnerable developmental phase for the emergence of self-harm behaviours, which can potentially be life-threatening. However, the prevalence and risk factors of early adolescent self-harm, particularly in non-Western community-based p...