Indian Journal of Community Health
Not a member yet
1720 research outputs found
Sort by
Incidence and Determinants of Low birth weight babies at rural tertiary care hospital in central Uttar Pradesh
Get PDFBackground: An infant’s birth weight is a reliable index of intrauterine growth and a sensitive predictor of newborn chances of survival, growth and long-term physical and psychosocial development. Low birth weight has been defined as birth weight <2.5 kg regardless of gestational age. The incidence of low birth weight (LBW) in India varies between 25–30% and of which 60–65% are because of intrauterine growth retardation.
Aim & Objective: To determine the incidence and various determinants of low birth weight among babies delivered at rural tertiary care hospitals in central Uttar Pradesh.
Methods and Material: The study was conducted at UPUMS, Saifai, Etawah, among pregnant women who delivered babies from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018. Details regarding age of the mother, gravida, parity, gestation period, presence of complications, the procedure for delivery and birth weight of the newborn were recorded and analyzed using SPSS software (version 23)
Results: A total of 7615 deliveries were conducted (53.2% were males, 46.8% were females). The mean birth weight of babies was 2.65 Kg with S.D ± 0.52. Preterm babies were 32% while 67% were term babies and 23% of babies were low birth weight. There was a statistically significant association between birth weight of babies and factors like age of mother, parity of mother, gestation period, and presence of complications during the antenatal period.
Conclusions: Prompt identification of high-risk factors, prevention of premature delivery, increasing the use of health services during pregnancy and management of the risk factors would reduce the incidence of low birth weight
Prevalence of Anemia among Adolescent Girls in Rural Area of a District of Maharashtra
Get PDFIntroduction: Nutritional anemia is one of India’s major public health problems. Adolescence is a vulnerable period in the human life cycle for the development of nutritional anemia. Anemia in adolescent girls contributes to maternal and foetal mortality and morbidity in future.
Aim and Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls and to study the sociodemographic factors associated with anemia.
Method: It was a community based cross sectional study in 10 villages of a district. 420 adolescent girls were interviewed using a predesigned, pretested questionnaire, and their anemic status was assessed by hemoglobin estimation. Results were analyzed by using percentage, proportion and Chi-square test, with the help of Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS version 20.0 statistical software.
Result: Mean age of the study sample was 14.01 ± 2.57 years. The majority (64.8%) of the girls were Hindu by religion and belonged to a nuclear family (53.6%). 45.2 % were educated up to high school level. Most of the girls belonged to socioeconomic class IV (46.0%). The prevalence of anemia in this study was found to be 65.7%. The prevalence of mild and moderate anemia among study participants was 32.6 and 29.8%, respectively. A statistically significant association was found between the prevalence of anemia with age group, educational status of both father and mother, and status of attainment of menarche (p<0.05).
Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls was very high; therefore, attempts must be made to sensitize adolescents and their parents through health and nutrition education, information, education, and communication (IEC), and appropriate behavioral change communication (BCC) activities
Depression and associated risk factors among geriatrics population in field practice areas of tertiary care institution in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh
Get PDFBackground: Ageing is inevitable for any human being. According to census 2011, the population of over 60 years of age in India accounted 8% of the total population, as of 2016 it is 8.6% which is projected to increase to 20% by 2050. Aim & Objective: To estimate the prevalence of depression among geriatrics age group and to identify factors associated with depression among geriatrics age group. Material & Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted between April 2022 and September 2022. Total sample size was 138. Number of subjects to be sampled from each village was calculated by probability proportion to size (PPS). Finally using simple random sampling method, participants were selected from each village. Results: The majority of the participants were in between 60 and 65 years old (63.8% of the total), next 66 to 75 years old (26.8% of the total), and finally over 75 years old (9.4% of the total). The mean age of participants in the study was 65.06+6.60 years. The proportion of male participants in the study was 47.1%, and the proportion of female participants was 52.9%. In present study, it was found that 65.9% had depression among the geriatrics population. Conclusion: This study also portrays significant association with age group, marital status, occupation, type of family and smoking history among depression among geriatrics
A call for more nuanced approaches to understanding selfie use among medical students
Get PDFI am writing to express my views on the recently published article titled "Assessment of Selfie Addiction Among Undergraduate Medical Students" in your esteemed journal. As an assistant professor in a physiotherapy college with eight years of experience, I have been closely working with undergraduate medical students to improve their physical well-being and mental health. Given the rising trend of social media use among students, including the excessive use of selfies, I strongly believe that it is important to critically evaluate the potential consequences of such behaviour. My experience in the field of physiotherapy has allowed me to observe the negative impact of excessive social media use on both physical and mental health
Factors influencing the choice of caesarean delivery and their satisfaction among pregnant women attending maternity hospital in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
Get PDFIntroduction: The birth of a baby through the vaginal route is a traditional way of delivery. But, at times normal vaginal delivery is not desirable due to various reasons. Under such circumstances, Lower section caesarean section (LSCS) is carried out to deliver the baby safely. There are rising concerns about the increasing rate of caesarean sections with wide variations in rates across the globe. Factors that influence the decision to perform a LSCS are often complex and multifactorial. Understanding these complexities is one of many steps to help stop the rise of any unnecessary LSCSs or prevent their over-use. Aim: To find out factors influencing the choice of caesarean delivery among recently delivered mothers through caesarean section and within puerperium. Method: A cross-sectional survey using pretested, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was done between December 2022 to February 2023 among patients recently delivered through caesarean section and within puerperium. Result: A total of 250 participants were approached over a three-month period. Among them, 211 completed the survey. The majority of participants were in the age group 25 to 30 years, Hindu by religion, and residents of rural areas. Sixty-four participants perceived that LSCS was done for the safety of the baby. Educational status (p<0.001), place of previous delivery (p<0.001), and count of current LSCS (p=0.016) were the factors associated with caesarean delivery satisfaction and it was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: About one-third of the participants perceived that LSCS was done for the safety of the baby. The majority of participants were satisfied with the decision of LSCS
Public Health perspectives on Cryptocurrency: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
No full textDigital currencies like bitcoin utilize encryption to secure financial transactions, verify their legitimacy, and limit supply. Because there is no central authority over it, like a government or bank, we say that it is decentralized. Instead, cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a public digital ledger called a blockchain, which serves as a decentralized database that records all transactions made with the currency.(1) The use of cryptography ensures that the transactions are secure and anonymous, making it difficult to counterfeit or double-spend the currency. On online exchanges, cryptocurrencies can be purchased and traded, and they can also be used to purchase products and services online.(2)
There are risks and hurdles associated with cryptocurrencies, including as their volatility, regulatory ambiguity, and security concerns, even though they have the potential to revolutionize the way we think about money and banking. As with any investment or financial decision, it is important to do your research and consult with experts before investing in cryptocurrencies. There are many different types of cryptocurrencies, with new ones being created regularly.(1) Here are some of the most common types
Rapport Building in community settings
Get PDFEstablishing good rapport and interpersonal relationship is crucial aspect for public health researcher to embark upon authentic information and concerns of local community that later might have a bigger public health impact in policy making. Despite of its importance, researchers often fail to favourably present themselves in front of participants. The active listening, maintaining eye contact, self disclosure, tuning in, sharing expectations and intentions, non verbal cues, persistent contact and being empathetic are some of the most common techniques of rapport building discussed in literatures. Despite the fact that they have been proved to be beneficial, they do not provide clarity on “what, when, or where”. As a result, this article suggests a step-by-step approach that a researcher might use when conducting community-based research
Complementary Feeding Patterns and Factors Affecting Timely Introduction in a Tribal Population: A Mixed-Methods Study
Get PDFIntroduction: About 29-60% of tribal children are underweight due to limited healthcare access. The Kols, a tribe in central India, face similar issues and our study will examine their complementary feeding practices. Methodology: A sequential explanatory mixed-method research design was conducted on 218 Kol tribe women in the Manikpur block of Chitrakoot district Uttar Pradesh. In the first phase, the quantitative interview using a semi-structured questionnaire and in the second phase, an in-depth interview of 20 Kol mothers was conducted using an interview guide. Results: About 52.3% of the women were aged between 26- 35 years, and about 83.9% were illiterate. About half of the children (n=116, 53.5%) were introduced to complementary feed at 6-8 months of age. The independent predictors of the timely initiation of complementary feeding were education (AOR: 2.422, p 0.037), age of the mothers (AOR: 1.2106, p 0.047) and the number of children of the mothers (AOR: 2.715 p 0.004) diet diversity was rarely maintained. Conclusion: Complementary feed was introduced timely for half of the tribal women but diet diversity was not maintained. Health education and counselling to utilize locally available food items should be encouraged
Effect of Educational Intervention on Awareness and Attitude regarding Voluntary Blood Donation among Rural People: A Quasi- Experimental Study
Get PDFDonation of blood has always been considered as Humanitarian act. Despite the increasing demands for blood and its products, many people have little interest in donating blood. We undertook this study to assess the level of knowledge & attitude and to assess the effect of awareness talk regarding voluntary blood donation among rural people. Information from attendants of the patients visiting the Telemedicine Centre was collected using the Predesigned Pretested Semi open ended Interview Schedule. Out of 108 study subjects, 83 (76.8%) of study subjects didn’t knew their blood group. 52 (48.1%) said women cannot donate blood while they are pregnant or lactating. After the awareness talk, 78 (72.2%) were motivated for voluntary blood donation. There should be more awareness activities to promote voluntary blood donation in public
An Exploratory Study on Quality of Life among Road Traffic Accident Victims in India
Get PDFBackground: Road traffic accidents are India’s sixth leading cause of mortality, with a substantial share of physical, psychosocial and economic losses in the productive age group.
Objectives: To explore the victims’ and stakeholders’ perceptions on quality of life among road traffic accident victims in India.
Methods: A qualitative study incorporating in-depth interviews among road traffic accident victims and key informant interviews among stakeholders was conducted from June to August 2019 (3 months) in Puducherry. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Data was collected till the point of saturation with a semi-structured interview guide through six in-depth interviews among accident victims and six key informant interviews among stakeholders. Content analysis of the data was performed, and a conceptual framework was developed. Written informed consent from each participant was sought. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institute Ethics Committee.
Results: Four themes were identified: reasons for road traffic accidents, problems faced by the victims, problems faced by the caretaker or family member, and preventive measures for road traffic injuries.
Conclusion: Physical, psychological, and financial problems were encountered by the victims, caretakers, and family members after a major road traffic accident. Accident victims felt that support from family members was indispensable in returning to normal life