Indian Journal of Community Health
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Knowledge, attitude, practice, and pattern of substance use among adolescents and young adults from Aligarh, India
Get PDFBackground: Substance use disorders are significant public health problem among adolescents and young adults. Aim & Objective: We did this study to observe knowledge, attitude, and practice of substance use among school and college going adolescents and young adults. Material & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 10 schools and colleges from Aligarh. A total of 1431 students were approached with study tools comprising of pre-structured proforma on knowledge, attitude, and practice. Results: We observed that most of the students (89%) had some knowledge about substance use. The risk-taking attitude was common even against drugs like cocaine and charas (30.6% and 29.1% respectively). A high prevalence of ever user and current user was observed (33.3% and 12.9% respectively). The mean age of starting the drug in students and their friends was 15.5 ±2.7 and 16.2 ±2.8 years respectively. Among the ever users, tobacco smoking (56.6) and alcohol (47.6%) were most common. Stress (57.9%) was most common reason to use drugs. Males and college students (40.6% and 41.2% respectively) were using it more. Conclusion: This study found half-baked knowledge, propensity towards a risk-taking attitude, and a substantial prevalence of substance use practices. Proper action and further researches are required to explore variables associated for reducing the prevalence
Boons amidst the banes- during COVID-19 pandemic
Get PDFIndia recorded its first Covid-19 positive case in Kerala on January 30, 2020. This was followed by nationwide lockdown in 4 different phases from 25th March to 31st May 2020 and an unlock period thereafter. This pandemic brought many unseen challenges to the world. On one side human lives were put at risk, on the other side nature was recreating itself. Many diseases other than covid dropped down in massive percentage. The public understood the importance of handwashing, vaccination, covering mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing during this pandemic. Children facing this Covid pandemic had understood the importance of the role played by hygiene and social distancing in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Every coin has two faces, likewise, this pandemic has both positive and negative effects and we focus on positive effects in this article
A retrospective cohort study to find out the association of hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis and COVID 19 infection prevention among health care workers in a tertiary care hospital of New Delhi
Get PDFBackground- With the high morbidity and mortality year 2020 will be remembered as Covid19 pandemic year. Occupational exposure to COVID 19 among health care workers poses a major risk to their lives. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) prophylaxis has been indicated for their use without much scientific evidence. Objective- to find if HCQ prophylaxis had association with Covid19 infection prevention among health care workers. Material &Method- A retrospective cohort study was conducted; through online by utilizing social media platform, among Health care workers of a tertiary care hospital from 1st June 2020 to 27 July 2020. Those HCWs who have taken HCQ (exposed) and who have not taken (nonexposed) and PCR tested Covid19 Positive were taken as diseased. Results Out of 527 who were analyzed, study subjects who took HCQ prophylaxis had 30% less chance of having Covid19 test positive, {RR- 0.709(0.383-1.296)} as compared those who didn’t took it, but the results were not significant. Conclusion- Hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis does not prevent Covid 19 infection and more evidence may be required for use of HCQ prophylaxis for Covid19 infection.
Keywords- Hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis, Covid19 infection, Health care workers, Retrospective cohort stud
Comparing knowledge, attitude, practice and stigma associated with SARS- COV-2 Infection among Healthcare students of Bangalore city: A cross sectional study
Get PDFBackground: In 2020, a new global pandemic has emerged, caused by a new strain of Corona virus called SARS-CoV-2. A poor understanding of the disease among healthcare students may implicate in delayed treatment and rapid spread of infection and development of complications. Objectives: 1) To estimate the knowledge, attitude, practice and stigma associated with SARS- CoV-2 infection among healthcare students. 2) To estimate the association between socio-demographic determinants with knowledge, attitude, practice and stigma of SARS- CoV-2 infection among healthcare students. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was undertaken among 493 healthcare i.e., medical, nursing and allied sciences students, during 1st May to 20th May 2020, using a pre-designed and semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Chi square test, t-test, one way Anova and Bonferroni test was used for assessing the association among the study variables. Results: The study revealed that, there were about 225(45.64%) medical, 165(33.46%) nursing and 103(20.89%) allied sciences students. Majority were females 349(70.79%), majority were Hindus 333(67.54%). Mean knowledge score of medical, nursing and allied sciences students were 15.66 (2.518), 14.16 (2.92) and 14.46 (3.11) respectively. Practice score was good among nursing than allied sciences students at ‘p’ (0.003). Conclusion: Even though the overall knowledge was less in our study participants, majority of them had followed good practices for preventing SARS- CoV-2 infection
Role of integrated therapy and nutritional counselling in treating malnourished children in M-East ward Mumbai, India: A Longitudinal Study
Get PDFBackground: Under-nutrition is a big risk factor for increasing the morbidity and mortality burden in the society. Acute malnutrition contributes to almost 61% of diarrheal and 53% of pneumonia deaths. In urban slums like M-East ward, Mumbai, acute malnutrition prevalence ranges from 16% to 59.8%. Objectives: To assess the outcome of weight gain by providing nutritional supplements to the undernourished children along with nutritional counseling. Materials and Methods: RUTF (Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food) and Hyderabad mix with nutritional counselling to parents of children were used to reduce the undernourishment among the under-five children in slums of this ward. Six hundred and fifty malnourished children and their caregivers were provided nutritional supplement and nutritional counselling over 6 months. Results: There was steady wight gain of enrolled children. Highest weight gain occurred over 13th week of the program. Conclusion: A minimum of thirteen weeks nutritional supplement program including fortnightly counselling is necessary and sufficient for converting undernourished children to normal.
School absenteeism during menstruation among adolescent girls in resettlement colonies of Delhi: a community-based cross-sectional study
Get PDFBackground: School absenteeism during menstruation and its related effects are preventable through identification of factors associated with it and implementation of region specific appropriate public health measures. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of school absenteeism during menstruation and its associated factors among adolescent girls residing in the resettlement colonies of Delhi. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the urban resettlement colonies of Delhi during 2019 in which 712 school going adolescent girls were interviewed. The details about school absenteeism, its perceived reasons, various socio-demographic details, menstrual hygiene practices were assessed using pretested semi structured questionnaire. The data were entered in MS Excel and analysed using STATA statistical software version 14. Results: The prevalence of school absenteeism during menstruation among adolescent girls of resettlement colony was 43.1%(95% CI:39.5 – 46.7). Out of 307 girls who had school absenteeism, 285(92.8%) had missed for 1-3days. The most common self-reported reasons for school absenteeism during menstruation were pain during menstruation (75.6%) followed by staining of cloths(43.6%) and uncomfortable feeling(39.4%). Studying in government school (PR=1.4, 95% CI:1.1-2.0), suffering from menstruation-related problems(aPR=1.9, 95% CI:1.5-2.4) and pads being provided from schools(PR=1.3, 95% CI:1.1-1.7) were significantly associated with school absenteeism. Conclusions: Almost half of the adolescent girls in resettlement colonies had school absenteeism. The characteristics like government school, pads being provided from school, menstruation related problems like weakness, irritation, perceived weight gain and breast pain was significantly associated with school absenteeism. The factors associated with school absenteeism needs to be addressed with appropriate public health interventions
History and Spread of Viruses (COVID-19) and Associated Demographic and Clinical Parameters – A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFCOVID-19 made a huge impact on the world due to its rapid transmission and no treatments being available for it. The virus affected more people and spread to various countries than what was predicted when COVID-19 initially began spreading. There have been numerous pandemics and epidemics in the 21st century yet COVID-19 has affected more people and spread widely. The primary objective of the study was to explore history, spread and associated parameters of existing viruses especially COVID-19. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline was followed for a systematic search to identify eligible published articles. Clinical data, regarding COVID-19 patients, was obtained from previously published articles. The main cause of COVID-19 spreading rapidly was noted to be due to a high percentage of asymptomatic patients, transmission being air-borne, and the lack of knowledge and preventative measures being implemented when the virus began spreading. The common co-morbidity that found in patients was Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, and Coronary Heart Disease. The common symptoms, found through the Meta-analysis, that the patients faced included cough (55.4%), fever (68.4%), fatigue (20.3%), and shortness of breath (18.1%). The proportion of asymptotic positive cases was measured 58.3% (95%CI: 24.7% – 87.9%) while mortality proportion was found to be 6.7% (fixed-effect model) and 13.4% (random-effect model). The Meta-analysis indicated that a higher percentage of males were affected by COVID-19 than females and more patients are found to be asymptomatic. Moreover, the mortality rate of patients that have had COVID-19 was found to be low. 
A study on the effect of occupational stress on job performance in the nursing staff of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Surendranagar district
Get PDFIntroduction: Occupational stress is a health hazard to the individual worker both physically and psychologically. Research for the past years shows that, signs of occupational stress appear to be rising amongst nursing profession. The ability of nurses to appropriately handle stress while on duty may have a significant impact on individual outcomes, especially job performance. Objective: This study was conducted to measure the work-related stress and its association with the job performance among nurses. Methods: A pilot study was done and prevalence of work related stress was 13 % on the basis of which sample size was calculated which was 102 (in open epi). The 102 nurses were selected randomly from a tertiary care teaching hospital of Surendranagar district. The data was collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire which included questionnaires on demographic variables, level of work stress and job performance. Results: The findings of the study revealed that moderate and severe level of work stress was present in 53% and 45% of nurses respectively. The mean job stress score was found to be higher among younger nurses than those of more than 40 years. There was a negative relationship between job stress and job performance (r = ?0.01) among staff nurses. Conclusion: Based on study findings, it was concluded that all the nurses were suffering from mild to severe level of work stress. and it was negatively correlated with the job performance of the nurses. Hence, it is recommended that corrective measures may be planned by the authority to reduce the work stress of nurses to improve the job performance
Prevalence and pattern of non-communicable diseases among elderly in a sub-urban area of Delhi
Get PDFBackground: With increasing proportion of geriatric population across societies, the occurrence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases has been steadily increasing as well. The study tries to showcase the pattern and proportion of NCDs among the elderly population in a sub-urban part of Delhi. Aim & Objective: To assess the prevalence and study the morbidity profile of NCDs among geriatric population of Delhi. Materials & Methods: A community based cross sectional study was done in 350 elderly participants in Mehrauli, Delhi. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Detailed general and systemic examination was also done. Results: A total of 87.4% of the study population was suffering from at least one NCD; 68% were having an already known NCD(s) while 19.4% were newly diagnosed during the study. 2.41 NCDs were found per patient. The prevalence of hypertension was 58%, 49.4% suffered from senile cataract, 32.9% had osteoarthritis, 30.3% had diabetes mellitus, and 26.9% had obesity. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus together were present in 18.3% while the combination of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obesity was seen in 9.4% of the study participants. Conclusion: Burden of NCDs among the elderly was notably high with a large proportion of them having multimorbidity. It gets important to focus on preventive measures to delay the onset and stem the progression of NCDs to facilitate healthy ageing
Does the social status of the elderly impact morbidities among them? – A cross sectional Study in a district of Gujarat
Get PDFBackground: The aging population is both medical & sociological problem for the country and they suffer with high rates of morbidity and mortality. So Social factors lay a significant impact on the health practices and this study will help us to understand and evaluate their health problems of elderly. Aims and Objective: 1. To assess the social status of elderly population. 2. To associate the findings with morbidities of elderly Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in urban and rural area of Surendranagar district among 611 elderly, using a predesigned and pre tested questionnaire by directly questioning the subjects with oral and written consent. For selection of the area, in both areas, the sampling units were enumerated and samples were collected by using simple random sampling, data was entered and analyzed using MS excel 2007. Result: Nearly 60 % of the subjects were currently unemployed and the predominant family system was 3 generation family. Majority of the families in the urban areas were from social class 4, whereas in the rural areas were from social class 5. Having poor social score had a statistically significant association with presence of morbidity in elderly both areas. Conclusions: Majority of elderly in both urban and rural areas had a poor social status. Role of the family and social structure on the health of the elderly can be clearly established. However, support structure must be developed in our social system in a way that the destitute and dependent elderly are taken care of by either government system or social organizations like NGOs and old age home