Indian Journal of Community Health
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Retrospective Evaluation of Determinants of Road Traffic Injuries at a Naval Station
Get PDFIntroduction: Several factors like globalization, industrialization, migration, access to modern ways of living, increasing income levels, easy availability of vehicles, point of use entertainment/communication gadgets, media influence and others have brought human beings in close contact with a variety of challenges to safe driving, resulting in an increased occurrence of Road Traffic injuries across the globe. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at naval station amongst victims of road traffic accidents who reported to emergency department of naval hospital over period of six months. Interviews on structured questionnaire to explore various determinants of road traffic injuries (RTI). Data Analysis on 156 victims was carried out for proportion of study variables of interest, Chi square test to determine significant differences between demographic variables and RTA exposure. Results: Of 156 RTA victims, more than 50% were between 21 - 40 years; 69.9% were male; 93% accidents were contributed by driving speed more than 40km/hr; 47% occurred at road junctions followed by civil roads; 27% were due to collision. 23% accidents took place on Saturdays; 36% were in morning 06 - 12 hours. 1/3 accidents were caused by two wheeler vehicles. Negligence of driver (40.4%) poor road condition (24.4%) were major causes of the accident as reported by victims. 44.2% of the victims had minor injury; 58.7% drivers who met accidents were holding valid driving license; 38% were wearing protective gears and 56% narrated that road lights/ traffic signals were available at vantage points. Exposure to accidents was found to be having statistically significant difference when related to age, gender, type of accident, common causes of accident and use of protective gears. Conclusions: The stricter application of traffic laws and safety measures are required to bring down the road traffic accident rate and related mortality
Technology connects patients to tertiary care for non-COVID illnesses in pandemic times: A case study from India
Get PDFDuring the COVID-19 pandemic times, non-COVID patients faced many difficulties to access health care because of diversion of health resources to manage the pandemic, partial or complete closure of routine OPD services and travel restrictions due to lockdown. Increased use of technology enhanced the effectiveness of the healthcare system to maintain treatment avenues in this challenging time. Also, the pandemic accelerated diffusion of technological innovations like teleconsultation among healthcare workers and patients. The present case study is about a young, breast cancer, female patient from rural India who was diagnosed with the disease just before the pandemic times. She was put on neo-adjuvent chemotherapy in a tertiary care hospital about 150 kms away from her native place but meanwhile lockdown was imposed in India to control COVID-19 spread. She was maintained on follow up through teleconsultation services. She was facilitated through travel restrictions for chemotherapy cycles by e-pass. Her concerns regarding disease, treatment options, follow ups, effect of treatment on her fertility and adverse effects of chemotherapy during her treatment course were satisfactorily addressed through teleconsultation. Necessary investigations done nearby were sent digitally to treating doctor that minimized her visits. After completion of chemotherapy she underwent breast conservation surgery
COVID-19 Sample Collection Kiosk in AIIMS Rishikesh: A safe and efficient model
Get PDFIntroduction: Following the pandemic, screening suspected individuals on a large scale is imperative to curtail the disease\u27s spread to enormous proportions. The walk-in kiosk is an ideal example of an innovation that is time and labour efficient and safe to use. Methodology and review of literature: Embase, Google Scholar, and Pubmed were used to extract scholarly articles about the subject published worldwide. The Walk-in kiosk concept was an idea taken from the biosafety chamber used in the advanced microbiology laboratories. Results: This ergonomic design enables the HCW to perform better without bending forwards or reaching out for the oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swab. It avoids a great deal of inconvenience for both the HCW and the patient
Assessment of Chronic Pain associated with Prolonged Standing and Effectiveness of Stretching Exercise on it among Security Personnel Working in an Educational Campus in Bhubaneswar
Get PDFIntroduction: Prolonged standing is defined as a standing working posture for over 50% of total working hours during a full work shift. Chronic pain is defined as any pain lasting for more than 12 weeks. Standing effectively reduces the blood supply to the muscles and this inefficient blood flow accelerates the onset of fatigue and causes pain in the muscles. Some research has shown that exercise is an essential aspect in the treatment of chronic pain and gradually over time help those with pain. Significant increase in fitness and pain tolerance was seen in an exercise group in a study. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of chronic pain associated with prolonged standing, to determine the risk factors, to find out the effectiveness of stretching exercise and to suggest remedial measures to the security personnel. Materials and Method: Type of study: Interventional, Study design: Quasi experimental study Study Area: Educational group of institutions, Health Park, Bhubaneswar. Study population: Security personnel, Sample size:74 Sampling: Universal Sampling; Selection Criteria: Who is willing to give written consent and Work experience of 1 year. Study Period: August - October 2019 Study Instruments: Pre-tested, pre-designed questionnaire and standard Visual Pain Scale. Methodology: After obtaining IEC approval ,a pre-tested, pre-designed questionnaire with a visual pain scale was used to obtain information about pain. Daily stretching exercises was performed. Statistical Analysis: Percentage, Chi-square, Mean,(ANOVA) and binary logistic regression. Result:28 had Chronic Back Pain that accounted to 37.83%.A statistical significant association between years of service and back Pain (Chi square 6.653, p = 0.010). On Binary logistic regression, Years of service (OR 1.1675, p 1.1675) and Distance travelled (OR1.0699, p 0.0489) had positive corelation. Significant difference in proportion in Extension positive test. Conclusion: Prolonged standing can lead to LBP and significant reduction in pain after intervention
Clinico-epidemiological profile of early cases of Covid-19 in state of Haryana, India
Get PDFBackground: Covid -19 disease is caused by novel coronavirus known as SARS CoV 2. Coronaviruses are known to cause disease in humans which can be a common cold or a serious pneumonia. SARS Cov 2 is a new variant of coronavirus which was never reported in humans before detection of cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan on 31st December, 2019.Objective: The study was conducted with the objective to find out clinico- epidemiological profiles of early Covid-19 patients in state of Haryana, India and to find out knowledge about covid appropriate behaviors among covid 19 patients. Methods: All the covid-19 cases in the five districts of Haryana were enumerated from March 2020 to May 2020. These Covid-19 cases were contacted telephonically and those who gave their consent to participate in the study were asked to fill interview schedule. Observations: There were 356 covid cases reported in five districts attached to PGIMS, Rohtak. Out of total,254 subjects participated in the study, there were 60.6 % males and 39.4% females who participated in the study. Blood groups of all the participants were also enquired and it was observed that B +ve was most common (19.7%) blood group followed by A+ve (16.5%) and O +ve (15.7%). Conclusion: It can be concluded by the study that majority of the subjects were males, overweight and blood group A & B were the most common blood groups. It was observed that 75.2 % participants were aware about the use of mask, social distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquettes
The Number of Infants with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) added Each Day in India
Get PDFHepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major global public health problems.HBV infection is the 10th leading cause of death.(1) In India, HBsAg prevalence,(an indicator of chronic HBV infection) among general population ranges from 2% to 8%.(2) HBV vaccination has been integrated in the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) for last 10 years. All new borns are expected to receive HBV vaccination at 0 day and subsequently at 6, 10 and 14 weeks.
Majority of women do not know they are HBV infected. Often they do not have no symptoms. When a pregnant woman has hepatitis B, it can spread to her baby at birth. This can happen during a vaginal delivery or a c-section. Babies and young children can also get hepatitis B from close contact with family members or others who might be infected. When babies become infected with hepatitis B, they have about a 90% chance of developing a lifelong, chronic infection
Role of probiotics and vitamins in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome: recent advances
Get PDFWhile the concept of probiotics is not new, science based approaches to developing targeted probiotic products are a renewed interest. Probiotics and the microbiome is now being considered as having a blueprint of good health, unique to every human. Along with the well-known and established health benefits like reduced antibiotic associated diarrhoea and colic symptoms, eczema, necrotising enterocolitis, acute paediatric infections like diahorrea and upper respiratory tract infections; probiotics are now considered as beneficial for maintaining mental well-being as well. This new branch of disease management is now termed as Nutritional neuroscience and these beneficial gut bacteria are referred to as psychobiotics. It is important to identify the specific strains of probiotics and characterize them and conduct randomised controlled trials to establish these benefits. With emerging data related to role of vitamins in modulating the gut microbiome, combining pre and probiotics with micronutrients is likely to result in powerful functional foods boosting host immunity
Depression, its correlates and quality of life of undergraduate medical students in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand state, India
Get PDFBackground: Medical students are future health care providers and experience a lot of stress during their training years. They are more likely to suffer depressive disorders than the general population and have a poorer quality of life. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of depressive disorder, its correlates and quality of life of medical students studying at a medical college in North India. Methods and material: It was a cross sectional study which included all the students enrolled at the study medical college. Data was collected using pre-validated questionnaires namely - 20 item ‘Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)’, WHO Quality of life (QoL) – BREF questionnaire and ‘Smartphone Addition Scale - Short version’ (SAS-SV) questionnaire to assess for depression, quality of life and smartphone addiction respectively which was distributed in the classroom to be filled. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to ascertain association between depression and the other variables. Results: The study had an effective response rate of 79%. Using a score of 16 or above as cut-off on CES-D scale145 study participants (36.7%) were found to be depressed. Participants who negatively compared themselves with their peers/friends and also those who were addicted to smartphone were significantly more likely to be depressed [1.85(1.12-3.05) and 1.96 (1.29-2.97) respectively]. We report a statistically significant negative relationship between physical domain score [0.97(0.95-0.99)], psychological domain score [0.95(0.93-0.97)] and social relationship domain score [0.97(0.95-0.99)] on BREF Quality of life questionnaire and the presence of depression among the study participants. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression among medical students was high and those with depression have significantly poor quality of life
Viral Hepatitis in Dentistry – An overlooked contributor to disease burden and occupational hazard in India
Get PDFIntroduction: Dental professionals are considered to be at high-risk for contacting blood-borne pathogen transmissions. Thus, making it necessary for dentists to be aware on prevention, transmission and management of viral hepatitis. Objective: One day training programs for upskilling dental fraternity were conducted on 11th November 2019 and 11thFebruary 2020. Program also evaluated the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of dentists regarding infection control practices and oral manifestations of viral hepatitis. Methods: One-day training program viz. “Viral hepatitis in Dentistry” under project Programmed Approach to Knowledge And Sensitization on Hepatitis (PRAKASH) was organized and a cross-sectional study using 20-item-self-reported questionnaire was conducted among participating professionals from six states of India. Identifying information was removed during statistical analysis. Results: Total of 625 dental professionals were trained; of which 470 participated in the KAP study i.e. response rate was calculated to be 75% (470 out of 625). Females represented about 73.2% of the sample(n=470). Sample comprised of experts from all the branches of dentistry. Almost 97% of responders were from private dental institutes or clinics. Mean knowledge score was found to be 4.71 ± 2.04, however when compared with age, knowledge in older professionals > 25 years was higher at 5.00 + 2.10 than participants’ aged<25, 4.57 ± 2.00 (p value = 0.03). Participating professionals seems to be following precautionary practices regarding viral hepatitis in dental clinics in a comparable manner irrespective of their age i.e. mean practice score of 6.81 ± 1.82 in professionals’< 25 years of age and mean practice score 6.81 ± 1.67 in trainees > 25 years. Conclusion: Study raised concerns regarding poor knowledge about infection prevention control and management of viral hepatitis in dental settings. Limited interventions in terms of capacity building programs for dentists on viral hepatitis, highlight the necessity of continued education through such training programs
The dilemma of COVID-19 vaccination among Health Care Workers (HCWs) of Uttar Pradesh
Get PDFBackground: Immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, with an unprecedented cooperation between biomedical, pharmaceutical, technological, and political sectors, new vaccines were developed and approved in record times. However, doubts were raised on their efficacy and adverse effects. Globally, it was agreed that the first recipients for vaccines would be the health care workers (HCWs). Logically, it was bound to raise some concerns and result in hesitancy among the HCWs. Aims: The current study was planned to study the proportion of HCWs having hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination and factors effecting it. Settings and Design: Cross-sectional study conducted among HCWs of Uttar Pradesh. Methods and Material: The survey was conducted both in online and offline mode and attempted by 254 HCWs eligible for receiving COVID-19 vaccine. Statistical analysis used: t-test, chi-square test, proportion, mean, SD Results: Vaccine hesitancy was present in 35.8% HCWs. Only social factors like caste (p=0.023) and religion (p<0.001) were found to be significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy. Gender, type of health worker, fear of COVID-19 infection, fear of lethality or pre-existing diseases did not affect vaccine hesitancy. The maximum number of HCWs (71.4%) were hesitant because they were unsure of the side-effects followed by the reason of being unsure about its effect on their own health (53.8%). When asked about their attitude towards compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for HCWs, should it be made mandatory by the government, 42.9% were in favour and 40.6% were against any such mandate. Conclusions: The study concluded that social factors like religion and caste are more deterministic for vaccine hesitancy