ABSTRACT
Background: For women living with HIV who do not want to become pregnant or who wish to delay pregnancy, contraception has the added public health benefit of reducing the number of infants who might acquire HIV. The unmet need for contraception must be addressed to prevent unintended pregnancies among HIV-positive women and consequently mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the contraceptive usage and its various determinants and to find out the unmet need for family planning among HIV-positive women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive hospital-based study conducted among 235 HIV-positive women attending the ART center of a medical college. Data were collected using a questionnaire-containing sociodemographic details, obstetric history, treatment information, contraceptive usage, and their fertility desires. Data analysis was performed using MS Excel and the SPSS version 20.0 using frequencies, Chi-squared test, and multiple logistic regression. Results: The mean (standard deviation) age of the study participants was 28.8 (5.5) years. Majority (96.6%) of them were married and were illiterate (34.4%). The prevalence of unmet need for family planning was found to be 17%, and the prevalence of consistent contraceptive use was 74.5%. The most common family planning method used by women was male condom. Not having HIV-positive children, HIV-negative partner, and discussing contraceptive with partner were observed to be significant predictor of consistent contraceptive use on multiple logistic regression. Conclusion: There is a need to boost family planning counseling and address the unmet need and contraceptive use among HIV-infected women.
ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle- and low-income countries which is attributed to a combination of factors - unhealthy diets, rapid urbanization, tobacco use, sedentary lifestyles and increasing life expectancy. Objectives: The objective of the study was to estimate the proportion of patients at risk of developing diabetes mellitus using IDRS and to identify various factors associated with the risk of developing diabetes mellitus. Material and Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural health training center among 185 patients aged ≥30 years. Data was collected using a questionnaire containing sociodemographic details and Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) scale. Random Blood Glucose (RBS) of all the patients was also estimated. Data was analysed using MS Excel and SPSS 20.0 by doing frequencies, chi square test and multiple logistic regression. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.6 (±12.31) years with majority of females (133;71.9%), Hindu (174; 94%), illiterate (122;65.9%) and patients from upper lower socio-economic status (127;68.6%). Fifty-four (29.2%) participants had RBS levels of ≥140mg/dl. The prevalence of high risk, moderate risk and low risk of diabetes among participants was 49.2%, 46.5% and 4.3% respectively. The significant determinants found on univariate analysis were gender, occupation, blood pressure, BMI and RBS. However, after applying multiple logistic regression it was found out that blood pressure (95% CI=1.122-4.990, P =0.024) and BMI (95% CI= 1.471-6.711, P =0.003) were the main predictors of IDRS score. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of screening programs for early identification of high risk people where simple lifestyle interventions can help prevent or delay the onset of the disease.