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Aim: The aim is to assess the impact of socioeconomic factors on deciduous teeth eruption among infants born after low-risk pregnancy and infants diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Materials and Methodology: The cross-sectional study included 110 neonates recruited at birth using stratified random sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Neonates diagnosed without IUGR were allocated to Group I (n = 55) and those diagnosed with IUGR were allocated to Group II (n = 55). The perinatal case history was recorded, followed by intraoral examination at birth, 6 months, and monthly up to 1 year or till first evidence of teeth eruption. Results: The difference between both groups based on socioeconomic status (SES) was found statistically significant (P = 0.043). The first evidence of eruption of deciduous teeth was found delayed in Group II (P = 0.0001). Secondary school education was found statistically significant between both the groups (P = 0.024). The difference between the two groups based on religion (P = 0.353) and gravidity (P = 0.571) was found statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Lower SES and secondary maternal education can be considered statistically significant risk factors of IUGR and delayed deciduous teeth eruption. No correlation of IUGR with religion and gravidity was found.
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Rationale: The impact of COVID-19 has affected billions of people affecting nearly all domains of life, including patient's healthcare needs. Due to constrained dental services during lockdown, pediatric dental needs were severely compromised therefore, parental attitude and practices of maintaining child's oral hygiene impose significant impact on child's oral hygiene. Aim: This study aims to assess the attitude and practices of parents toward their children's oral health care during COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: The present cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 120 parents selected randomly from the outpatient department after obtaining informed consent. A structured questionnaire was used to assess attitude and practice of parents toward their child's oral hygiene during lockdown in COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The overall attitude and practice score of parents in maintaining their child's oral hygiene was low, with mean value of 2.36 ± 1.36 and 2.51 ± 1.50, respectively. 60.8% of parents reported the need of dental treatment for their child during the lockdown period whereas 50.8% parents contacted the dentist during this period; majority (37.5%) of which reported due to toothache. 68.3% of parents would like to visit nearby dental hospital for emergencies during lockdown period. Only 33.3% of parents took extra efforts to maintain their child's oral hygiene while 45% made dietary changes in their child's diet to prevent tooth decay. Conclusion: The overall attitude and practices of the parents were poor toward the oral health of their children during the lockdown period in COVID-19 pandemic. There is urgent need of increasing awareness among parents regarding the importance of maintaining their child's oral health. The inability to see the doctor should at least encourage better home practice measures for future. The concept of tele-dentistry is very new and will be the need of the coming modern times.
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Background: Hydrocephalus is a heterogeneous disease marked by abnormal dilatation of the cerebral ventricles secondary to varying etiologies. This study was aimed to determine the incidence, risk factors, severity, and outcome of hydrocephalic fetuses presenting to a tertiary healthcare hospital located in northern India.Methods: In this prospective observational study, pregnant women visiting the obstetrics outpatient department of our hospital from 01 July 2017 to 31 June 2018 were screened for hydrocephalic fetuses via ultrasonography along with a detailed history, and a comprehensive battery of diagnostic investigations. They were followed up for a minimum period of two months after delivery/termination of pregnancy.Results: A total of 3627 pregnant women were screened, of which 10 had hydrocephalic fetuses in the observed time period. The incidence of hydrocephalus was determined to be 2.75 per 1000 live births. Low socio-economic status was identified as a major risk factor. 50% of the hydrocephalic fetuses were severely afflicted and were discontinued. The remaining 50% were successfully delivered and were managed via a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt or are under close observation in the postnatal period without any adverse outcome.Conclusions: The burden of hydrocephalus is considerably high in India, as compared to western countries. In rural settings, low socioeconomic status and lack of folic acid supplementation have a major influence in the etiopathogenesis of hydrocephalus. Management of hydrocephalus requires a multidisciplinary approach and is tailored according to the severity of the presentation. Severe cases of hydrocephalus and cases with associated anomalies have a poor prognosis.
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Background: Medicines play a main role in the process of human development. The rational utilization of medicines can decrease morbidity and mortality as well as improve quality of life. In an era of steeply rising health care expenses, generic medicines provide a less expensive alternative to branded medicines. Use of generic drugs can contribute to substantial savings in medicines expenditure and the issue of access and affordability is thus addressed.Methods: A sample of 500 patients selected from out patient department was randomly selected. A self-instructed questionnaire was used for the study for the duration of 1 month. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics Version 20 New York, United States. Summary statistics were expressed using mean and standard deviation (SD) for numerical variables (median and interquartile ranges [IQRs] when skewed) and counts and percentages for categorical variables.Results: Participants reported with 17.23% knowledge score, 40.65% attitude score, and 7.96% attitude score.Conclusions: In the study it was found that there is significant correlation between knowledge and attitude whereas no correlation was found between knowledge and practice regarding usage of generic drugs.
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Background: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortalityassociated with non communicable diseases like lung cancers, asthma, respiratory infection etc. Therefore the present study was conducted to study the exposure of passive smoke among residents (non smokers) in a rural population of Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1346 adults non smokers aged 25 years and above residing in rural areas. Multistage random sampling was done. Equal number of study subjects were enrolled from six randomly selected villages of Satrikh block in Barabanki district. A pre-designed questionnaire was used for collecting data regarding socio-demographic characteristics and passive exposure to tobacco smoke in home and work places. Results: About 33.1% of study participants at home and 28.4% at workplaces were exposed passively to tobacco smoke. The association between exposure to passive smoke both at home and workplace was found to be significantly associated with younger age group, other backward caste category, educational status and low socioeconomic status (p<0.05). The exposure at workplace was significantly found to be more among males and those who were laborer/ agriculture worker or shopkeeper by occupation (p<0.05). Conclusions: Exposure of passive smoke among adult non-smoker population was found to be quite common both at home and workplaces. This emphasized the importance of need based specific interventions to reduce the risk of exposure and forthcoming smoking related morbidities and mortalities due to passive smoke inhalation.