Self-rated health as a measure of health status among people with chronic illness in an Urban area of South India.

Background: Rising burden of chronic illnesses across the globe necessitates the assessment of needs of persons suffering from these illnesses. Self-rated health has been found to be a valid and reliable tool in population health surveys. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study using modified cluster sampling technique was undertaken in the urban field practice area of M S Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore. A semi-structured pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection, which was done by interview method through house-house visits. Self- rated health was assessed using a 5-point scale ranging from Very Good -Good –Fair- Poor- Very poor. This rating was crosschecked by an assessment by the investigator. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used for the purpose of analysis of data and weighted kappa statistic was used to test agreement between self-rated health and health assessed by investigator. Results and Conclusions: Overall prevalence of chronic illness in the study population was 10.0% and significant difference was observed between males and females. In the study population, 72.0% (293) rated their health as fair. 13.0% rated their health as poor while the investigator assessed the health status of the study pop-ulation as fair in 72.0% of the study population and as poor in 4.9% of the study population. Weighted Kappa statistic showed 33% agreement between the two ratings. Factor analysis of 32 variables included in the study explained 67% of the total variance. Principal component analysis of these factors yielded 12 factors of which 3 were considered major depending on the number of variables included and percentage variance explained by that factor. Major factor 1 contained 11 variables including self-rated health and explained 14.3% of the variance, which signifies the role of self-rated health as a measure of health status.

A clinical study of the involvement of cranial nerves in leprosy.

A clinical descriptive study was conducted to assess the frequency and pattern of involvement of cranial nerves in leprosy and to study the relationship of cranial nerve involvement with a leprosy patch or patches on facial skin. One hundred consecutive patients of leprosy, diagnosed by clinical features and/or slit skin smear and histopathology, were studied; of these, 22 patients had cranial nerve involvement. The mean age of patients with cranial nerve involvement was 41.2 years. 16 patients (72.7%) with cranial nerve involvement were in the age-group of 20-49 years. The male-to-female ratio was 3.4:1. The mean duration of the disease in these patients was 5.73 years. The duration of the disease in the majority of patients with cranial nerve involvement was less than 5 years. Impairment of cranial nerves was seen in 12 BT patients, 6 BL patients, and 4 LL patients. No significant difference was noted between involvement of cranial nerves in PB and MB patients. Among the cranial nerves, facial nerve was the most common nerve involved (10/22), followed by olfactory (9/22), trigeminal (7/22) and auditory (3/22) nerves. Among the risk factors, it was found that facial nerve impairment was significantly associated with facial patch(es) and also type 1 lepra reaction.

Impact of educational intervention on knowledge of mothers regarding home management of diarrhoea.

A pre and post comparison study was carried out in the field practice area of M.S. Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore, Karnataka to assess the impact of educational intervention on the knowledge of mothers of under five children on home management of diarrhoeal diseases. Sample of 225 mothers were included in the study. The study was conducted in 3 stages. Stage I--initial knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers was assessed. Stage II--one to one educational intervention was conducted and supported by audiovisual aids and live demonstration. Stage III--included post intervention knowledge, attitude and practice after 2 months and 2 years. After the educational intervention, there was significant improvement on knowledge of mothers regarding definition of diarrhoea (P < 0.001), signs of dehydration (P < 0.001), awareness of ORS solution (P < 0.001), correct preparation of ORS solution (P < 0.001), shelf-life of ORS solution (P < 0.001), seeking health care (P < 0.001) and rational drug therapy during diarrhoea (P < 0.001). McNemar test was used to find out the change in knowledge before and after the educational intervention. The overall knowledge scores improved significantly after 2 months (P < 0.001) as well as 2 years (P < 0.001) of the educational intervention. Though the proportion of mothers retaining the knowledge at the end of 2 years dropped, yet there was significant improvement (P < 0.001) when compared to the baseline study.