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The article "Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus and associated risk factors amongst antenatal women attending urban health centre of Rajkot City, Gujarat" is retracted by the Editor-in-Chief, due to violation of the policies and practices of International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health. The article is retracted due to dispute in authorship.
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Background: Despite tremendous economic progress made through liberalization and globalization, gender preference for children remains a major issue in any society throughout the globe. The aim of the study was to determine the gender preference for children and its impact on family among study population.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out between October-2013 to December-2013 in the urban (Ratanpar) and rural (Khodu village) field practice area of C U Shah Medical College Surendranagar, Gujarat. Total 377 study participants were selected by using systematic random sampling. Data was collected using pre designed and pre tested questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS.Results: Out of total study population, about 78.8% were completed their family and 21.2% had desire for child in near future. Those who had completed their family, nearly two third of them were blessed with both male and female child (62%). Among those who had desire for child (n=80), about two fifth (41.2%) wished to have male child. At parity one, 52% had desire for only male child as next child and also strong preference for male child was observed at parity two and above among those having only female children.Conclusions: Study revealed that most of the couples wish to have at least one son in the family hence perception of parents towards desired gender of child to be born must be gravitated in favor of daughters.
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Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes-are the world’s biggest killers. In developing countries, cancer is among the ten most common causes of mortality. Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. The most conspicuous feature of the distribution of cancers between the sexes is the male predominance of lung cancer. Prostate, colorectal, stomach and liver cancer are also much more common in males. Cancer of breast, colorectal, cervix, uteri, lung and stomach are common in females. This study was conducted to identify the prevalence of various types of cancers in rural and urban community of Surendranagar district.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out among 300 rural and 300 urban families selected by simple random sampling. Data was collected and analysed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Microsoft Excel have been used to generate graphs, tables, etc.Results: Study revealed that out of total study population (2053), 37 participants were having cancer. The prevalence of cancer was 1.80% in our study. Out of 37 respondents who were having cancer, majority cases were oral cancer 11 (29.73%) and 9 (24.32%) lung cancer, followed by cancer breast 5 (13.51%), cancer colorectal 5 (13.51%) and other cancers 7 (18.92%).Conclusions: Prevalence of cancer was increasing with the age. Higher number of cancer cases was found amongst older age than younger age. Significant difference was found between cancer prevalence and gender.
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Background: Hepatitis B is global infectious diseases with estimated two billions of the world population have contracted the infection, of them there are 350 million with chronic infection. Hepatitis B disease may lead to state of chronic carrier, liver cirrhosis and failure or hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which involved 100 intern, 100 resident doctors, and 100 paramedical staff; data collection was performed by a suitable self-administered, close-ended questionnaire.Results: Medical staff members had better knowledge about hepatitis B than the paramedical staff in the study. More than 50% of the paramedical staff didn’t know the correct mode of hepatitis b transmission. Attitude towards vaccination was seen significantly high in interns and resident doctors, as more than 88% had taken hepatitis b vaccine as compared to only 57% from paramedical staff had taken vaccine. Only 55% of paramedical staff had strictly followed universal precautions which was statistically significant in medical and paramedical staff.Conclusions: This study highlights the dissimilarities in knowledge, attitude as well as practices amongst different categories of healthcare personnel regarding hepatitis B infection. The most distressing situation was of paramedical staff that was at the lowest strata in terms of both knowledge and practices and therefore was at highest risk of hepatitis B infection.
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Background: The life cycle dynamics of the causes and consequences of malnutrition demand a holistic and all inclusive approach to prevent and treat under-nutrition and nutritional deficiencies. In response, Government of Gujarat launched “Mission Balam Sukham” in the year 2012 which focuses on both preventive and curative aspects. Curative aspect consist of three tier approach for integrated management of malnutrition at three different levels. Nutritional rehabilitation Center is a unit in a district health facility where children with severe acute malnutrition are admitted and provided with the nutritional & therapeutic care. Methods: Analysis of data of all the children admitted to Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre of Surendranagar district from June-2012 to November 2013. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS. Results: A total of 280 children were included in the study. The overall mean weight at admission was found 8.30 kg with standard deviation of 2.09 kg and the mean weight at the time of discharge was 8.97 kg with standard deviation of 2.16 kg. Average weight gain among 141 boys was 6.63 g/kg/day and among girls was found 7.60 g/kg/day. Out of total 280 children, 103 (36.79%) children had weight gain as per the standard criteria (8 gm/kg/day). Diarrhoea was found to be the associated medical condition in majority of the children. Out of total 184 children without medical complications, 97 (52.72%) children had weight gain as per the standard criteria. Conclusions: Present study reflected that Nutritional Rehabilitation Centers have been playing a key role to cope with malnutrition as demonstrated by high weight gain rate as well as high recovery rate.
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Background: Government -year pilot project in December 2005 in five backward districts (Banaskantha, Dahod, Kutch, Panchmahals, and Sabarkantha). The scheme has now been extended to the entire state. Aims & Objective: ; (2) Reasons for not utilizing the ; (3) Problems faced in the utilization as perceived by the beneficiaries. Material and Methods: A total of 116 BPL families selected by Simple random sampling (SRS) method were included in the present study. All females of 15-49 years of age group and one male person who is the Head of Family were taken from each of the family. Results: Out of total 268 subjects, only 88 ( 32.84%) subjects were aware about Out of them 56 were females and 32 were head of the family males. A total of 46 out of 152 (30.26%) females utilized the benefits of is a significant association between education and knowledge regarding ‘Yojana’. The reasons for non-utilization was unawareness about the procedural aspects of registration and availing the benefits, the types of services covered under the yojana and the misconception that they have to pay additional charges also. Conclusion: Most of the participants who were actually the beneficiaries of the scheme were unaware of ‘Chiranjeevi Scheme’. IEC activities with emphasis on Government programs focusing on maternal and child health should be strengthened.
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Background: H1N1 virus has caused a major pandemic worldwide creating a global havoc. The Infection till now has claimed over 14,000 lives. Even after the declaration of the end of pandemic there are still epidemics & sporadic cases reported from many parts of India, which shows that the lacunae left in the awareness among the people. Aims & Objective: (1) To find out the awareness regarding H1N1 influenza among urban population of Surendranagar. (2) To elucidate the correlation of the awareness with the socio demographic characteristics. Material and Methods: Sample selection was by simple random technique & size of the sample was 742. A cross sectional house to house survey was carried out. The obtained data was analyzed using SPSS for windows. Results: Out of the 742 subjects, 272 were males and 470 females with mean age of 37.31 ± 17.58. Out of the total no. of subjects, only 430 (57.95%) had heard of swine flu. Majority of the families (70.88%) were from Social Class 1 (Modified Prasad’s Classification). Out of those who had heard of swine flu, 43.48% of the individuals knew that the disease transmission was through Coughing, sneezing and airborne. About 42.99% of subjects knew about the major symptoms like fever, coryza and dyspnoea. Conclusion: There was a large no. of individuals in the population who had not heard of swine flu, indicating that in spite of the health education; there has been some loophole in conveying the knowledge regarding the disease to the people, showing an urgent need of more large scale IEC activities.
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Background: Patient satisfaction is deemed to be one of the important factors which determine the success of health care facility. The real challenge is not getting ready with mere requirements, but also delivers services ensuring good quality. Thus, there is a need to assess the health care systems regarding patient satisfaction as often as possible. Aims & Objective: To measure the patients’ satisfaction towards health care services. Material and Methods: A randomly selected 100 patients were interviewed by using pre-structured questionnaires at the end of their O.P.D. visits for 5 days from 16th- 20th January, 2012 at Civil Hospital, Surendranagar. While analysing, they were grouped into categories like availability of services, clinical care, waiting time and cost. Results: The overall opinion about the efficiency of hospital was satisfactory in 92% of patients. 68% respondents said that the time of coming to hospital and consulted by doctor was too long. Although in 75% of patients the time devoted by doctor was only between 0-5 min., the communication and explanation of disease by doctors were found satisfactory in 80% and 91% respectively. The need of investigations was necessary as per 90% of patients. Time required to locate and get medicines from pharmacy was satisfactory in nearby all patients. Conclusion: According to patient’s opinion, the study revealed that the degree of satisfaction was mild to moderate with respect to waiting time and availability of specialist in the hospital, which need to be further explored and corrected.
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Background: Infectious diseases are a major cause of morbidity & mortality in children. One of the most cost effective & easy methods for child survival is immunization. In May 1974, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially launched a global immunization programme known as Expanded Programme of immunization (EPI) to protect all the children of the world against 6 Vaccine Preventable Diseases by the year 2000. It was later redesignated as Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) since 1985. The objectives of this study were to assess the dropout rate and primary immunization coverage of children aged 12-23 months in Surendranagar city and to know the various reasons for partially or not immunizing the child. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study. Thirty clusters were selected out of a total of 282 blocks of Surendranagar using the cluster sampling method. Cluster sampling method was used for sample selection and the proforma designed by UNICEF was used as a study tool. Sample size was 210 children (7 Children from each cluster) of aged 12-23 months. The obtained data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests like Z test and X2 test. Results: Out Of the 210 surveyed children, 121(57.62%) were males and 89(42.38%) were females. Immunization card was available for 69.52% of children and fully immunized were 70.47%. Coverage was highest for BCG (95.71%) followed by OPV3 (82.85%), DPT3 (79.52%) and lowest for measles (75.23%). As far as the dropout rate is concerned, it was 21.39%, 10.21%, and 9.37% for BCG to measles, DPT1 to DPT3, and OPV1 to OPV3, respectively. Amongst the various reasons main reasons for dropout or unimmunization of children were ignorance in about 64% and lack of information regarding time, place and schedule (21%). Conclusions: Improvement should focus on reducing the dropout rate from DPT2/OPV2 to DPT3/OPV3 and improving coverage of measles and also Vitamin A.
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Introduction: Increased attention to health promotion and disease prevention are important for the appropriate care of the elderly. With the increasing life expectancy, a focus on preventive measures to decrease morbidity and improve quality of life in old age has also developed. To that end, health behavior and lifestyle have become important areas of concern over the last 20 years. Social factors lay a significant impact on the health practices. This study was therefore taken up to study the above factor and draw conclusions. Aims and objectives: 1. To study the various health practices of the elderly. 2. To find out association between the socio demographic features and the prevailing health practices. Methods: A Cross sectional analytical study was carried out. All the subjects were interviewed personally to know the details and were treated with due respect after a consent. Out of all the talukas in rural Surendranagar, Sayla was selected randomly after which Sayla village was selected in a similar manner from all the villages in the talukas. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 68±7.5. Majority of the subjects were unemployed and illiterate (58%). Social factors like Social class, staying with children and staying in joint family were significantly associated with good health practices. Conclusions: The Health practices of the elderly can be improved upon by large scale health education programmes which can be targeted on the age group. Patient compliance improvement can be achieved by explaining them about the disease and treatment protocol in detail at the time of their health visit.