ABSTRACT
Objectives: To compare the overall dental aesthetic index scores between rural and urban areas, males and females, and to correlate dental aesthetic index score with fluoride concentration in drinking water. Settings and Design: The study was cross sectional and conducted among 15 year old adolescents in the rural and urban areas of Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India (an endemic fluoride belt). Materials and Methods: Six out of 59 mandals in Nalgonda district were first selected by simple random sampling technique. Then 24 secondary schools were selected from these six selected mandals. All eligible grade X children from these sixteen rural and eight urban schools, having different fluoride concentrations in drinking water, selected by simple random sampling, were considered for the study. Dentofacial anomalies with criteria of dental aesthetic index were used for assessing malocclusion. The information on the dietary habits, orthodontic treatment history, parafunctional habits, continuous residence etc., was collected using a pre-designed questionnaire. The examination was carried out by three trained and calibrated dentists. The Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) scores, in areas with below optimal, optimal and above optimal fluoride concentrations, between urban and rural areas were compared and analyzed using SPSS windows version 16. Results: The mean DAI scores, for the rural and urban population were 21.37 ± 5.845 (mean ± SD) and 22.26 ± 6.115, for males and females, it was 20.86 ± 5.100 and 22.70 ± 6.713 respectively. The mean DAI scores in areas with below optimal, optimal and above optimal fluoride concentration were 23.42 ± 7.205 (mean ± SD), 20.85 ± 4.658 and 19.93 ± 4.312 respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence and severity of malocclusion was more in urban than rural areas, more among females than males, and it decreased with increasing concentration of fluoride in drinking water.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Transfusion of safe blood requires a safe donor. The voluntary donor movement encompasses the concept of a donor who is free from transfusion transmissible infections. It is now mandatory to screen blood for hepatitis B surface antigen, antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2, antibodies to hepatitis C virus, syphilis and malarial parasites. METHODS: Between 1996 and 2002, 235 461 donors were screened for markers of hepatitis B virus, and HIV-1 and HIV-2 using commercially available ELISA kits, VDRL test for syphilis and Geimsa stain for the malarial parasite, respectively. A total of 56 476 donors were screened for hepatitis C virus antibodies from June 2001 to December 2002, using third-generation ELISA kits. RESULTS: The proportion of voluntary donors increased from 47% to 56% during the study period. The prevalence of HIV showed a steady increase from 0.16% in 1996 to 0.3% in 2002. The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen decreased from 1.55% to 0.99%. VDRL reactivity did not show any trend and ranged between 0.11% and 0.66%. Hepatitis C virus antibodies showed a prevalence of 0.4%. The prevalence of all markers was significantly less in voluntary donors. Among the voluntary donors, transfusion transmissible disease markers were significantly less in student donors as compared to other donors. CONCLUSION: A change-over to a voluntary donor service would considerably reduce the number of infectious donors and, among voluntary donors, student donors are the safest.