ABSTRACT
Background: Several studies support the influence of ethnicity on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Aim and Objectives: This study aims to investigate the difference in correlation between obesity profile and blood pressure (BP) between Sikkimese and immigrant students in Gangtok. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences, Sikkim, Gangtok. A total of 274 students aged 18–25 years were included in the study. The anthropometric parameters (Height, weight, BMI, and Waist Circumference [WC]), systolic and diastolic BP (DBP) of the ethnic and immigrant group, were recorded. Two-tail Students’ test was performed to compare two groups and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used to measure the linear correlation. Results: Mean value of all variables-BMI, WC, Systolic BP (SBP), and DBP was higher in the immigrant group as compared to the ethnic group, but the differences were not statistically significant. Lower prevalence of general obesity, abdominal obesity, elevated BP., and hypertension was found among Sikkimese compared to non-Sikkimese young adults. A stronger positive correlation was found between BP and WC and between BP and BMI in immigrants compared to the ethnic group. Conclusion: Higher incidence of different cardiovascular risk factors in young immigrant adults as compared to the ethnic Sikkimese group in this study points toward ethnicity-dependent differences in the relationship between obesity profile and BP.
ABSTRACT
Background: Psychological morbidity in medical undergraduate students has always been reported from various countries across the globe. Studies which document this burden among medical students in India are very few. Aims and Objectives: The presence of depression and anxiety among medical undergraduate students was assessed using a previously validated and standardized instrument, hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the associations with their sociodemographic and comorbidities were identified. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, a self-administered, pre-designed, pre-tested HADS was used to collect information on basic sociodemographic (age, gender, semester, and socioeconomic status) and comorbidities through a Google Forms. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Scores for each of the respondents over each of the subscales (depression and anxiety) were calculated as per the severity rating index. Results: The study showed that majority (77.4%) of the students did not feel that they were depressed which was found to be similar in both male and female students. However, about 50% of both male and female students were found to be suffering from either mild or moderate anxiety. The present study showed that there was no significant association between HADS score and socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics among medical undergraduate students. Conclusion: A substantial proportion of medical undergraduate students was found to be anxious and quite a lot of them were found to be suffering from mild to moderate depression, revealing a neglected area of the students’ psychology requiring urgent attention. Student counseling services need to be made available and accessible to curb this morbidity.
ABSTRACT
Background: Vehicular or automobile emission constitutes a significant health injury to traffic policemen posted at thenumerous traffic junctions. Aim and Objectives: Evaluating the spirometric lung function test parameters of traffic policemen posted in Gangtok town and to compare and measure the findings with general police personnel and also to study the effect of exposure to long-term automobile pollution. Materials and Methods: In this study, after matching for anthropometric variables such as weight, height, and body mass index, 40 traffic policemen were taken as case and 40 general duty policemen were taken as control groups. The exclusion criteria were duly screened, and only those subject who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included after which the spirometric pulmonary function tests (PFT) ‘s evaluation was done. The indices measured in the study included (1) Forced vital capacity (FVC) (2) Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) (3) FEV1/FVC ratio (4) Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) (5) Forced mid expiratory flow (FEF 25–75%). Spirometric indices of the subjects and controls were statistically analyzed using the student’s t test and p value computed against the degree of freedom. Results: The traffic policemen showed decline in various PFT indices as compared to controls in terms of FVC(L), FEV1 (L), FEV1/FVC, FEF 25–75%, PEFR, although it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: The traffic policemen working in Gangtok town had decreased PFT, although it was not statistically significant in this study. Even then, we strongly recommend for the adoption and practice of various preventive measure from vehicular pollution and conduction of further studies on larger samples.