ABSTRACT
A total of 2432 live births and 46 stillbirths were studied in some of the tea gardens of Dibrugarh district of upper Assam. The neonatal mortality rate was 46.5 per 1000 live births per year. Immaturity (21.2%), fever/sepsis (13.3%), breathing disorder (12.4%), neonatal tetanus (11.5%) and neonatal diarrhoea (8.8%) accounted for most of the neonatal deaths. There were 42.9% low birth weight infants and this was associated with 92.8% of total neonatal deaths and 34.3% of preterm babies were associated with 90.7% of neonatal deaths. The case fatality rate among low birth weight and preterm babies was 9% and 11% respectively. High risk of neonatal deaths had been found among the neonates in case of no maternal immunisation, delivery attended by untrained person and newborn care at home.
Subject(s)
Cause of Death , Confidence Intervals , Delivery, Obstetric/statistics & numerical data , Female , Fetal Death/epidemiology , Health Surveys , Humans , India/epidemiology , Infant Mortality/trends , Infant, Newborn , Infant, Premature , Male , Risk Factors , Rural PopulationABSTRACT
A study on tobacco use was carried out in Aizawl district of Mizoram, India, to assess the prevalence and pattern of tobacco use. An area served by two Sub-health Centers representing town and village population were selected for a household survey. 375 people (age 10 years and above) were interviewed about their habits of taking tobacco. Use of tobacco was high among males (56.6%) and females (45.7%), but the high prevalence of smoking among males (42.3%) and chewing among females (27.9%) indicates the existence of sex differences in tobacco use pattern. Age and occupation had significant association with tobacco use but influence of education was very low and its association was not significant. Mean age for start of tobacco chewing and smoking for males and females varied significantly. However, the mean age of start for adolescent and young age (10-29 years) tobacco users was 17.2 years (SD +/- 2.3). Though there are some limitations to this study, these findings revealed differential patterns of tobacco use which is valuable information for prevention effort.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Child , Educational Status , Female , Humans , India/epidemiology , Male , Occupations , Plants, Toxic , Prevalence , Smoking/epidemiology , Socioeconomic Factors , Nicotiana , Tobacco, SmokelessABSTRACT
A total of 395 drug addicts from Nagaland, India during 1992-1993 were studied. Of these, 331 (83.8%) were primary abusers of heroin. Mean age of the group was 21.8 years +/- SD 3.84. Of these 5.2% were females. The majority were unmarried (92.1%) and 52% had completed 10 years of schooling. Drug-related school dropout rate was 72.8%. Unemployment was predominant (90.3%) in the group, of which most were never employed. Christianity was the main religion (90.9%) of the group. The mean age at first use of heroin was 17.6 years +/- SD 3.68. The mean duration of dependence on heroin was 4.4 years +/- SD 2.8. Heroin was injected by 80.9% subjects. Friends were the main source of introduction. Concurrent use of tranquilizers and codeine containing cough syrups was prevalent in the event of a short supply of heroin. The involvement of young, unemployed, unmarried persons in heroin addiction; widespread prevalence of the injection route and needle sharing; chronicity of heroin dependence; paucity of specialized treatment avenues and proximity to the Golden Triangle facilitating illicit traffic, have contributed to emergence of heroin addiction as a major public health problem in Nagaland.