ABSTRACT
Background: Acute respiratory illness is responsible for 19% of all deaths in children in below five years of age and 8.2% of all disability as measured by DALY. Recent studies have added other risk factors to the list including large family size, poor socioeconomic status, family history of bronchitis, advanced birth order, crowding, young age, air pollution, and the use of non-allopathic treatment in early stages of illness. Also, indoor air pollution is one of the major risk factors for acute lower respiratory tract infection in children in developing countries. The objectives of this study were to identify and compare the risk factors associated with severe and very severe pneumonia.Methods: A prospective observational study. Children between 2 months to 5 years with clinical features of severe pneumonia were included in the study. Socioeconomic history like the type of house, family size, sanitary facilities and fuel-based cooking was recorded. Detailed history about immunization, feeding practice and degree of malnutrition was recorded. Chi Square test was used to determine significant differences between two groups.Results: Total 150 patients could be included in the study. Immunization status shows that 74% were completely immunized, 9% were unimmunized and 17% were partially immunized. Most of the children were breast fed 95.33% and only 4.67% were bottle fed. 30% of the cases were grade 3 and 4 PEM and anemic. The socioeconomic status showed 84% were belonged to grade 3,4 and 5 and 16% belonged to grade 1 and 2. 96.67% were living in ill ventilated kutcha house with poor sanitation facilities and nearly 94% were living in house with fuel other than LPG.Conclusions: Factors like previous history of similar illness, inappropriate immunization for age, anemia, PEM grade 3 and 4, poor housing condition, and indoor air pollution were significantly associated with severity of pneumonia. While severity of illness, PEM grade 3 and 4 and associated illness were the important risk factors for mortality.
ABSTRACT
Background: Haemophilia is one of the most severe bleeding disorder. Seventy-five per cent of the global haemophiliacs live in developing countries, where probably only one in five cases is diagnosed, and there is little or no care available. Haemophilia as a disease and its management has a large impact on the community, including social integration and economics. Inability to be an active part of society and high cost of the medical care make this disease an important problem for all haemophilic patients.Methodology: a cross-sectional study, conducted over a period of one and half year. Institutional Ethics Committee permission was taken before starting the study. Information was gathered through personal interview of the patient's guardian with the help of predesigned questionnaires. Special emphasis was given to past history of bleeding. For each specific symptom/ specific site a detailed history and relevant details was taken and number of episodes of each symptom or number of episodes of involvement of a specific site was written.Observations: Out of 75 patients of haemophilia; 8 (10.7%) were Mild haemophilic, 17 (22.7%) were moderate haemophilic; and 50 (66.7%) were severe haemophilic. Most common site for spontaneous bleeding was muscle where 121 (25%) episodes of bleeding were reported, followed by knee joint 97(20%), and Ankle 79 (16.3%). The commonest site for traumatic bleeding was muscle where 201 (24.7%) episodes of bleeding were reported, followed by knee joint 175 (21.5%), Ankle 143 (17.6%) and Elbow joint 83 (10.2%). Site with highest duration of bleeding was intracranial for 6 days.Conclusion: Frequency of traumatic dental and nasal bleeds was significantly higher in mild class as compared to moderate and severe classes. In severe category Knee, ankle, elbow and muscle were the commonest site where traumatic bleeding. There was no significant difference in bleeding frequencies at various sites in moderate and severe cases, whether spontaneous or traumatic bleed.
ABSTRACT
Background: Incidence of obesity is increasing day by day because of various factors. It is important to assess the trend of obesity in particular geographical area. Objective: To assess the prevalence of obesity and overweight in affluent schoolgirls aged 13 to 15 years in Surat, India. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2009 to April 2010. From a list of all private schools in Surat, with tuition fees more than Rs. 2,000 per monyh, two schools were selected randomly using a random table. Height and weight was measured and BMI was calculated. Overweight and obesity was assessed by BMI for age. Student who had BMI for age>85th and < 95th percentile of reference population were classified as overweight and BMI for age>95th percentile of reference population were classified as obese (IAP Growth Monitoring Guidelines for Children from Birth to 18 Year). Results: Prevalence of obesity and overweight amongst the study subjects was 6.6% and 13.5% respectively. Conclusion: There is significant prevalence of obesity in affluent schoolgirls in Surat, India.