ABSTRACT
Background: Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in general practice. It is much more common among women than men, with female/male ratio roughly 2:1. In today’s hectic life, stress is increasing in housewives. Very few data is available on depression among housewives in India. So the present study is aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and study its epidemiological co-relates among housewives aged 18-59 years in rural area of district Ludhiana. Objectives were to assess depression among housewives aged 18-59 years in a rural area and determine the association of depression with socio-demographic co-relates. Methods: This study is a community based cross-sectional study carried out in the field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. 300 subjects were selected by systematic random sampling. Assessment of depression among the housewives was done by using Patient Health Questionnare-9 (PHQ-9). Results: In the present study, 43% of the subjects were found to have depression. Mean age of subjects with depression was found to be 42.4 (±10.3) years. There was an increasing trend of depression among housewives with increasing age (p=0.000). Inverse relationship was found between level of education and depression (p=0.000). Lower socio-economic status was found to be associated with higher rates of depression (p=0.039). Conclusions: Depression was seen to be on higher side among housewives in rural area of Ludhiana. Housewives should be educated about warning signs and symptoms of depression and motivated to avail the primary health care services.
ABSTRACT
Background: Under nutrition is important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. In India burden of underweight children in under 5 years of age is still 35.7% (NFHS-4) and is 22% in Punjab which is still considered to be a major public health problem. Thus this study was planned to find prevalence and risk factors of under nutrition in under 3 children in urban Ludhiana.Methods: It is community based cross-sectional study conducted in under 3 year children in field practice area of Urban Health Centre under Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana. Minimum sample size of 368 was calculated. Data was collected from routine surveillance by ANMs in their visits to area. Under nutrition was taken as weight for age as per standard growth chart used in India (WHO based). Statistical analysis: Microsoft Excel, Chi square test, SPSS.Results: Out of 387 children, 82 (21.2%) were underweight [17 (4.4%) severely and 65 (16.8%) moderately underweight]. Increasing age, partial immunization, low birth weight and high birth order were significantly associated, while gender, type of family, SES, mother’s BMI & literacy and exclusive breast feeding were not significantly associated with prevalence of underweight.Conclusions: Increasing age, partial immunization, low birth weight and high birth order were all significantly associated with underweight. Maternal and child health services need to be strengthened
ABSTRACT
Objective There are no community based, longitudinal, intra individual epidemiological studies on effect of weather and season on blood pressure (BP). We evaluated the effect of season and temperature on prevalence and epidemiology of BP in tropical climate. Methods and results It was a longitudinal cross sectional survey of rural and urban subjects in their native surroundings. BP was measured in four different seasons in same subjects. A total of 978 subjects (452 rural and 521 urban) were included in the current analysis. Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education, occupational based physical activity and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Mean BP, both systolic and diastolic were significantly higher in winter season as compared to summer season. Mean difference between winter and summer was 9.01 (95% CI: 7.74–10.28, p < 0.001) in systolic BP and 5.61 (95% CI: 4.75–6.47, p < 0.001) in diastolic BP. This increase in BP was more marked in rural areas and elderly subjects. Prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher during winter (23.72%) than in summer (10.12%). Conclusion BP increases significantly during winter season as compared to summer season. Increase is more marked in rural areas and elderly subjects. Seasonal variation in BP should be taken into account while looking at prevalence of hypertension in epidemiological studies.