ABSTRACT
Background: Management of critically ill children poses a great challenge to the treating physician. With the advances in themanagement of critically ill children, there is an increased survival of critically ill children. Profile of mortality in the pediatricintensive care unit (PICU) varies between different age groups and between different studies. Childhood mortality is an importantindicator of health status of a country.Objective: The objective of the study was to study the pattern of mortality in a PICU.Materials and Methods: It is a retrospective study done at a tertiary care hospital. PICU records of all deaths were analyzedfrom January 2018 to December 2018.Results: Of 1993 admissions, there were 209 deaths. The mortality rate was 10.52%. One-hundred and nine children died dueto infections and 100 children died due to non-infectious causes.Conclusion: Overall infections were the major cause of death in children which are higher than the developed countries.Infections were the major cause of death in children under 5 years of age. In children older than 5 years, non-infectious causeswere the major cause of death. Mortality can be further reduced by improving infrastructure.
ABSTRACT
Background: Hypertension constitutes a significant cardiovascular burden globally. Non-pharmacological interventions arehighly sought either as an adjunct or primary means of managing hypertension. Slow breathing (SB) is one of such approachwhich gains attention in recent times due to its multiple physiological benefits in lowering blood pressure (BP). However, thereis a gap in literature testing the ability of SB training on quality of life (QOL) of hypertensive (HT) patients.Aim of the Study: This study aims to find out the effectiveness of SB on reduction of BP and improvement in the health-relatedQOL in HT patients.Materials and Methods: It was a randomized, open, and parallel-group trial design carried out at the Outpatient Departmentof Medicine in Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The studyconsists of 60 HT patients assigned equally to either study or control group. The study group was trained with SB training for4 weeks, whereas no specific treatment was given for controls.Results: The mean drop in systolic BP (SBP) for the study group was 14.24 ± 3.30 mmHg, whereas the mean drop was only5.28 ± 2.26 mmHg for controls. The mean drop in diastolic BP (DBP) was 6.20 ± 2.69 mmHg for the study group, whereasit was only 3.12 ± 2.05 mmHg for controls. There was significantly higher drop in systolic as well as DBP in the study group.Likewise, the World Health Organization QOL-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) was improved to 10.79 ± 5.47 in the 0–100 scale forthe study group, whereas the mean improvement in the WHOQOL-BREF for control was 5.95 ± 0.01 in the 0–100 point scale.Conclusions: It was concluded that 4 weeks of SB training were effective in reducing BP and improving QOL in patients with HT.
ABSTRACT
Background: Stress is a word very difficult to define. No one is stress-free nowadays. Stress has an impact on mental and physical wellbeing. Everyone has an ideal level of stress, but it differs from person to person. A certain amount of stress is necessary to perform at the optimum. If the stress is perceived as negligible or as exceeding one’s capacity to cope, then distress results. Stress among students of medical field (medical, dental and nursing) has gained more focus in recent years. Aim of the study: To assess the magnitude of stress among First-Year Nursing students of RMMCH, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu. Materials and methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected using a proforma which included socio-demographic profile and PSS-14. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: Study showed that 96% of students had stress. 94% of students had mild to moderate stress while 2% had severe stress. Conclusion: The prevalence of stress among Nursing students was high and there is a need for support services like stress management programs, relaxation techniques and so on. Support services may help to improve their ability to cope up with the demands of the course and also to have a stress free life.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Hypertension is one of the leading disorders contributing to significant morbidity and mortality in the world today. Today’s stressful life and modern life styles including the food habits have increased the incidence, acquiring a status of modern day epidemic along with diabetes mellitus. The onset and severity of complication in a system is said to be dependent on the duration of hypertension and the degree of its control. Autonomic dysfunction is drawing more and more attention of the medical fraternity for its supposed role in sudden deaths observed in hypertensive and diabetics. Aim of the study: Our aim is to Hand grip test and Cold presser test in normotensive and moderately hypertensive patients. Materials and methods: A comparative study of cardiovascular autonomic function tests in hypertensive and normotensive individuals was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Department of Community Medicine, RMMCH-Urban Health Centre, Chidambaram on 25 hypertensive patients in the age group of 30-40 years and age matched control group of 25 normotensive individuals. The study was programmed to assess sympathetic nerve functions based on cardiovascular parameters like blood pressure and heart rate measurement. Among the autonomic function tests discussed in the review of literature. Results: In HGT this is an indicator for sympathetic insufficiency. Rise in DBP of > 16 mmHg is taken as normal. In autonomic disorder the rise is < 10 mmHg.