ABSTRACT
Objective: The aim of our study was to compare the presence of hypertension in people consuming hard water or fresh water and level of hardness, in individual water resources in Haji Samoa village near Keti Bundar, Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Keti Bundar in September 2014. There are two sources of water supply in the area; rain water / hard water. 340 people were included. People > 18 years of age, living in Keti Bundar for > 5 years were included. People having chronic kidney disease, diabetes, or taking anti-hypertensive drugs/oral calcium supplements were excluded. Demographic features, Body Mass Index [BMI] and blood pressure were recorded. Water sample was checked for hardness. Hardness of > 180 ppm was considered to be very hard. Hypertension was compared between people consuming hard or fresh water. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: Out of 340 people, 80 [23.5%] had hypertension; in people consuming hard water 38 [20%] were hypertensive while 42 [28%] people consuming fresh water were hypertensive. This difference was not found to be statistically significant. While testing the hardness of water resources, the level of hardness was found to be very high, 3 out of 4 reservoirs; which were not suitable for human consumption. Conclusion: We conclude that hypertension is no more common in people taking fresh water than hard water; but the underground well water in area of Keti Bundar has high levels of hardness
ABSTRACT
Objective: The primary aim of our study was to determine the frequency of headache in medical students exposed to secondhand smoking, as well as observing response of non-smoker medical students for passive smoking
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at three private colleges of Karachi in June 2014, sample size was 300. The inclusion criteria were medical students between 18-25 years of age who were non-smokers, exposed daily once or more to secondhand smoking. Students were inquired about age, gender, duration, location and frequency of exposure to passive smoking and presence or absence of secondhand smoking related headache and response and behavior of smokers observed by non-smoker students to counselling
Results: Out of 290 students 186 [64.1%] complained of headache related to passive smoking, 172 [59%] were exposed in medical colleges. Of 127 [43%] had been exposed to passive smoking more than two times a day. Although 255 [88%] out of 290 students favoured prohibition of smoking at public place, but only 90 [31%] did practical attempt to advise smokers to stop smoking at public place. Response of smokers was good, 73% students believed that smokers gave positive response to their advice
Conclusion: There appears to be a high frequency of headache related to secondhand smoking. Hence, students should be provided special training skills to council the smokers to avoid smoking at public place; moreover we also need practical implementation of laws against smoking at public place