ABSTRACT
Introduction: Overweight and obesity has become a worldwide epidemic and is a growing public health concern. The increase in prevalence and severity of obesity among children and adolescents has been attributed largely to behavioral factors such as changing eating habits and sedentary lifestyles. Objective: To determine prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity among adolescents and its association with sociodemographic factors and lifestyle. Methods: Present cross-sectional study was conducted in the urban field practice area under the Community Medicine Department of LLRM Medical College, Meerut, among 872 adolescents. All localities in the field area were covered and house to house survey was done. Questions were asked about eating patterns, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle. Data was collected and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.43, 6.88%, respectively. Obesity was significantly higher among females, those who indulged in unhealthy eating habits were physically inactive, watched television for a longer duration and ate junk while watching television. Conclusion: In the present study, we found that high junk food consumption and a sedentary lifestyle were found to be significantly associated with childhood overweight/obesity. As a result, timely interventions should be taken to improve awareness about healthy lifestyle behavior to prevent obesity and its complications among adolescents.
ABSTRACT
Background: Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has been launched to provide financial protection expenditure to nearly 500 million vulnerable Indians. For expanding the coverage under the scheme, it is necessary to understand the perspective of health care service providers involved in the scheme. Aim & Objective: To find out the bottlenecks in implementation of PMJAY scheme using empanelled hospitals’ perspective Settings and Design: Cross sectional study Methods and Material: 8 Public and 23 Private hospitals were selected through Simple Random Sampling from the list of PMJAY empanelled hospitals. The PMJAY Medical Officer co-ordinators in the empanelled hospitals were interviewed using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Statistical analysis used: Data was analysed using descriptive statistics in Epiinfo software. Results: Among the 31 empanelled hospitals studied, 93.5% were satisfied with the process for empanelment under PMJAY. 64.5% hospitals were not satisfied with the Health Benefit Packages. 77.4% hospitals perceived the PMJAY to be poorer as compared to private health insurance with reasons being poor grievance reprisal, poor claim processing and settlement, denial of reimbursement of health packages, poor rates of health packages and little information about the scheme. Conclusions: Various hurdles are being faced in the implementation of the scheme. There definitely remains a huge scope for further improvements so as to enhance the insurance coverage in the country.
ABSTRACT
Background: - COVID-19 is the most important public health problem of recent time. Many people require hospitalization after infection. COVID vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the disease. Due to extensive negative publicity through social media channels/platforms,significant number of individuals are not coming forward for vaccination. Therefore, study is needed to evaluate adverse effects associated with different vaccines available in India. Objectives: - To assess the adverse effects associated with COVID-19 vaccination and compare the side effect of two most commonly used COVID vaccines in India. Methods:- In the current report, a cross sectional study was conducted among beneficiaries of COVID-19 vaccines at the vaccination center of the LLRM Medical college, India. After institutional ethical clearance and informed consent, patients were asked about the symptoms they experienced after vaccination. A very simple random sampling approach was used to select beneficiaries. Information was collected on predesigned Google form and total 391 patients submitted the responses. Results:- Out of total respondents 77 % individuals reported one or more symptoms. Fever was reported to be most common problem (59.3%) followed by body ache (57.5%). Out of total beneficiaries, 68.3% experienced mild symptoms while 23% remain asymptomatic. Only few subjects reported moderate adverse effects (8.7%). None of the respondent reported severe and serious adverse effect. Conclusions:- Vaccine associated adverse effects were found less than 3 days and of mild variety in most of the beneficiaries. There was no difference in adverse effect profile of two commonly used vaccines in India. People must come forward for vaccination in mass without fearing of adverse effects of vaccines.
ABSTRACT
Background: Adolescent obesity is becoming a major public health problem in urban areas of India and its prevalence is increasing in all socioeconomic groups irrespective of religion, region and caste. Aims & Objectives: To find out prevalence of overweight & obesity among adolescents and to study its association with sociodemographic factors. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the area covered by Urban Health and Training Centre of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Meerut. Sample size was estimated by keeping the prevalence as 10% with 95% confidence interval and relative precision of 20%. A total of 872 adolescents were selected randomly using proportional allocation method. Results: The prevalence of overweight was found to be 17.4% and obesity 6.9%. The prevalence was significantly higher among females and in those belonging to nuclear families as well as higher socioeconomic status. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is quite high in the urban area and there is a need to develop an effective programme for the prevention of obesity in these areas.