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Introduction: Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is an important intervention included by WHO as essential elements of antenatal care package. It is often delivered to pregnant women through their active participation by health care provider during antenatal care or initiated/followed up through visits to the homes of pregnant women by community health workers. Objectives: To determine the knowledge and practice regarding BPCR and to identify factors associated with it among rural pregnant women. Method: Cross-sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of Community Medicine Department of a medical teaching institutes. A total of 210 pregnant women who were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed for data collection. Results: Mean age of study subjects was 24.14 + 3.88 years.The highest number of women was in the age group of 20-29 years (84.8%). More than half (57.6%) mothers had observed at least two or more components of BPCR. Maximum number of females had identified facility for delivery (63.8%) followed by transportation (60.9%). Identification of potential blood donor by mothers was low (14.3%). Bleeding was most commonly identified danger symptom in all three phases of child bearing. Knowledge regarding danger signs was significantly associated with birth preparedness. Conclusion: In the present study, practice of all components of BPCR by mothers was very low. Bleeding was the most commonly identified danger symptom during all three phases i.e., pregnancy, child birth and after birth.Knowledge regarding other danger signs was highly inadequate.
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Introduction : Rabies is a fatal but vaccine-preventable viral disease. Animal bite victims who report in primary and secondary level health care lack some measures which can help in protecting and preventing deaths due to rabies. The most important factor for prevention of death due to rabies is the timely administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) among animal bite victims. Therefore, in addition to an understanding of the epidemiological distribution of animal bites, it is necessary to explore the factors leading to delay in PEP initiation. Objective: To determine the determinants of delay in initiation of post exposure prophylaxis for rabies prevention among animal bite cases attending anti-rabies clinic of a ruraltertiary care hospital in Sonepat, Haryana. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted at an Immunization-cum-antirabies clinic of Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical Collegefor Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana. A pre tested, structured questionnaire was used to collect information among 410 participants after taking consent. The Institutional Ethics Committee of institute approved the study. The groups were compared with Chi-square test for categorical data. Results: Delay was present among 27.3% of participants. Significant factors of delay were no local wound treatment, any treatment taken prior to anti-rabies vaccine administration, rabies clinic closed on holidays, unawareness about PEP, non-availability of accompaniment, transportation issues and money problem for transportation. Knowledge also played significant role as delay was significantly more among the participants not having knowledge regarding source of infection, mode of transmission and incubation period of rabies. Conclusions: Delay ininitiation of PEP was common and were significantly associated with lack of knowledge and unawareness, closure of rabies clinic on Sundays/holidays, non-availability of accompaniment and money problem during transportation
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Background: Newborn period is culturally and traditionally sensitive in every society. Different communities have different traditional practices when it comes to taking care of newborn. Head-shaving in newborn period is one such unique traditional practice existent among rural population of West Bengal. This study was conducted to explore the traditional practice of head-shaving and to highlight its related morbidities among newborns following head-shaving.Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted at triage of special newborn care unit of Malda Medical College and Hospital among 650 mothers who presented to us with their sick newborns following head-shaving. After obtaining informed consent, mothers were interviewed. The data were collected using pre-designed questionnaires. Statistical analyses of the data were done using SPSS version 21.Results: In the present study, majority (52.62%) of the mothers were within the age group of 18-21 years and 94.15% belonged to Muslim community. Neonatal head-shaving was usually done on 4th day of life (48.15%) and on 10th day of life (28.77%). Baby bath following head-shaving was given in 49.54% newborns using pond water and 77.70 % mothers used crude mustard oil for massaging following baby bath. Following head-shaving, 37.69% of newborns presented with poor feeding, 33.23% with abdominal distension and 61.23% presented with respiratory distress.Conclusions: Findings of present study highlights the harmful aspects of traditional practice of head-shaving among newborns in rural Bengal. This practice can be avoided by proper health education and counselling of the mothers and her associates involved in newborn care.
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Background: Hypertension (HTN) is the leading risk factor for death and disability globally and disproportionately impacts low-and middle-income countries. HTN is present in 25% of urban and 10% of rural subjects in India. Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of pre-HTN and HTN among the attendants of patients at a rural tertiary care institute of Haryana.Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. A total of 309 attendants of patients were enrolled for this study. Diagnosis of pre-HTN and HTN was done on the basis of seventh joined national committee guidelines. Data were collected on a semi-structured proforma and were analysed by using R software.Results: The prevalence of pre-HTN and HTN was 18.4% and 21.4% respectively. Both the pre-HTN and HTN were significantly higher in males (p=0.002) and in the age group of 45 to 55 years (p<0.001). The multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that sex, age >55 years and BMI >23 kg/m2 were significantly associated with pre-HTN and HTN.Conclusions: The prevalence of both prehypertension and hypertension is high in rural Haryana. This makes the people of this area vulnerable to several chronic diseases. The findings warrant urgent measures to lower the risk factors in rural communities. So, programs are needed to improve the surveillance systems and implementation of community based screening programs for early detection of hypertension.
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Background: A quarter of the world’s adult population has Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and this condition is appearing with increasing frequency in children and adolescents due to the growing obesity epidemic within this young population. Objective: To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the apparently healthy female medical students in BPSGMC for Women Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat and to find the risk factors associated with these conditions among the study subjects. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in rural BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat from April 2018 to September 2018 for a period of six months. The study population included all the undergraduate medical students of 2016 and 2017 batches. Semi-structured and pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data regarding demographic characteristics, anthropometric parameters and biochemical markers using standardized methods. MetS was defined as per National Cholesterol Education Programme Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP ATP III) criteria modified in 2004. Statistical analysis was carried out with R v 3.5.1 Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 9.8%. It was 7.7% in 17-19 years age group and 11.2% in 20-23 years age group. All the study subjects with MetS had abdominal obesity. MetS was significantly associated with elevated blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose ≥100 mg/dl, serum triglyceride ≥150 mg/dl and serum HDL cholesterol level <50 mg/dl. Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome exists in significant number among apparently healthy female medical students. Policy makers and healthcare providers can develop effective lifestyle interventions such as diet and physical activity for addressing the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.
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Background: Undergraduate medical education comprises strenuous study and training for five and half years. Mental health of medical students remains affected throughout this period. Objective: To assess the test anxiety in the undergraduate medical students and to find out the relationship between the test anxiety and academic performance in the students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a Rural BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat. The study population included all the undergraduate medical students enrolled from 2012 to 2016. Data pertaining to various socio-demographic characteristics were obtained by interview technique using a pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire ensuring privacy and confidentiality and reviewing academic records. Nist and Diehl test anxiety questionnaire was used to determine the anxiety score of students. Statistical analyses were carried out with R v 3.5.1. Results: A total of 240 students participated in the study. More than one quarter (26.3%) of the students did not suffer from test anxiety, 62.9% students exhibited healthy test anxiety and 10.8% of the students experienced unhealthy test anxiety. In relation to academic performance of the respondents, 4 (12.5%), 47 (24.9%) and 12 (63.2%) of respondents who performed fair, good and excellent respectively had no anxiety level as against those who had healthy anxiety and unhealthy anxiety level and these differences were statistically significant. Conclusions: Text anxiety is significantly associated with academic performance. These findings suggest the need of healthcare provision to prevent unhealthy test anxiety among medical students, as it decreases the academic performance.