ABSTRACT
Purpose: Diabetes?related retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in India. The study was carried out with the purpose of studying the association of sight?threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) with socioeconomic factors and demonstrating the impact of STDR on the affected individual. Methods: A mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) research design was used. The study participants were divided into two groups for quantitative analysis. The control group consisted of non–sight?threatening diabetic retinopathy, whereas the study group consisted of sight?threatening diabetic retinopathy. Apart from demographics, data on comorbidities, type and duration of diabetes mellitus (DM), health insurance status, and socioeconomic data were collected from each individual. A statistical test (Chi?square) was performed to study the association between socioeconomic (SE) classes and STDR. For the qualitative part, a few people were chosen. Face?to?face interviews were conducted in depth. Results: A total of 207 individuals, were recruited, of which 69 had STDR and the remaining 138 had non?STDR. The incidence of STDR was high among patients with lower socioeconomic class (SEC) (upper lower and lower), and univariate analysis revealed a strong association between STDR and SEC, the presence of comorbidities, presence of health insurance, type and duration of DM, and P value <0.05. SEC, in contrast, emerged as an independent risk factor for STDR in multivariate analysis. STDR had a devastating effect on all patients interviewed. The financial impact was most likely the most severe. Conclusion: People with lower SEC are more likely to suffer from STDR?related vision loss. The impact of such vision loss on individuals is multifaceted, including a negative impact on social and work life, psychological well?being, and, most importantly, a significant financial impact.
ABSTRACT
Background: Adolescence is a period of turmoil, leading to several mental health challenges including anxiety and/or depression. Anxiety and depressive disorders affects 10-15% of adolescents. Anxiety and depression are associated with substantial negative effects on adolescent's social, emotional and academic success. This leads to poor social and coping skills, low self-esteem, perceptions of social rejection, and difficulty forming friendships. This study was carried out with an objective to study prevalence and risk factors for anxiety and depression among adolescents.Methods: A cross sectional study conducted from April 2014 to December 2015 among 1026 school going adolescents from 4 schools of Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Anxiety and depression were measured using Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) respectively. Chi-square test was applied as test of significance.Results: Majority of the students (58.1%) was belonged to early adolescent age group. Two third were males. Maximum adolescents (42.5%) were coming from class III. Prevalence of moderate-severe anxiety and depression was 9.9% and 18.5%. Anxiety was not significantly associated with age, gender and socio economic class. Prevalence of depression was significantly higher in boys (20.5%) as compared to girls (14.5%, p=0.02). Moderate to severe depression was gradually increased with increasing in age. Adolescent from upper socio economic class (I, II, III- 19.1%) were severely depressed than adolescent from lower socio economic class (IV, V- 4.1%).Conclusions: Anxiety and depression was significantly present in adolescent age group. Depression was commonly observed in boys and gradually increased with increasing in age. There is need of strengthening school health services with screening and cost effective interventions to minimize the risk of drug abuse, suicide and violence.
ABSTRACT
Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARI) comprising of a group of respiratory diseases of varying etiology and severity is being increasingly recognized as a major public health problem particularly amongst children below five years of age. In all countries ARI is a leading cause of hospitalization and death. Therefore ARIs represent a large challenge in field of communicable diseases. The study was conducted with the objective to assess the socio-demographic, epidemiological and clinical profile of ARI cases.Methods: A descriptive cross sectional, hospital based study was conducted at Government Medical College and Hospital. All children admitted with ARI in the paediatric ward during the study period of one calendar year.Results: Maximum (53.13%) cases of ARI were from the age group <1 year. Males (60.80%) outnumbered the females (M:F ratio was 1.5:1). Month wise and season wise distribution of ARI cases showed that, most of the cases were admitted in the month of December (13.35%), followed by January (12.78%) and November (10.80%).Conclusions: Prevalence of ARI cases as well as severity of the disease was more in participants less than 1 year of age.
ABSTRACT
Aim: This work was aimed to assess the influence of socio-demographic and environmental factors on the incidence of asymptomatic malaria and anaemia among pupils in Fako Division, southwest Cameroon. Experimental Design: The study was a cross-sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Fako Division, southwest Cameroon -Bolifamba, Dibanda and Mutengene from February to March, 2013. Methodology: A total of 316 pupils aged 4–15 years were studied. Data on sociodemographic and environmental factors was obtained from a semi-structured questionnaire. Blood samples were collected. Malaria parasite incidence and densitywere determined from Giemsa-stained thin and thick blood smears respectively. Haemoglobin (Hb) levels were determined using a haemoglobinometer. Results: The overall incidence of asymptomatic malaria was 43.4% (CI=38-48.9). Malaria incidence was significantly highest (χ2=7,P=0.03) in pupils of 6-10 years age group (49.0%, CI=42.1-59.9) when compared with their counterparts. Although not significant, malaria parasite incidence was higher in males, pupils with fever, highest in pupils of Bolifamba and poor social status than their respective counterparts. Geometric mean parasite density (GMPD) was significantly highest (Kruskal Wallis test, *χ2=6.4, P=0.04) in Dibandathan other sites. Anaemia incidence was higher among inhabitants of Dibanda (56.7%) than other sites. Anaemia incidence was statistically higher (χ2=5.6, P=0.02) in malaria positive pupils, highest in Dibanda (χ2=27.244, P<0.001) and the middle class when compared with their respective counterparts. Mean HB was significantly higher in malaria negative (t=1-8, P=0.02), highest in the poor class (χ2=13.4, P=0.001) and Mutengene (F=21.2, P=0.0001) when compared with their respective counterparts. Conclusion: Sensitization on effective malaria control strategies needs to be emphasized so that a reduction in malaria burden can be achieved.