Résumé
Background: Cancer of the uterine cervix is the second most common cancer among women world-wide and accounts for 17% of all cancer deaths among females aged 30-69 years in India. Locally advanced cervical cancer is rampant in Bihar because of the high prevalence of associated risk factors. However, there is lack of organized screening programmes and treatment facilities for these patients. Thus, the study aimed at screening women for cervical cancer opportunistically during their visit to the health centres and to assess the various socio-demographic and other risk factors associated with positive screening test results.Methods: Using purposive sampling technique, all women aged 18-59 years who visited the centre for any purpose were interviewed using a pre-designed questionnaire. All eligible women were screened using the conventional Pap Smear and evaluation was done using the 2014 Bethesda system. This study is still underway and 71 women have been screened so far. An interim analysis was done.Results: Only 4.23% of the women ever had Pap smear testing in their life earlier. Mean age was 35.3±9.12 years and majority of the women were married and multi-parous. Vaginal discharge (55.74%) was the most common perceived gynecological morbidity. Most (36.62%) smears were reported as inflammatory cervical smears while epithelial cell abnormalities were seen in 4 (5.63%) cases.Conclusions: This study reiterates the need to start organized cervical screening program not only at tertiary center but also at primary health centers which will definitely help to reduce the burden to some extent
Résumé
With changing socioeconomic, demographic, and development scenario, there is a cultural shift in looking after the elderly population which may lead to depression in this age group. Materials and Methods: The study was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted in the orthopedic department of a tertiary care setting on 157 elderly individuals. This study was conducted with objectives to estimate the proportion of depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF) questionnaire along with its associated factors in geriatric population coming to the orthopedic department of the institute. The study tools were GDS-SF, Katz Index of Independence in activities of daily living (ADL), the Lawton instrumental ADL, and health-related quality of life by the Centers for Disease Control. Results: The proportion of depressed individuals was 70/157 (44.6%) using GDS as a tool. The maximum number was in the age group of 60–74 years. Women outnumbered men (51.3% vs. 38.31%) for depression. The depression using GDS score was more prevalent in rural elderly, illiterate, and elderly who were economically dependent on their children and who belonged to lower middle socioeconomic status. Approximately 98% of the study participants were found to be independent using ADL. Approximately 60% males and 68% females were dependent for the instrumental ADL using Lawton score. Most of the study participants had arthritis as a major impairment sharing almost equal proportion among males and females. Conclusion: The current study concludes that there is a very high proportion of elderly subjects who are experiencing depression using the GDS-SF tool. There should be regular screening for this disease in this age group even in a tertiary care setting.