RESUMO
Background: For diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes mellitus and other chronic diseases body mass index (BMI) is identified as a positive and independent risk factor associated with both morbidity and mortality. The objective of the study is to establish a relationship between blood pressure and BMI among government employees of Gujarat state. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among government employees of new Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar of Gujarat during April to July 2004. Total 775 employees were selected using stratified, systematic random and simple random sampling designs. Written consent of all the subjects was obtained. A structured pre-tested proforma was used for collecting information and the results of the measurements. Anthropometric measurements like height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were taken and BMI was calculated. To test the significance of the difference among the statistical parameters in different subsets of population F-test was applied. Results: Out of 775 subjects participated in the study 676 (87.2 percent) were males and 99 (12.8 percent) were females. The highest proportion of the study subjects were in the 41-50 age groups. The mean age of the study population was 46.72 years. The mean Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) of the total study population was 125.9 mm of Hg. The mean Diastolic Blood Pressure (SBP) of the total study population was 81.5 mm of Hg. The mean SBP and DBP shows an increasing trend with increasing age & were found statistically significant. [For SBP, F = 15.36, p=0.00, For DBP, F=4.9; p=0.007]. The difference among mean SBP and DBP of the three categories of BMI were found statistically significant in male population, female population and total study population (For SBP, F =14.48, p =0.00001) (For DBP, F=20.14, p=0.00000). Conclusion: There is significant correlation between BMI and DBP or SBP among government employees of Gujarat state situated in western part of India, thus basic measurement of weight and height to determine the BMI as a routine assessment during clinic visitation with appropriate lifestyle modification would help in controlling hypertension as well as reduce its prevalence.
RESUMO
Background: A school is a key location for educating children about health, hygiene and nutrition, and for putting in place interventions to promote the health of children. Objectives: of current study were 1) To study the socio demographic profile of children of boarding schools. 2) To study the growth, nutritional and hygiene status of children of boarding schools. Methods: The study was a cross sectional study. After taking the permission of principal of resident schools and consent of the parents of children, 867 children from 8 boarding schools were interviewed during February-March 2011. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: Age of the study children (total 867) ranged from 5-19 years. (Mean age = 13.80 ± 1.96 years). Out of 867, 434 (49.9%) were boys and 433 (50.1%) were girls. 32.6% belonged to socio economic class IV. There were only 122 (14.1%) children who had been in boarding school since 4 and more than 4 years. Good personal hygiene was observed in only 75 (8.7%) children followed by fair personal hygiene in 292 (33.7%) children and poor personal hygiene in 500 (57.7%) children. 220 (50.8%) female children had fair personal hygiene and 343 (79.0%) male children had poor personal hygiene and this difference was statistically significant. Prevalence of malnutrition in this study was 7.2% (Females = 4.2%; Males = 10.1%; P <0.001).The bulk of the malnutrition cases were constituted by the grade-I P.E.M. cases (66.1%) followed by grade-II P.E.M. cases (25.8%) and there were 5 (8.1%) cases of grade-III malnutrition only in female children. Conclusion: Poor personal hygiene, poor nutritional status among these children needs great attention and health education.