Omission of quality assurance during data entry in public health research from India: Is there an elephant in the room?

As the adage, 揋arbage in, Garbage out� goes, data entry errors may lead to erroneous results and conclusions. Quality assurance during data entry is one of the most neglected components of research and is conspicuously missing in most of the reporting standards. In this study, we reviewed research studies published in Indian Journal of Public Health and Indian Journal of Community Medicine during 2014�16 and determined the proportion of papers reporting on quality assurance during data entry. Of 110 papers, only 6 (5.5%) papers explicitly included a statement about data quality assurance, with two studies reported to have performed double entry and validation, considered the gold standard in quality-assurance of data entry. This is highly unacceptable. We hereby appeal to the community of researchers, peer reviewers, and journal editors in India to pay attention to this important aspect of research and make reporting of quality assurance of data entry mandatory in every published paper.

Prevalence of Risk Factors of Hypertension in Village Mirzapur, Aligarh.

Background: The risk factors of many non-communicable diseases including hypertension are similar and include increasing age, a high salt intake, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and tobacco addiction. Due to the epidemiological transition in countries like India, many of these risk factors are on the rise. For the control and treatment of hypertension, these factors must be managed and prevented. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of risk factors of hypertension, and to evaluate the association between these factors and prevalence of hypertension. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study, conducted in the month of December, 2015 at Mirzapur, a village in Aligarh District, Uttar Pradesh. The study population comprised of all the residents of the village ≥ 40 years of age, on the day of survey after prior consent. The data entry and other statistical calculations were done through SPSS version 20 and MS- Excel. Results: The study included 160 people above 40 years of age. The prevalence of sedentary lifestyle was 36.3%, obesity- 23.1% and average salt intake- 7.23 (2.60) grams. The tobacco addiction level, including both smoked and smokeless forms were found to be very high-45.6% in this study. Increasing age and obesity were significantly associated with hypertension. Conclusion: There is a substantial prevalence of risk factors of hypertension in India that may be the reason behind the increase in non-communicable diseases.