Eating behaviours and perception about body shape among adolescent girls of Panjab University, Chandigarh

Introduction: Indians are experiencing nutritional and lifestyle transitions due to globalization and westernization. The study aimed to find out the current eating patterns and body shape concerns and various factors that influence eating behaviors and body shape concerns of late-adolescent girls. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 230 undergraduate adolescent girl university students from 12 departments in the age group of 17–19 years. Eating attitude and body shape concerns of adolescents were determined by using the standard eating attitude test-26 (EAT-26) and body shape questionnaire (BSQ-34). Results: The duration of the study was 6 months and participants were selected by simple random sampling. The mean age of the study subjects was 18.52 (±0.63) years. The majority of subjects had an urban background (85%). Less than half had an exercise routine (44%) which was followed daily. As per body mass index (BMI) distribution, 19.57% were underweight, 11.3% were overweight and only 2.17% were obese. An unfavorable eating attitude was found in 18% of subjects whereas 38.2% had mild to the marked concern of body shape. There was a significant positive correlation between BSQ with BMI (r = 0.387, P ? 0.01) and BSQ-34 with EAT-26 (r = 0.367, P ? 0.01). Conclusion: Current study shows that late adolescent urban females are susceptible to eating disorders and are body image conscious. Institutional mechanisms should be brought in place to address the need of improving their eating habits and modification of lifestyle.

Metabolic Syndrome in Young Urban Adults

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is diagnosed in an individual if any three of the five risk factors formetabolic syndrome are present. These five risk factors are elevated waist circumference, blood pressure,fasting blood glucose, serum triglyceride and lowered high density lipoprotein. Although the long term naturalevolution of MS has been reported yet there is insufficient research on the changes in risk factors of MSafter one year of diagnosis.Objective: To evaluate changes in risk factors of metabolic syndrome after one year of its identification inyoung college going students of an urban Northern India populationMaterial and method: Height, weight, body mass index and various risk factors for metabolic syndromesuch as waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, triglycerides and High Density Lipoproteinwere assessed at baseline and after one year. International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used toobjectively assess physical activity levels of the participants.Results: Out of 88 participants, 16 participants were diagnosed with MS at baseline but after one year thenumber reduced to 8.Percentage decrease in triglyceride levels (13.5%) was maximum followed by decline in waist circumference(8.9%) fasting blood glucose showed an increase by 6.6%. However, HDL, blood pressure, weight and BMIshowed no significant change after one year.70.6% of participants showed reduction in WC followed by reduction in fasting blood glucose of and triglyceridelevels of 66.7% participants. Elevation of HDL levels was observed in 38.5% of the participants. Thus therewas least improvement in HDL in the study population after one year. The increase in IPAQ physical activityscores after one year as compared to baseline was not statistically significant but the total sitting andaverage sitting time showed a statistically significant decline after one year.Conclusion: The incidence of MS shows a 49.7% decline after one year even when no specific dietary orphysical activity advise is given to the participants. Although mean values of triglycerides showed the largestdecrease after one year yet decline in waist circumference was seen in maximum percentage of participants.There was least improvement in HDL in the study population after one year.

Depression and its correlates among geriatric people: A community based study from Southern Haryana, India

On account of improved life expectancy, better education and health facilities in India, the proportion of the geriatric population has gone up. In India, prevalence of depression estimated to be 4.5% in the year 2015, which affects about 57 million people. Objective: To determine the prevalence of depression and its epidemiological correlates among geriatric people residing in southern Haryana, India. Material and Methods: This community based study with cross-sectional design was conducted in rural and urban field practice areas of department of Community Medicine. Geriatric people were contacted by investigators through house to house visit. Study subjects were screened for depression by using standard shorter version Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Pearson’s Chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to find out an independent factors associated with depression. Result: A total of 308 elderly persons belonging to rural and urban areas participated in our study. Prevalence of depression (GDS score >5) among the elderly population in the present study was found to be 22.72% (95% CI: 18.2-27.8). Conclusion: Present study depicted that every fourth elderly person was suffering with depression. Nuclear family, sleep problems, not consulting elderly in decisions, chronic morbidity, lack of physical activities, and death of close relatives were identified as risk factors of depression.

Prevalence of depression among school going adolescents in an urban area of Haryana, India.

Background: Depression in adolescents often results in suicide, school drop-out, pregnancy, antisocial behavior, substance abuse, progressing in to adult depression functional disability and significant impairment. Depression in adolescents is an under recognized mental health problem. Methods: Cross-sectional study by using simple screening instrument Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) among school-going adolescents in urban Rohtak (Haryana). All the students of class 9th& 10th of 3 government schools were included. The data was collected on a predesigned, pre-tested, semi-structured, schedule by interview technique after obtaining informed consent from the concerned adolescents/principals of schools. Statistical analysis has been done with simple proportions and percentages using SPSS20. Results: A total of 374 adolescents participated in the study. More than half of study subjects were found to have scores corresponding to some degree of depression and nearly one in seven was suffering from moderate to severe depression. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the need for screening for depressive symptomatology and identifying adolescents who need further intervention.