Lifestyle Behaviours among General Population During Lockdown Period during Corona Virus Disease-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Healthy lifestyle behaviours have been consistently associated with reduced non-communicable disease related morbidity, mortality and wellbeing. Unhealthy behaviours are major contributors to the global burden of disease. The main aim of this study is to access lifestyle behaviours in adults during the corona virus disease-19 pandemic. METHODS: Cross sectional study was conducted among general population residing in Nepal. Online questionnaire was developed using Google Forms. Questionnaire comprised of three validated tools regarding the following lifestyle behaviours: Physical activity, Nutrition, Sleep. The collected data was analysed using SPSS version 20. To test the differences between changes in dietary and physical activity behaviours in relation to changes in body weight a Chi-square test was used. RESULTS: During Covid -19 lockdown, 124(42%) participants performed moderate level of physical activity. Of those participated, 127(43.1%) and 44(14.9%) reported an increase and decrease of weight, respectively. Among 110(37.3%) who reported snacking in lockdown led to weight gain in 68(61.8%). Availability of more time for meal preparation (24.1%) and feelings of boredom (17.4%) were the main reasons for changing dietary habits. The subjective sleep quality of participants was as follows: very good-40.3%; fairly good-45.4 %; fairly bad-11.2%; very bad 3.1%. There was significant positive correlation between sleep quality and sleep duration (R=0.261; P<0.001), sleep latency (R=0.362; P<0.001), sleeping medications (R=0.174; P<0.003) and daytime dysfunction (R=0.308; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Life style behaviours were affected during lockdown period. Higher amounts of food intake and snaking were increased. Physical activity was at a moderate level, increased sedentary behaviour was reported by most participants during lockdown. However, sleep quality was not negatively affected.

Self-medication among Medical Students and Staffs of a Tertiary Care Centre during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Self-medication is a common practice worldwide. Major problems related to self-medication are wastage of resources, increased resistance of pathogens, adverse reactions, and prolonged suffering. This study aimed to find the prevalence of self-medication among medical students and staffs of a tertiary care centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students and staffs of a tertiary care centre from 1st November to 30th November, 2021. Ethical clearance was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 2710202102). Convenience sampling was done to reach the sample size. Online questionnaires consisting of information on self-medication and socio-demographic characteristics were used. The data was transferred into an Excel spreadsheet and later was exported to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 for analysis. Point estimate at 95% confidence interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Among 383 participants, the prevalence of self-medication during the pandemic was 193 (50.4%) (45.39-55.40 at 95% Confidence Interval). About half of the respondents 90 (50.3%) who self-medicated purchased the medicines directly from the pharmacy. The most consumed medicines were Paracetamol 128 (18.9%), Vitamin C 126 (18.6%), Zinc 86 (12.7%), Multivitamins 75 (11.1%), and Vitamin D 65 (9.6%) followed by Azithromycin 54 (8%), cough syrup 53 (7.8%) and Ibuprofen 46 (6.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of self-medication during the COVID-19 pandemic is lower compared to that of other developing countries. Paracetamol and Vitamin C are the most consumed drugs for self-medication and Azithromycin is the most used prescription-only drug for self-medication during the COVID-19 pandemic.