Back Pain among COVID-19 Positive Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: The world has been threatened with the emergence of the Novel Corona Virus straining the health care system and creating a global pandemic. This is not the first pandemic, and it certainly will not be the last to affect humanity. As the medical community is exposed to these highly contagious new diseases with arrays of symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, anosmia, insomnia, and myalgia. Back pain can also be considered as one of the symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the prevalence of back pain among the Health care workers who were tested positive for COVID-19 by the end of their isolation period. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done from April 2021 to June 2021 in KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Imadol, Lalitpur, Nepal, after receiving ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee (Registration number: 2077/078/57). Convenience sampling was done. Data collection and entry were done in Microsoft excel, point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Out of 156 COVID-19 positive patients, the prevalence of back pain was seen among 64 (41%) patients (95% Confidence Interval= 42.23-57.75). Among them 21 (32.8%) were males and 43 (67.2%) were females. Likewise, the minimum age was 20 years and the maximum was 68 years with a mean of 33.5±10.28. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that a high proportion of healthcare workers were suffering from back pain and the findings are similar to the data from other international studies.

Prevalence of Osteoporosis among Adults in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis is a common metabolic bone disease characterized by increased bone fragility, yet underdiagnosed and undertreated. With the increase in longevity of the populace, it is becoming an urgent and serious global epidemic. This being a preventable disease, has no clinical manifestations until there is a fracture. Early diagnosis and treatment are of dire necessity. Hence the aim of our study is to find the prevalence of osteoporosis among adults attending a tertiary care hospital-based on calcaneal quantitative ultrasound. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done in a tertiary care hospital, from 15th July 2019 to 15th October 2019 after receiving ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee (Registration number: 2075 / 76 / 119). Convenient sampling was done. Data collection and entry was done in Microsoft excel, point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Out of 464 participants the overall prevalence of osteoporosis was 38 (8.2%) at a 95% confidence interval (5.7-10.7). Among the participants, 141 (30.4%) were male and 323 (69.6%) were female. The mean age of the participant was 41.02±14.96 years. Osteoporosis was more common in the older age group 11.66 (30.7%) in 60 years above Women were found to be more osteoporotic than men, 3.42 (9.0%) and 2.43 (6.4%) respectively. Bone mineral density and osteoporosis had a bimodal distribution, underweight 5.01 (13.2%) and obese group 5.32 (14.0%) were the two peaks. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of osteoporosis in our study is high and is consistent with other South Asian studies. Early detection of osteoporosis using calcaneal quantitative ultrasound can be a good screening tool.

Lifestyle Practices and Obesity in Nepalese Youth: A Cross-sectional Study.

Introduction Understanding the lifestyle factors associated with obesity is critical to create a successful intervention that would prevent or reduce the obesity beforehand. However, these factors have not been assessed among Nepalese youths thus far. This study aims to determine the prevalence of obesity and to explore the potential lifestyle risk factors in young university students of Nepal. Methods We included in the study 384 young students aged between 17 and 24 years, pursuing medicine at Tribhuvan University, Institute of Medicine, in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire to collect information about age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, meat consumption, fast-food consumption, and sedentary lifestyle was employed. Anthropometric measurements were taken to calculate body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Results This study revealed that the current, episodic heavy alcohol consumers, current cigarette smokers, and individuals with a sedentary lifestyle had a statistically significant higher BMI and WHR as compared to age and gender-matched healthy subjects. Meat consumers as well had a statistically significant higher BMI. However, there has been no statistically significant difference in BMI and WHR in those who consume fast food from those who don't. Conclusion Our study shows a high prevalence of obesity among young university students of Nepal, making it necessary to develop effective preventive measures to reduce their exposure to the risk factors associated with obesity. Early interventions to encourage lifestyle changes can be a worthwhile and effective strategy to prevent and/or reduce the risks for the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and other comorbidities.