ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The objective of study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of doctors from Lahore regarding CPR as per American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines. METHODS: The researchers visited various hospitals and filled e-questionnaires by interviewing respondents.The study was conducted at Jinnah Hospital Lahore, Mayo Hospital Lahore, Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore, Services Hospital Lahore and Mid City Hospital. Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 23 version. Knowledge was assessed based on the scores, with those scoring 10 or more being considered to have good knowledge while those having score less than 10 were considered to have poor knowledge. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Out of 792 participants, 68 refused to take part in the study. The total respondents were 724 with the response rate of 91%. The knowledge regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation of 601(83%) respondents was poor with only 123(17%) doctors having good knowledge. The doctors who received formal CPR training had better knowledge (20.17%) than the doctors who didn't get any training regarding CPR (4.69%). Anesthesiologists scored better among all specialties. The overall attitude of the doctors towards CPR was positive with 93.8% of the respondents willing to do CPR. CONCLUSION: The overall knowledge of the doctors regarding CPR is not satisfactory. A practical and functional approach is needed to improve this situation. However, the attitude of the doctors towards CPR is positive.
ABSTRACT
AIM: Obesity is the most common cause of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome (MS). These are the most important risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). No evidence exists regarding the prevalence of the MS in children in sSrinagar city of Kashmir India. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MS in 8-18-year-old school-going children of Kashmir, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 758 respondents in 8-18 years of age were randomly selected using a simple random sampling method. The self-designed questionnaire was individually completed after receiving a written informed consent. The weight, height, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure were measured using standard tools. Ten milliliters of blood was taken for measuring lipid profile and fasting blood sugar (FBS) of the school children. We determined MS according to the modified Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) criteria. RESULTS: The prevalence of the MS was 3.8% (boys: 3.9%, girls: 3.8%) and the prevalence of obesity was 9.9% (boys: 9.9%, girls: 10.6%) among the studied children. Obese subjects had the highest proportion of MS compared with those at risk for overweight and those with normal weight (30.7% vs. 2.5% and 0.5%, respectively; P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: The MS is prevalent even in young children, so we suggest screening programs for children aged 8-18 years to control obesity and MS in the developing world.
ABSTRACT
Studies have persistently associated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) risk with low socioeconomic status (SES), but this association is unexplored in Kashmir, an area with a high incidence of ESCC in the northernmost part of India. We carried out a case-control study to assess the association of multiple indicators of SES and ESCC risk in the Kashmir valley. A total number of 703 histologically confirmed ESCC cases and 1664 controls matched to the cases for age, sex, and district of residence were recruited from October 2008 to January 2012. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Composite wealth scores were constructed based on the ownership of several appliances using multiple correspondence analyses. Higher education, living in a kiln brick or concrete house, use of liquefied petroleum gas and electricity for cooking, and higher wealth scores all showed an inverse association with ESCC risk. Compared to farmers, individuals who had government jobs or worked in the business sector were at lower risk of ESCC, but this association disappeared in fully adjusted models. Occupational strenuous physical activity was strongly associated with ESCC risk. In summary, we found a strong relationship of low SES and ESCC in Kashmir. The findings need to be studied further to understand the mechanisms through which such SES parameters increase ESCC risk.
