Developmental delay among children under two years of age in slums of Burdwan Municipality: A cross-sectional study.

CONTEXT: Development is an ongoing process through which an individual acquires competence to function adequately. Developmental delay is said to occur when a child fails to reach the age-appropriate anticipated milestones. This imparts long-term direct as well as indirect effects on the health of a community obviating routine measurement of its prevalence especially in high-risk populations. AIM: To find out the prevalence and correlates of developmental delay among children under two years of age in slums of Burdwan Municipality, West Bengal. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study. METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study was conducted between September-November 2019 among 240 study subjects selected by multistage simple random sampling. Data were collected by interviewing the respondents using a predesigned, pretested schedule. Developmental status was assessed by applying Trivandrum Developmental Screening Chart (TDSC). Chi-square test and logistic regression was done to find associations. RESULTS: Prevalence of developmental delay was 6.6%(95%CI 3.6-9.8) and proportion was more among male infants. Chi square test revealed gender (p = 0.03), mothers' education (p = 0.00), socio-economic status (p = 0.00), parity (p = 0.02), birth spacing (p = 0.01) birth weight (p = 0.00) to be significantly associated with developmental delay and multivariable analysis showed all the factors to be significant predictors except gender, parity and birth spacing. Gestational duration, maternal age at delivery, mode of delivery was not found to be significantly associated with developmental delay. CONCLUSION: Developmental delay is considerably high in the study area. A larger study using appropriate tool and follow-up may elicit the burden and associated determinants.

Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitosis among Under-Five Children in a Rural Community of Purba Bardhaman District, West Bengal.

CONTEXT: Intestinal parasitosis (IP), a group of diseases caused by one or more species of protozoa and helminths, is still considered a neglected tropical disease and a public health concern in India. Poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions largely contribute to sustained transmission, primarily among children, adversely affecting health and development. The problem needs area-specific assessment and interventions. AIMS: The present study aimed at determining the prevalence of IP and its correlates among under-five children in a rural community of Purba Bardhaman district, West Bengal, India. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Bhatar Block of Purba Bardhaman district. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Mothers/caregivers of 294 under-five children (selected through multistage sampling) were interviewed for background characteristics at the household level, and stool samples from each child were collected, transported, and examined for ova/parasite/cysts following standard guidelines. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Statistical analysis of the data obtained was done using SPSS (V20). RESULTS: The overall prevalence of IP was 17.0%. Majority of the intestinal parasites were protozoa (42, 84%), of which the most common was Giardia lamblia (24, 48.0%). Age of the child and practice of defecation showed a significant association with IP on logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: Protozoa, mainly G. lamblia, contributes for majority of intestinal parasitic infections among the study population, and children belonging to the age group of 25-60 completed months and with open-field defecation practice have higher risk of acquiring them.

Seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections among blood donors at the blood bank of a Medical College of Kolkata.

Seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) among blood donors can be used to monitor the prevalence among apparently healthy adult population. The present study was conducted to determine the profile of blood donors and seroprevalence of TTI among them. Retrospective analysis of the donors of a blood bank attached with a tertiary care hospital of Kolkata in 2011 was carried out. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 17. Majority (85%) of the donors were male, two-third in the age group of 21-40 years. Among the donors 2.79% were positive for any of the screened TTIs. Seroprevalence was highest for hepatitis B (1.41%) followed by human immunodeficiency virus (0.60%) and hepatitis C (0.59%) and least for syphilis (0.23%). Seropositivity increased with age up to 50 years. There was no significant difference in seropositivity between male and female. Highly sensitive donor screening and public awareness program can make transfusion of blood products safe.

Burden of hospitalized pediatric morbidity and utilization of beds in a tertiary care hospital of kolkata, India.

BACKGROUND: Childhood morbidity consumes a substantial portion of health care resources in terms of hospital bed utilization, and overload in hospital ward remains a major concern in many countries, including India. A possible way to minimize the problem of scarcities of bed is to analyze the pattern of bed utilization by causes and plan services accordingly. OBJECTIVES: To determine the burden of pediatric morbidity and utilization pattern of pediatric beds in a tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of pediatric inpatient's records was conducted over a period of 1 year from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007. RESULTS: Of 3983 total admitted cases, about one-third were infants, of which neonatal and post-neonatal age group constituted 45% and 55% of the cases, respectively. In terms of bed-day utilization, infants, 1-4 years and 5-11 years age group accounted for 35.10%, 32.58% and 32.32% of total days of admission, respectively. Utilization of pediatric beds by major causes of morbidity was respiratory tract infection (22.23%), convulsive disorder (12.68%), accident and poisoning (6.07%), diarrheal disease (4.97%) and chronic hemolytic anemia (4.42%). CONCLUSION: A minor change in admission policy through provision of day care unit for management of certain cases would allow efficient use of hospital beds.

An epidemiological investigation of mumps outbreak in a slum of Kolkata.

An unexpected clustering of mumps cases were reported in a slum of Kolkata during early part of 2009. An epidemiological investigation was initiated with a view to assess the characteristics and determinants of the disease, and implications of such clustering of cases in a slum of Kolkata. Data were collected through house to house visit using predesigned schedule and epidemiological case sheet. The propagated outbreak existed for fifteen weeks yielding 104 clinical cases. On the whole, attack rate was 4.7%, the highest and lowest being in 6-10 years (11.68%) and above 15 years (0.94%), respectively. The parotid swelling was bilateral in 92.3% of cases; fever was the most common general symptom, reportedly present in 92.3% of study subjects. The overall mean duration of parotid swelling was 6.85 +/- 1.89 days. Morbidity from mumps far exceeds the mortality rate. Improved ventilation of living rooms, personal & oral hygiene; isolation of cases, upgradation of routine immunization, better nutrition etc. were recommended at family & community level and introduction of MMR vaccine in National Immunization Schedule was suggested.

Awareness and perception of mothers about functioning and different services of ICDS in two districts of West Bengal.

Integrated Child Development Services, a national programme of the Government of India has health, nutrition, and pre-school education components of services. To ascertain awareness, perception of mothers about functioning and different services of ICDS a cross-sectional community based study was conducted between June to September 2007 in Howrah and Purulia districts of West Bengal. A total of 1235 mothers were included as study subjects. As per opinion of the mothers 73% AWCs opened regularly, behaviour of the AWWs was friendly (71.6%) and 63% mothers opined that ICDS is beneficial to their children. 84.2% mothers were aware of any ICDS services. Quantity and quality of supplementary food was acceptable to 88% and 72.7% mothers respectively. 79.2% and 87.5% mothers did not receive any advice on child feeding and growth chart. Making beneficiaries aware about services by targeted interventions will ensure better utilization of ICDS.

Validity of mid arm circumference to detect protein energy malnutrition among 8-11 months old infants in a rural medical college of West Bengal.

This institution-based cross-sectional observational validation study was conducted in the immunisation clinic of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Sushrutanagar. The objective was to identify the validity characteristics of mid arm circumference to detect protein energy malnutrition among 8-11 months infants and to find out a suitable cut-off value if any. Study variables were age, sex, body weight and mid arm circumference. Mid arm circumference was validated against weight for age criteria (gold standard) of malnutrition. The mean mid arm circumference of the infants was found to be almost constant with only about 2.22% change over 4 months, signifying that single cut-off point can be used to detect protein energy malnutrition. Mid arm circumference values from 13.0 to 12.5 cm were found to have the highest accuracy to detect protein energy malnutrition (about 86%). The cut-off values of 12.5 and 12.6 cm were noted to have a sensitivity and specificity of about 52% and 96% respectively, a false negativity of 48% but a false positivity of only 4%. Receiver operating characteristics curve detected 12.5(12.6) cm as the best diagnostic cut-off point which can detect more than 50% of the malnourished babies with very little false positivity/misdiagnosis (only 4%). A simple measuring tape with some reorientation of the health workers can detect the beginning of childhood malnutrition.

Profile of postmortem cases conducted at a morgue of a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata.

A record based cross-sectional study of postmortems performed at the mortuary attached to the forensic medicine and toxicology department of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital from March 2008 to February 2009 comprising 1900 cases was conducted to determine the sociodemographic profile and to assess the nature and cause of such deaths. Bodies of 5 foetuses were decomposed which were excluded from the study. Out of a total of 1895 postmortems analysed, 23 autopsies were performed of limbs where the subjects were alive. Out of 1872 cases in 325 (17.4%) the manner of death was natural, whereas in 1547 cases (82.6%) it was unnatural. Accidents, suicides, homicides and undetermined deaths were 63.1%, 29.8%, 2.8% and 4.3% respectively. Among the natural deaths, evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis and coronary heart disease was found in 141 (43.4%) and 124 (38.2%) cases respectively. Burn injuries (22.6%) were the most common cause of unnatural deaths and occurred in 77.4% females. Rail track injuries and road traffic injuries were responsible for 21.9% and 14% of unnatural deaths. Hanging, poisoning and self-immolation were responsible for 48.4%, 28.9% and 19.7% of suicidal deaths respectively.