The Effect of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior on Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among the Adult Population in the Rural Area of Perambalur: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background The global COVID-19 pandemic has been incredibly destructive, especially for mental health. The lockdown measures required people to stay in their homes. This lifestyle caused them to become sedentary, which could have an impact on both their physical and mental well-being. We used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) to measure the physical activity (PA) and mental health of adults in Perambalur, India, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods The researchers conducted a cross-sectional investigation among people ages 15-60 years old from September 2021 to February 2022. In this study, we included 400 individuals through the method of convenient sampling. We conducted a population-based survey in which a semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather information on the age, gender, weight, height, physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire {IPAQ}), and mental health (General Health Questionnaire-12 {GHQ-12}) of the participants. We conducted an analysis of the data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY). Results Most of the participants (65.8%) were female, and 69.5% belonged to the age group of 20-24 years; their mean age was 23 years. Physical activity was scored using the IPAQ, and we divided the participants into three categories: 37%, insufficient; 58%, sufficient; and 5%, high activity. The GHQ-12 assessment revealed that around half of the participants (47.8%) had psychological distress. In a bivariate analysis, those in the 15-19 and 24-29 age groups reported more distress than those in the other age groups (p = 0.006). Those who engaged in sufficient physical activity (54.7%) reported more distress than those who engaged in high (25%) or insufficient activity (p = 0.002). Conclusion Nearly half of the participants experienced psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who were engaging in sufficient physical activity experienced higher levels of distress than those with high and insufficient activities.

A Cross-Sectional Study of Determinants of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Among Professional Drivers in the Perambalur Municipality Area of Tamil Nadu, India.

Background Professional drivers have a powerful impact on public safety. They are also at a higher risk of obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) because of their lifestyle. Diabetes and its complications can affect driving and cause increased road traffic accidents. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of T2DM and determine the risk factors contributing to the development of T2DM among professional drivers in the Perambalur Municipality of Tamil Nadu, India. Methodology This cross-sectional study was carried out between September 2022 and December 2022 among 118 private bus drivers and full-time, professional, three-wheeler drivers in the Perambalur Municipality. A pre-tested semi-structured proforma was used to collect information on the driver's socio-demographic profile and to inquire about their diabetes history, which was verified with their records. We elicited the risk factors of T2DM among those drivers. We recorded the anthropometric measurements and blood pressure. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0 (Released 2012; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Results Out of 118 study participants, the majority were in the age group of 51-65 (37.3%). Seventy-seven of the participants have completed their secondary education, and 38 of them belong to the class 2 socioeconomic class. Three-fourths of the sample (83.1%) belonged to nuclear families. Around one-third were current smokers, one-fourth had the habit of chewing tobacco, and more than half of the participants consumed alcohol. Nearly 83.7% had moderate physical activity, followed by 11.9% who had heavy activity, and 5.1% who did not do any physical activity. The prevalence of T2DM among professional drivers was 11.9%. The risk factors that contributed to the development of T2DM among professional drivers were age, education, smoking, tobacco chewing, hypertension, elevated BMI, and elevated WC, which are statistically significant (p˂0.05). Conclusion We found the proportion of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes to be higher among professional drivers than among the general population. This demands an urgent need for preventive and health-promotive interventions to address these chronic diseases.