Mental health status of adolescents in-home quarantine: a multi-region, cross-sectional study during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: The population's mental and physical health worldwide are currently at risk due to the coronavirus pandemic. We evaluated the mental health status of the adolescents trapped indoors because of the precautionary restrictions and prolonged closure of the educational institutions. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on adolescents from multiple urban and semi-urban areas of Bangladesh from 22 January to 3 February 2021. A self-reported online questionnaire containing questions regarding sociodemographic factors, home quarantine-related factors and mental health symptoms was distributed to collect data. Descriptive analysis, bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were performed to measure the association of the variables. Cronbach's alpha was estimated to present the internal consistency of the scales. RESULTS: A total of 322 adolescents (aged 12-19) with a mean age of 16.00 years (SD = 1.84) responded to the invitation. 54.97% (n = 177) of them were male, and the participants were predominantly urban residents (87.27%, n = 281). We observed varying degrees of depression in 67.08%, anxiety in 49.38% and stress in 40.68% of the participants according to DASS-21. Age, sex, education, mother's occupation, total monthly income, playing sports, doing household chores, going out of home, watching television, using the internet, attending online classes, changing food habits, and communicating with friends had a positive significant association with mental health burdens. CONCLUSION: Home quarantine has a noticeable adverse impact on the mental health of teenagers. Psychological evaluations and counselling via online and offline programs are essential to improve adolescents' declining mental health conditions.

Dengue outbreak 2019: clinical and laboratory profiles of dengue virus infection in Dhaka city.

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever has been one of the most common mosquito-transmitted diseases in the world, affecting more than 128 countries in both tropical and subtropical regions. Bangladesh has been sufferring from dengue outbreaks almost annually since 2000, and in 2019, Bangladesh faced the worst outbreak of dengue to date. This study aimed to provide clinical and biochemical profiles of Bangladesh's dengue-infected patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from August through December 2019 in three tertiary private hospitals in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We collected information on demographic data, clinical characteristics, and laboratory profiles for 542 confirmed hospitalized acute dengue cases using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The average age of the enrolled patients was 26.15 years, and about 50% of patients belonged to the age group of 20-40 years. The most frequent among the prevalent clinical symptoms were fever (93.1%), abdominal pain (29.5%), skin rash (25.3%), and diarrhea (19.7%). 316 patients had some complications, such as breathing problems (41.4%), pleural effusion (38.9%), gum bleeding (11.1%), etc. More than 90% of the patients showed seropositivity for the DENV-NS1 antigen. CONCLUSIONS: Over the last couple of years, dengue fever has become a major health issue for Bangladesh. To reduce the burden of this disease, timely diagnosis and prompt treatment are necessary. This analysis thus yields the clinical features, laboratory profiles, and seropositivity test results of dengue patients from Bangladesh. The research results may help clinicians understand the circumstantial diagnosis of dengue patients and facilitate early intervention.