RESUMO
Introduction: The Indian Government issued various guidelines to the state government wherein introduced plan for setting up COVID care centres (CCC) to isolate and monitor asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients. The Government of Tamil Nadu, apart from CCC used the strength of traditional Siddha medicine, one of the Indian systems of medicine, by opening Siddha Covid Care Centres (SCCC) at various facilities like community hall, housing board homes, school and college hostels, across the state in 37 districts. Methods: As a cross-sectional study, we evaluated the clinical profile of the laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patient admitted in SCCC, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, India, which was opened on 8 May 2021. Results: During this month, 585 COVID-19 positive patients were admitted. Among them 60.9% were males, 39.1% were females. 40% of the admitted patients were in the age the group 31-50 years. 13% of the patient had at least one of the co-morbid condition and 80% were symptomatic with fever 40% and cough 36% as more common. Discussion: Patients were treated with the Siddha system of medicine adhering to the guidelines and were discharged after 10 days treatment. Nearly 4% who required further medical treatment observing their clinical condition and SpO2 levels were referred to the nearby medical college hospital. Conclusion: This study illustrated that SCCC offered appropriate clinical triaging and daily monitoring and hence it was considered as safe alternative to medical institutions during the pandemic.
RESUMO
Urbanization is associated with higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Aortic stiffness, as measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity is a validated predictor of cardiovascular disease. Our objective was to determine the association between urbanization and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity. The analysis included 6166 participants enrolled in an ongoing population-based study (mean age 42 years; 58% female) who live in an 80 × 80 km region of southern India. Multiple measures of urbanization were used and compared: 1) census designations, 2) satellite derived land cover (crops, grass, shrubs or trees as rural; built-up areas as urban), and 3) distance categories based on proximity to an urban center. The association between urbanization and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity was tested in sex-stratified linear regression models. People residing in urban areas had significantly (p < 0.05) elevated mean carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity compared to non-urban populations after adjustment for other risk factors. There was also an inverse association between distance from the urban center and mean carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity: each 10 km increase in distance was associated with a decrease in mean carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity of 0.07 m/s (95% CI: -0.09, -0.06 m/s). The association was stronger among older participants, among smokers, and among those with other cardiovascular risk factors. Further research is needed to determine which components in the urban environment are associated with higher carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity.
