Ocular morbidity among diabetics attending the preventive ophthalmic clinic of a tertiary care institute with special reference to diabetic retinopathy

Background: Non communicable diseases have taken over previously life threatening infections in the demographic transition. As the burden of NCDs including diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate the complications related to these diseases are also increasing leading to huge morbidity. Likewise, blindness/ visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy is now slowly and steadily replacing refractive errors and cataracts as a cause of morbidity.Methods: This cross sectional study was carried over a period of one year in an ophthalmic unit of a tertiary health care institute in which known diabetic patients were screened for diabetic retinopathy besides various modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.Results: Overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in our study population was found to be 29.0%. Among various risk factors duration of diabetes, hypertension, HbA1C >6.5% and serum creatinine >1.1 mg/dl were found to be significantly associated with diabetic retinopathy.Conclusion: Regular screening for diabetic retinopathy besides prevention and strict control of risk factors is key to prevention and progression of blindness/ visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy

Z score and CIAF – A comprehensive measure of magnitude of under nutrition in a rural school going population of Kashmir, India

WHO has recently recommended the use of Z-Score or SD system to grade undernutrition as this system allows us to measure all the three indices i.e. weight for age, height for age, weight for height. 438 school children in the age group of 5-9 years were clinically and anthropometrically assessed in order to estimate the prevalence of undernutrition using the Z-Score system of classification and the recently introduced Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) .Only 112 (25.58%) of these children were in a state of anthropometric failure as per the Z-Score system , 10.73% of them being underweight , 15.29% wasted and 8.90% stunted. The most common anthropometric failure in these children was wasting while 30.35% of these undernourished children had more than one anthropometric failure.Using underweight as the sole criteria for assessing the magnitude of undernutrition in this study would give us an underestimate and we would miss about 58% of the undernourished children in our study population

Z Score and CIAF – A comprehensive measure of magnitude of undernutrition in a rural school going population of Kashmir, India

WHO has recently recommended the use of Z-Score or SD system to grade undernutrition as this system allows us to measure all the three indices i.e. weight for age, height for age, weight for height. 438 school children in the age group of 5-9 years were clinically and anthropometrically assessed in order to estimate the prevalence of undernutrition using the Z-Score system of classification and the recently introduced Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) .Only 112 (25.58%) of these children were in a state of anthropometric failure as per the Z-Score system , 10.73% of them being underweight , 15.29% wasted and 8.90% stunted. The most common anthropometric failure in these children was wasting while 30.35% of these undernourished children had more than one anthropometric failure.Using underweight as the sole criteria for assessing the magnitude of undernutrition in this study would give us an underestimate and we would miss about 58% of the undernourished children in our study population

Protective Antibody Titer against Hepatitis B in Healthcare Workers: A Cross-sectional Study from Tertiary Care Hospital of Kashmir

Introduction: Hepatitis B is not only the most transmissible blood borne viral infection, but also the only one that is preventable by vaccination. In developing countries, Hepatitis B vaccination coverage among Healthcare Workers (HCWs) is very low for various reasons. Aim: To evaluate Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) immunisation status and Hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) titer among HCWs in a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College, Srinagar, India from April 2019 to June 2019. Serum samples were collected from 196 HCWs and their vaccination history was collected. Those who had taken all three doses of hepatitis B were considered to be fully vaccinated those that had taken two doses as partially vaccinated. Triple serology was done for all which included testing for HBV, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, one HCW turned out to be Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) positive and was dropped out of study. Those negative (195/196) were further tested for anti-HBs titer by enzyme immunoassay method. Parametric data are expressed as mean±Standard Deviation (SD) and categorical values as percentages. Results: Out of 195 HCWs selected for the study, 112 (57.4%) were males and 84 (43%) were females with mean age 38.4±6.9 years. Among them fully vaccinated were 46 (23.5%), partially vaccinated were 84 (43.07%) and not vaccinated were 65 (33.33%). Anti-HBs titers were protective in 54 (27.7%) which belonged 81.5% (44/54) to vaccinated category and 18.5% (10/54) to partially vaccinated category. Conclusion: Fully vaccinated HCWs (95.6%) had a protective antibody titer but unfortunately there are low vaccination rates among HCWs. There is a need for well-planned and clear policies for HBV screening and vaccination in HCWs, especially those who are at a greater risk of exposure to blood or other potentially infectious material

Profile of Age related macular degeneration in a Kashmiri population-A hospital based study in Tertiary care hospital in Kashmir, India

Purpose To assess the profile of age related macular degeneration Material and Methods In a cross-sectional, prospective study 164 eyes of 100 ARMD patients were taken up for evaluation. Relevant clinical examination and FFA was done.Patients of wet ARMD were taken for OCT. Instruments used were Direct Ophthalmoscope (Heinz) slit lamp biomicroscope (Zeiss), Fundus camera (Zeiss) and spectral domain optical coherence tomography (Zeiss). Observation Out of 100 patients 63 were male and 37 were females. 64 patients had bilateral involvement while as 36 patients had unilateral involvement at presentation. 35 patients were in the age group of 61 to 65 yrs.95% of patients presented with the symptom of diminution of vision. 26% of patients had associated systemic ailments, 29.88% of patients had a visual acuity of < 6/60. On FFA, 82.32% (135 eyes) were having non exudative (dry) ARMD and 17.68 % (29 eyes) had exudative (wet) ARMD. In dry ARMD 95.55% had drusens and only 4.44% had geographic atrophy.Out of 29 eyes of wet ARMD,on FFA, 17 eyes 58.62% had classic CNV, Two eyes (6.9%) had occult CNV and 10 (34.48%) had serous PED. OCT findings suggested classic CNV in 17 eyes (58.62%), occult CNV in 4 eyes (13.79%) and serous PED in 8 eyes (27.58%) Conclusion ARMD is usually a bilateral condition affecting mostly in the early 5th decade. Dry ARMD is commoner than wet ARMD. FFA is the golden tool for screening wet ARMD. OCT is more specific in detecting early sub- retinal neo vascular membrane

Nutritional Status of School Age Children (5-14 years) in a Rural Health Block of North India (Kashmir) Using WHO Z-Score System

Objective: To assess the nutritional status of school going children in Rural Block Hajin. Methods: School children from various primary and middle level educational facilities from a rural health block were surveyed during the School Health Program. Height and weight was measured following standard procedures. MS Excel and Interactive statistics page were used for analysis of data. Results: Both mean weight and height were higher in females than males. The overall prevalence of under nutrition was 19.2%. The prevalence of underweight was lowest in 5 year female (0.0%) and highest in 6 year male (21.5%). For Stunting 7 year males recorded the lowest (0.0%) and 12 year males the highest (28.5%) prevalence. The highest and lowest prevalence of wasting was recorded in 6 year old females (2.56%) and 9 year old males (24.6%) respectively. Prevalence of thinness was lowest in 13 year old females (14.2%) and highest in 13 year old males (47.1%).Conclusion: The nutritional status of school age children in this health block are comparatively better even though a large number of children still fall below the cutoff for various nutritional indicators