Knowledge, attitude and practice of epilepsy among persons attending tertiary care hospital of Bundelkhand region, Central India

Objectives: This study was conducted to find out knowledge attitude and practice (KAP) of epilepsy among persons of bundelkhand region. Secondary data from this study was compared with KAP studies from other parts of country. Material and Methods: Four hundred non epileptic persons attending various OPDs of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical college Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh were selected randomly. Printed questionnaire having answer yes or no were used for assessment of KAP. This questionnaire was used by various authors and validated for KAP analysis. Results: It was revealed that word epilepsy was heard by 94% of persons, 64% thought that epilepsy is a mental illness. Twenty three percent believe it to be contagious disease while 21% attribute it to previous life sin. Social discrimination was favored by 53% persons. Negative attitude is shown as more than half persons stated that epilepsy is hindrance to marriage and occupation. Holy treatment by tantric or priest was favored by 20% persons. More than one third persons use onion, shoe or splash water on face to terminate seizure episode. Conclusion: Study on persons of Bundelkhand revealed poor KAP for epilepsy and require special educational programme to remove these misconception \ud

Reversible neurological syndromes with atypical pneumonia

Simultaneous or sequential involvement of lungs is frequently encountered with neurological syndromes like meningoencephalitis, cerebellitis, aseptic meningitis, transverse myelitis, or multiple cranial nerve palsies. However, pulmonary involvement is frequently overlooked when all the attention of physician is diverted to neurological disorder. Prompt and early recognition of such potentially treatable association is required to improve diagnostic and therapeutic outcome. We report six patients presenting with various neurological manifestations like meningitis, meningoencephalitis, and myelits associated with atypical pneumonia. With proper clinical correlation and relevant investigations, all of them were diagnosed in time and had remarkable recovery with appropriate treatment

Long-term quality of life and work ability among severe COVID-19 survivors: A multicenter study

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is known for its variable severity and high infectivity. Though fewer than 15% of infected cases develop severe disease, a major proportion had prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). Prolonged ICU stay is known to have a long-term impact on behavior and quality of life.8 Therefore, it is likely that patients discharged after severe COVID-19 have issues that persist for long term. The current study aimed to assess the long-term impact of severe COVID-19 on the Quality of life (QOL), sleep pattern, behavior, and workability. Methods: The current multicenter study adopted a cross-sectional design to analyze data from two tertiary care COVID-19 dedicated hospitals. All experimental procedures were approved by the ethics committee of the M.L.B Medical College. Participants were 20–60 age group who had been admitted to the ICU because of severe COVID-19 and had elapsed at least one and a half year since their discharge. After informed written consent the participants were assessed for: EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index; Workability Score; Quality of sleep; The major depression inventory (MDI) questionnaire; Generalized anxiety disorder 7 item scale (GAD-7); Current global health status score: an innovative subjective scale (1 –10) to determine the current global health status when 5 is the status before COVID-19. Findings: 491 participants were assessed, the median follow-up time after discharge from the hospital was 561·0 days (range, 548–580 days). The mean duration of ICU stay was 8.72 ± 2.85 days. There was significant reduction in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension as compared with discharge time. The mean of EUROHIS-QOL score, workability score, current global health status score was 3.28 ± 0.98, 6.87 ± 0.85, 4.53 ± 1.36 respectively. The mean MDI and anxiety scores were 4.12 ± 1.45 and 18.63 ± 3.28, respectively. Interpretation: Severe COVID-19 survivors have new-onset psychological disorders and sleep disturbances. Long term quality of life and work ability remains poor after prolong ICU admission secondary to severe COVID-19