Healthcare Seeking Behaviour of Hospitalised COVID-19 Patients During Second Wave in Tertiary Care Hospital of Northern India

Background: The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues its deadly reign all over the world. Devising effective strategies for detecting and controlling the infection has become ever more critical. Effective prevention and control of the pandemic is entirely dependent on human behavior in terms of practicing preventive and curative measures. During the second wave of COVID-19, people’s perceptions of preventive and curative measures changed. Objective: To study healthcare-seeking behavior of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: Hospitalized patients due to COVID-19 in the month of March, April and May of 2021 were included in the study. Their attendants/close relatives were contacted telephonically to know about the admitted patients’ healthcare-seeking behavior. Verbal consent was taken from attendants before the commencement of the interview, followed by informing them about the purpose of the interview. Results: Amongst the subjects, there were more males than females (67.5 vs 32.4%), age ranged between 18 to 88 with a mean value of 56.61 ± 14.7 years. Self-medication was significantly associated with study subjects’ mortality (p=0.03). Conclusion: Elderly people were having higher mortality rate than their younger counterparts. People were hesitant to visit primary care physicians after having symptoms of COVID-19

Mask Use pattern, Public Perception and Barriers to Effective Mask Usage-A battle far from over

Background & Objective: Proper mask wearing reduces the transmissibility and risk of Covid-19 infection still compliance to mask use is low. This study was conducted to observe the mask usage pattern, perception and barriers to effective mask usage (EMU). Settings and Design: This cross-sectional study was conducted in collaboration with district police administration to observe mask usage pattern in various crowded places. Methods and Material: Participants from general public (n=6995) in 10 preselected areas of city were observed and then interviewed about their perceptions about EMU. Indirect observation of EMU was also done by screening CCTV footage, followed by another set of observation at same places after conducting a health education campaign. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analyzed using SPSS. P value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: EMU was seen in nearly 62% participants. Younger age, native population, education above matric, persons driving two & four wheelers, had significantly higher compliance. During CCTV observation, EMU was 57.5%, and was highest near public places, roads and intersections while lowest near bus stand and religious places. Some improvement in compliance was seen after health education at these places. Breathing difficulty, no use of wearing mask and feeling uncomfortable were the most common reasons given by participants for non-compliance.Conclusions: EMU was lower in elderly, migrants, less educated, unemployed, daily wage workers, so these groups should be especially sensitized about preventive measures. There is need for extensive public education to bring out behavioral change regarding proper mask wearing to control this pandemic and prevent further waves

An epidemiological study of overweight and obesity among women in an Urban area of North India

Background: Obesity is a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. Objectives: To find the prevalence and risk factors for obesity in women aged 20-60 years in Ludhiana city. Methods: The present study is a community based cross sectional study carried out in an urban area of Ludhiana among women aged 20-60 years. Among the study population of 324 women, a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to record the socio-demographic and anthropometric profile of women. Chi square test and logistic regression was used to find the association of obesity and hypertension with socio-demographic variables. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12.7% and 29.6% respectively. Obesity was found to be more common among middle-aged Punjabi housewives belonging to upper socio-economic strata. There was strong association between overweight/obesity and hypertension

Reproductive behavior of newly married women in rural Punjab, India: A longitudinal study

Introduction: In India, little is known about the reproductive behavior during earlier years of married life of women, when they are more vulnerable to reproductive ill health and early child bearing with very few interventions available. Objective: The objective of this study is to follow a cohort of newly married women immediately after marriage until their first pregnancy outcome to gain an insight into their reproductive behavior so that important opportunities could be identified for intervention. Subjects and Methods: A community-based longitudinal study was carried out in 15 villages of Ludhiana District under the Rural Health Training Centre of Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. All marriages of the male residents that took place in these villages from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2013 were enrolled. Thus, a cohort of 195 newly married women was identified over a period of 1 year and followed every month till first pregnancy outcome. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 statistical software. Results: Mean age at marriage for newly married women was 22.9 ± 3.0 years. Majority of them conceived within 1st year of marriage (79.5%) while 10.8% of women did not conceive till the end of follow-up period. Mean age at first pregnancy was 23.4 ± 3.1 years with mean interval between marriage and first pregnancy of 5.4 ± 6.1 months. Nearly, three-fourth of pregnancies resulted in live births while adverse pregnancy outcome including still births and abortions was seen in 15.9% of the study cohort. Conclusions: Overall findings indicate optimistic picture for married young women, but critical opportunities should be utilized to promote health of these women in a journey toward safe motherhood

Case Report - Cervical lymphoma presenting as irregular vaginal bleeding

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) causes many deaths worldwide and its incidence is increasing. They commonly occur in middle-aged and elderly people and are disseminated at diagnosis. The patients usually present with lymphadenopathy, fever, night sweats and weight loss. We report an interesting case of NHL in a 35 year old female, who primarily presented with irregular bleeding per vaginum

Awareness and perceptions of anganwadi workers about female feticide and girl child discrimination in district Ludhiana, Punjab

Background: It is a matter of grave concern that a girl child continues to be insecure and vulnerable in the state of Punjab. To ingrain gender equality in social system, it is very important to make community an important stakeholder to deal with the situation. This study focuses on the awareness and perceptions of anganwadi workers regarding girl child discrimination and female feticide. Materials and Methods: A total of 2206 anganwadi workers between the age group of 20–70 years of different blocks of Ludhiana district, Punjab, were enrolled. They had come for Anganwadi Worker (AWW) Training Workshop, organized at Urban Health Centre, Ludhiana, Punjab. Data were analyzed in terms of proportions. Results: Study subjects showed high level of awareness about female feticide (98.8%). A majority of the subjects (93.3%) agreed to the fact that practice of discrimination is being followed between boys and girls. They were also of the opinion that this practice is harmful and it should be stopped (98.9%). Various contributing factors enumerated by them included sons are intelligent, carry on family lineage, and they take care of their parents in old age. Regarding perception of anganwadi workers for curbing this social evil, 70.7% of subjects were of the view that by giving equal opportunities, equal status to girls, and empowering girls, this practice can be stopped, while 42.4% of the subjects were of the view that increasing awareness among the rural women, parents, and family is the solution to stop this practice. Conclusion: The anganwadi workers had optimum level of awareness about female feticide and almost all of them strongly felt that this harmful practice should be stopped altogether

Knowledge regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination amongst urban females of North India: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: In this era of epidemiological transition where noncommunicable diseases are on a significant rise, cancer is a major public health problem globally. Out of all cancers, breast cancer is the most common female cancer worldwide. Aim: To determine the knowledge of breast cancer and its risk factors and breast self-examination (BSE) practice amongst urban women of North India. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out amongst 370 women aged between 20 and 60 years of age using pretested self-administered questionnaire. The collected information was entered into Microsoft Excel sheet and analysed using SPSS. Results: Mean age of the study participants was 40.3 ± 12.1 years and majority of the study participants (87%) were married. It was seen that the proportion of women who were aware increased as their literacy status increased, and this was statistically significant (P = 0.00). About 18.4% of the participants were aware regarding BSE. The most mentioned reason for not practicing BSE amongst those who were aware was that they considered themselves healthy (63.2%). Conclusions: In the current study, half of the women were aware of breast cancer and few were aware of BSE and very few were practicing BSE. It was seen that women with a higher level of education had better knowledge regarding breast cancer than women with low educational status. For the prevention of breast cancer, women are the most important stakeholder. There is a need to sensitise women regarding risk factors of breast cancer and preventive practices like BSE