Coverage and Compliance of Mass Drug Administration in Lymphatic Filariasis: A Comparative Analysis in a District of West Bengal, India

Background: Despite several rounds of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) as an elimination strategy of Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) from India, still the coverage is far behind the required level of 85%.Objectives: The present study was carried out with the objectives to assess the coverage and compliance of MDA and their possible determinants. Methods: A cross-sectional community based study was conducted in Paschim Midnapur district of West Bengal, India for consecutive two years following MDA. Study participants were chosen by 30-cluster sampling technique. Data was collected by using pre-tested semi-structured proforma to assess the coverage and compliance of MDA along with possible determinants for non-attaining the expected coverage. Results: In the year 2009, coverage, compliance, coverage compliance gap (CCG) and effective coverage was seen to be 84.1%, 70.5%, 29.5% and 59.3% respectively. In 2010, the results further deteriorated to 78.5%, 66.9%, 33.3% and 57% respectively. The poor coverage and compliance were attributed to improper training of service providers and lack of community awareness regarding MDA.Conclusion: The study emphasized supervised consumption, retraining of service providers before MDA activities, strengthening behaviour change communication strategy for community awareness. Advocacy by the program managers and policy makers towards prioritization of MDA program will make the story of filaria elimination a success

Life Events as Risk Factors for Myocardial Infarction: A Pilot Case-control Study in Kolkata, India

This case-control study was conducted in the Cardiology Department of Medical College, Kolkata, India, during 2000-2001, to explore the link between stressful life events and subsequent myocardial infarction (MI). One hundred consecutive confirmed MI patients were selected as a case group. One hundred age-, sex- and income-matched controls were selected from visitors other than relatives who attended these patients. The subjects were interviewed and asked to rate 61 life events with a number between 0 and 20. They also noted which of these they had experienced in the last one year. The main exposure variables included life events as per E.S. Paykel, smoking, alcohol consumption, chewing of tobacco, marital status, literacy, employment, and monthly per-capita income. The results showed that an MI patient was likely to experience 4.16 stressful life events, which were twice as much as the control group (2.24). The total stress score was the highest for serious personal illness followed by illness of family members and unemployment for the MI patients. For the controls, conflict between husband and wife, death of friends, and personal illness had the highest total stress score. The mean stress score for the MI patients was 35.5 compared to 17.35 among the controls. The MI subjects were more likely to have experienced stressful life events than the controls

Life Events as Risk Factors for Myocardial Infarction: A Pilot Case-control Study in Kolkata, India

This case-control study was conducted in the Cardiology Department of Medical College, Kolkata, India, during 2000-2001, to explore the link between stressful life events and subsequent myocardial infarction (MI). One hundred consecutive confirmed MI patients were selected as a case group. One hundred age-, sex- and income-matched controls were selected from visitors other than relatives who attended these patients. The subjects were interviewed and asked to rate 61 life events with a number between 0 and 20. They also noted which of these they had experienced in the last one year. The main exposure variables included life events as per E.S. Paykel, smoking, alcohol consumption, chewing of tobacco, marital status, literacy, employment, and monthly per-capita income. The results showed that an MI patient was likely to experience 4.16 stressful life events, which were twice as much as the control group (2.24). The total stress score was the highest for serious personal illness followed by illness of family members and unemployment for the MI patients. For the controls, conflict between husband and wife, death of friends, and personal illness had the highest total stress score. The mean stress score for the MI patients was 35.5 compared to 17.35 among the controls. The MI subjects were more likely to have experienced stressful life events than the controls

An Epidemiological Study on Burden of Psychological Morbidities and Their Determinants among Undergraduate Medical Students of a Government Medical College of Eastern India

Background: Medical education can impose a significant amount of psychological stress and strain on undergraduates. In India, there are limited shreds of evidence regarding the magnitude of different psychological morbidities (i.e. stress, anxiety and depression) among medical undergraduates. Aims & Objectives: To find out the proportion of medical undergraduates suffering from psychological morbidities and their determinants. Material and Methods: It was a cross-sectional hospital-based analytical observational study conducted from July to November 2017. In total 327 undergraduate medical students of a government medical college of Kolkata were interviewed with a structured schedule comprising of socio-demographic, behavioural related questionnaire and DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) 21. Data were analysed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS (version 16). Results: The burden of stress, anxiety and depression among medical undergraduates were found out to be 33.0%, 26.9% and 21.1% respectively. The burden was much higher in females compared to males and increased with semester and age. In the multivariable model depression, anxiety and stress were significant predictors of each other along with sex, semester, both smoking and alcohol drinking, sleep adequacy and satisfaction with own educational performance. The variables in the multivariable models were explaining 29.0% of stress, 30.8% of anxiety and 32.2% of depression. Conclusion: The proportion of undergraduate medical students with psychological morbidity was found to be high in the current study. Smoking, alcohol drinking, sleep adequacy and educational satisfaction were some critical modifiable predictors of different psychological morbidities identified in the study