IJCM_113A: Prevalence and contributing factors of obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city

Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic. The prevalence of obesity is increasing in developing countries like India in recent years. Objectives: 1) To estimate the prevalence of obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city. 2) To determine various socio- demographic factors affecting obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city. Methodology: Taking the prevalence of obesity from one previous study as 5%, absolute error as 2%, the sample size was calculated to be 475, rounded off to 480. A list of all government and private schools present in Guwahati city were collected from Inspector of Schools, Kamrup (M) district. By simple random sampling, a total of 4 schools (two governments and two privates) were selected. From each chosen school, 120 children from 5th-10th standard were selected and included in the study. Since the number of classes is 6 from 5th-10th standard, 20 children were selected from each class randomly to get the desired sample size of 480. Students were interviewed and examined by pre-designed semi-structured schedule. Results: The prevalence of obesity was found to be 3.75%. Obesity was significantly higher among those who were non-vegetarian; those who indulged in unhealthy eating habits, were physically inactive and watched television for a longer duration. Conclusion: Prevalence of obesity was more among students having modifiable risk factors. So, timely interventions should be taken to improve awareness about healthy lifestyle behavior to prevent obesity and its complications among adolescents

Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India – A multicentric matched case–control study

Background & objectives: In view of anecdotal reports of sudden unexplained deaths in India's apparently healthy young adults, linking to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection or vaccination, we determined the factors associated with such deaths in individuals aged 18-45 years through a multicentric matched case–control study. Methods: This study was conducted through participation of 47 tertiary care hospitals across India. Cases were apparently healthy individuals aged 18-45 years without any known co-morbidity, who suddenly (<24 h of hospitalization or seen apparently healthy 24 h before death) died of unexplained causes during 1st October 2021-31st March 2023. Four controls were included per case matched for age, gender and neighborhood. We interviewed/perused records to collect data on COVID-19 vaccination/infection and post-COVID-19 conditions, family history of sudden death, smoking, recreational drug use, alcohol frequency and binge drinking and vigorous-intensity physical activity two days before death/interviews. We developed regression models considering COVID-19 vaccination ≤42 days before outcome, any vaccine received anytime and vaccine doses to compute an adjusted matched odds ratio (aOR) with 95 per cent confidence interval (CI). Results: Seven hundred twenty nine cases and 2916 controls were included in the analysis. Receipt of at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine lowered the odds [aOR (95% CI)] for unexplained sudden death [0.58 (0.37, 0.92)], whereas past COVID-19 hospitalization [3.8 (1.36, 10.61)], family history of sudden death [2.53 (1.52, 4.21)], binge drinking 48 h before death/interview [5.29 (2.57, 10.89)], use of recreational drug/substance [2.92 (1.1, 7.71)] and performing vigorous-intensity physical activity 48 h before death/interview [3.7 (1.36, 10.05)] were positively associated. Two doses lowered the odds of unexplained sudden death [0.51 (0.28, 0.91)], whereas single dose did not. Interpretation & conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death among young adults in India. Past COVID-19 hospitalization, family history of sudden death and certain lifestyle behaviors increased the likelihood of unexplained sudden death

Baseline findings of a multicentric ambispective cohort study (2021–2022) among hospitalised mucormycosis patients in India

In India, the incidence of mucormycosis reached high levels during 2021–2022, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this, we established a multicentric ambispective cohort of patients hospitalised with mucormycosis across India. In this paper, we report their baseline profile, clinical characteristics and outcomes at discharge. Patients hospitalized for mucormycosis during March–July 2021 were included. Mucormycosis was diagnosed based on mycological confirmation on direct microscopy (KOH/Calcofluor white stain), culture, histopathology, or supportive evidence from endoscopy or imaging. After consent, trained data collectors used medical records and telephonic interviews to capture data in a pre-tested structured questionnaire. At baseline, we recruited 686 patients from 26 study hospitals, of whom 72.3% were males, 78% had a prior history of diabetes, 53.2% had a history of corticosteroid treatment, and 80% were associated with COVID-19. Pain, numbness or swelling of the face were the commonest symptoms (73.3%). Liposomal Amphotericin B was the commonest drug formulation used (67.1%), and endoscopic sinus surgery was the most common surgical procedure (73.6%). At discharge, the disease was stable in 43.3%, in regression for 29.9% but 9.6% died during hospitalization. Among survivors, commonly reported disabilities included facial disfigurement (18.4%) and difficulties in chewing/swallowing (17.8%). Though the risk of mortality was only 1 in 10, the disability due to the disease was very high. This cohort study could enhance our understanding of the disease’s clinical progression and help frame standard treatment guidelines