Effect of telmisartan on hypertensive dementia patients: an observational study

Background: This was a prospective observational study done to observe the effects of telmisartan on cognitive function in hypertensive dementia patients.Methods: The study included new diagnosed hypertensive and normotensive dementia patients. Patients comprised of four groups; hypertensive dementia patients taking telmisartan (group 1), hypertensive dementia patients taking donepezil and telmisartan (group 2), normotensive dementia patients taking donepezil (group 3) and normotensive dementia patients taking drugs which does not affect memory (group 4).Cognitive function of four groups were compared to each other at 4, 8 and 12 weeks.Results: In group 1, 2 and 3 mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores has increased by 1.69, 16.81, and 13.28 percent and in group 4 there is decrease in MMSE score by 6.03 percent in 12 weeks.Conclusions: In this study we can conclude that telmisartan has dementia preventing propensity which is better than placebo but not as good as donepezil

Use of Chatbot for Addressing Adolescent’s Queries on Sexual and Reproductive Health-related Issues – Findings from a Field Implementation in Madhya Pradesh, India

As per the Census of 2011, adolescent and young people (10–24 years of age) constitute around 30% of the India’s population. Young people face number of challenges in accessing information on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) due to associated taboos. To address these challenges, an initiative was launched to provide life skill-based education to the adolescent across 120 villages in two districts of Madhya Pradesh. After the program implementation for a year, it was observed that adolescents were not comfortable during the SRH sessions. Hence, after discussion with adolescents a chatbot was designed and launched. The chatbot had access to more than 9000 question and answers including audio and video materials. After 6 months, a brief assessment was undertaken with 2047 adolescent (boys - 1186 and girls - 861) to assess its relevance and usefulness. The concept of chatbot was appreciated by 93% of the respondents and they prefer it instead of having face-to-face conversation with counselor or health-care providers. About 90% respondents appreciated the fact that it is easily accessible, 87% respondents appreciated that it has comprehensive information and 86% respondents found chat messages appropriate. About 24% respondents were worried that as their family members may see their chats. About 38% respondents also expressed the need of making it multilingual and support some regional languages. Chatbot can be very powerful medium to address adolescent’s queries on SRH-related issues as it is easily accessible, and adolescent feel more comfortable. At the same time, it needs to be backed with quality service provision

Factors Related to Health Service Utilization among Adolescent Girls in Urban Slums of Jaipur, India

Objective: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with health-care service utilization among adolescent girls in urban slums in Jaipur, India. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 417 adolescent girls was conducted. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the data and determine the factors associated with healthcare service utilization. Findings: Only 48.2% of girls with health problems visited health-care facilities for treatment. About 68.6% delayed treatment by 3 or more days after the onset of symptoms, and 85.6% first tried remedies available at home. Girl’s education (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.7; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.65– 8.57), mother’s education (AOR = 3.43; 95% CI = 1.2– 9.96), father’s income (AOR = 2.2; 95% CI = 0.76– 5.32), mother’s income (AOR = 3.67; 95% CI = 1.03– 11.18), and counseling by field health workers (AOR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.18– 7.89) were factors significantly associated with utilization of health services. Girls cited parental neglect of their health, insufficient funds, lack of privacy, and inconvenient assessment times at health facilities as major barriers. Conclusion: The findings from the study show that the utilization of facility-based health services among adolescent girls is low, and there is a significant postponement in visiting health facilities after the onset of symptoms. There is a need to create community-level awareness, improve outreach by field health workers, ensure privacy in health-care facilities, and improve facility-based health service utilization among adolescent girls