Comparative Effect of Massage Therapy versus Kangaroo Mother Care on Body Weight and Length of Hospital Stay in Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants

Background. Massage therapy (MT) and kangaroo mother care (KMC) are both effective in increasing the weight and reducing length of hospital stay in low birth weight preterm infants but they have not been compared. Aim. Comparison of effectiveness of MT and KMC on body weight and length of hospital stay in low birth weight preterm (LBWPT) infants. Method. 30 LBWPT infants using convenience sampling from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, V.S. hospital, were randomly divided into 2 equal groups. Group 1 received MT and Group 2 received KMC for 15 minutes, thrice daily for 5 days. Medically stable babies with gestational age < 37 weeks and birth weight < 2500 g were included. Those on ventilators and with congenital, orthopedic, or genetic abnormality were excluded. Outcome measures, body weight and length of hospital stay, were taken before intervention day 1 and after intervention day 5. Level of significance was 5%. Result. Data was analyzed using SPSS16. Both MT and KMC were found to be effective in improving body weight (P = 0.001, P = 0.001). Both were found to be equally effective for improving body weight (P = 0.328) and reducing length of hospital stay (P = 0.868). Conclusion. MT and KMC were found to be equally effective in improving body weight and reducing length of hospital stay. Limitation. Long term follow-up was not taken

Awareness about effects of tobacco and areca-nut use in school children of Ahmedabad, India: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey

Introduction Tobacco use usually starts in the adolescent age group and continues in adulthood. This study’s aim was to identify knowledge regarding the adverse effects of tobacco and areca-nut use among high school children of Ahmedabad, India. Methods An anonymous self-administered close-ended questionnaire was designed for the study. Principals of 9 schools, 3 municipal and 6 government-aided, were approached and written informed consent was obtained. A total of 3055 students studying in grades 7–12 were included. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 16.0. Chi-squared test was applied to investigate any differences between the responses of consumers and non-consumers, while Cramer’s V was applied to analyze the strength of association between the awareness of ill-effects and tobacco product consumption. Results Of the 3055 children, 3% felt that tobacco use was definitely not harmful to health while 84% felt that it was. In all, 65% of respondents were aware that tobacco use caused cancer, 7% answered that it caused breathing problems, 5% said it caused heart problems, 0.3% answered that it caused paralysis, 4.3% felt it caused no health problems, whereas 18% thought that it caused multiple issues. With regards to the role of media, 78% had seen many anti-smoking warnings in the media, 15% had seen a few, 5% had seen none. There was a statistically significant difference between the tobacco users and and non-users with regards to exposure to media (p<0.001), discussions in class (p<0.001) and general awareness (p<0.001), but a weak association between awareness and tobacco consumption was identified (p<0.05). Conclusions Awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco is high among school children of Ahmedabad, though use may still be prevalent