Prevalence of menopausal symptoms and its association with various factors among women in post menopausal age group: a cross-sectional study

Background: Menopause is an important time in women's life and it is a natural event in the process of aging. The onset of menopause heralds a time of diminished estrogen exposure, which may have both acute and chronic effect on health and quality of life.Methods: It was a cross sectional study, conducted for a period of 3months i.e. June to August 2018 among post menopausal women in 8 selected villages with a sample size of 247.Results: The common post- menopausal symptoms were joint and muscular discomfort, bladder problems, symptoms of dryness of vagina, physical and mental exhaustion. Factors like education, occupation, socio-economic status, marital status, parity, mode of delivery, age at menopause and BMI was related to one or more menopausal symptoms.  Conclusions: Proper and timely intervention among post menopausal women will help to reduce the symptoms and lead a better quality of life.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding rabies and its prevention among construction workers: a cross-sectional study in Berhampur, Odisha

Background: Rabies is a viral zoonosis and human infection usually occurs following transdermal bite or scratch by an infected animal. It is one of the most dangerous and completely preventable diseases. Construction workers are vulnerable to animal bites. So, this study was undertaken to study the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding animal bite and rabies among construction workers.Methods: A cross sectional study was done in campus of MKCG medical college, Berhampur, Odisha, India. Data was collected by using pre-designed interview from 400 construction workers. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS V.17. Descriptive statistics and chi square test were applied. KAP score were calculated. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Mean age group of study participants was 37.75±15.8, 72.5% were male and 27.5% were female. 84% of the participants had heard the word rabies. 65.75% among them had poor KAP score. KAP score was significantly associated with age, sex, education and residence.Conclusions: Construction workers had poor knowledge about animal bite and rabies. Their knowledge, attitude and practice with respect to prevention and treatment of rabies can be improved by providing proper health education

Socio-health seeking profile of women in Post Menopausal Age group: A study in a Rural block of Ganjam district, South Odisha

Background: Menopause is defined as” the time when there has been no menstrual periods for 12 consecutive months and no other biological or physiological cause can be identified.” Objectives: 1) To describe the socio-demographic characteristics of post menopausal women in study area. 2) To explore out the various factors related to the age at menopause. 3) To assess the health seeking behaviour of study population. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross sectional community based observational study which was carried out among Postmenopausal women in 8 selected villages of Chhatrapur block of Ganjam district, Odisha for a period from October 2016 to September 2018 with a sample size of 247. Results: In the present study, 39.3% of the study population attained menopause at the age 46-50 years and 11.7% at the age 51-55years. Factors like socioeconomic status, age at menarche ,parity ,marital status , addiction status, family history of early menopause ,BMI and contraception user were found to have statistical significant association with the age at menopause. On logistic regression by adjusting all the variables it was found that age of study population [AOR=3.030 (1.639-5.602), educational qualification [AOR=11.798 (4.002-34.777)], and occupation [AOR= 3.913 (1.296-11.82)] were found to be significantly associated with the health seeking behaviour. Conclusion: In the present study the mean age at menopause was 46.98±4.080 years. Majority of postmenopausal women perceived that menopause occurred due to normal process of ageing. But less than half of the respondents sought treatment because of lack of knowledge about the symptoms and availability of treatment modalities. Awareness and knowledge about all the aspects of menopause should be provided to them through the health workers and women organisation

Knowledge, Awareness and Utilization of JananiSurakshaYojana Services among Mothers of children (0-2years) attending AWC’s of UHTC, Burla : A Cross-sectional study

Background:Safe motherhood is perceived as a human right and the health sector is always encouraged to provide quality services to ensure the same. Government of India launched a conditional cash benefit scheme called JananiSurakshaYojana (JSY) on April 11, 2005 under the flagship of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to reduce Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) by promoting institutional deliveries for which cash assistance are provided to mothers delivering in health facilities.Methods:It was a cross sectional study conducted among 120 beneficiaries of UHTC, Burla from July 2019 to Dec 2019. Consecutive convenient sampling technique was used in which the list of JSY scheme eligible candidates (mothers) from ANC register of Anganwadi Centres(AWCs) under UHTC, Burla were included for study purpose, out of which, 120 beneficiaries were found to be eligible for this study. These beneficiaries were interviewed with pretested, predesigned, semi structured questionnaire in the AWCs after obtaining verbal consent.Results:Majority of the JSY beneficiaries (64.2 %) were in the age group 20-25 years and 50 % of them heard about JSY scheme before pregnancy. ASHA (25 %) and AWWs (47.5 %) are the main source of information. 97.5 % registered their pregnancy at government institutions out of which 80.8 % registered in the first trimester. 80.8 % beneficiaries had undergone more than 4 ANCs and majority of them (33.33 %) had not received any PNCs. Maximum beneficiaries (86.7 %) had received the incentives through self-account credit.Conclusion:Awareness and knowledge is better in our study but utilization of this scheme remains less. Majority of women ignored postnatal care. Intensification and strengthening of IEC is required

Association of tobacco with hypertension in adult females: Evidence from National Family Health Survey-IV for an aspirational Indian state

Background: Elevated blood pressure and tobacco consumption have been the top two causes of preventable mortality worldwide. Females in the reproductive age carry a higher health impact for self and the offspring when exposed to one or both these risks. An in-depth assessment of the sociocultural determinants of hyper-tension and tobacco usage in an aspirational Indian state like Odisha is carried out through secondary analysis of the National Family Health Survey-IV (NFHS-4) dataset. Methods: Data of 30,587 women aged between 15 and 49 years were extrapolated for analysis through frequency, percentage and logistic regression model to determine the predictors of tobacco use and hypertension and to correlate the two in the study population. Results: In Odisha, 12.8% adult women were addicted to tobacco, mostly smokeless form (93.3%). High blood pressure was recorded in 7.3% of the respondent females. Increasing age, urban residence, extremes of wealth index, ever married status, obesity, diabetes, and tobacco usage (more for smokeless) were the predictors of hypertension. Education, caste and occupation had no significant associations.  Conclusion: Targeted interventions involving gender, marital status, obesity, residence and other socio-economic profiles may be adopted for risk reduction of non-communicable diseases like hypertension in the reproductive age females</p