A cross-sectional study to find out the prevalence, pattern, risk factors, comorbidities and severity of vascular depression in patients attending psychiatric outpatient department in a tertiary care centre

Background: Depression was declared as the second major cause of disability adjusted life years (DALY) in 2020 and the economic burden experienced by those with depression is next to coronary artery disease. Vascular depression has late age at onset 60 years or older, nonpsychotic subtype, with no family history of mental disorders, presenting with loss of pleasure and functional disability. Depression is accompanied by cerebrovascular lesions as determined by MRI and not accompanied by neurological signs. This has a spiral correlation with various comorbidities leading to diagnostic enigma at one hand and worsened prognosis on the other. This emphasized the early diagnosis and treatment to improve the quality of life.Methods: Patients with age more than 60 years, of either sex, with a mini GDS score ≥5, having the first episode of depression and who gave consent were included.Results: Hypertension thus emerged as a significant risk factor and was positively associated with increased severity of depression. Conclusions: Subclinical cognitive impairment and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may precede years before the onset of vascular depression. Prompt detection and management of these entities and associated risk factors could prevent or postpone impending vascular depression

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020–January 2021

Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May–June 2020 and 7.1% in August–September 2020. A third serosurvey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in India. Methods: The third serosurvey was conducted in the same 70 districts as the first and second serosurveys. For each district, at least 400 individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population and 100 HCWs from subdistrict-level health facilities were enrolled. Serum samples from the general population were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1-RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, whereas serum samples from HCWs were tested for anti-S1-RBD. Weighted seroprevalence adjusted for assay characteristics was estimated. Results: Of the 28,598 serum samples from the general population, 4585 (16%) had IgG antibodies against the N protein, 6647 (23.2%) had IgG antibodies against the S1-RBD protein, and 7436 (26%) had IgG antibodies against either the N protein or the S1-RBD protein. Weighted and assay-characteristic-adjusted seroprevalence against either of the antibodies was 24.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 23.0–25.3%]. Among 7385 HCWs, the seroprevalence of anti-S1-RBD IgG antibodies was 25.6% (95% CI 23.5–27.8%). Conclusions: Nearly one in four individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population as well as HCWs in India had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020