Prevalence of Ocular Morbidity Among School Adolescents of Gandhinagar District, Gujarat

Objective: To study the prevalence of ocular morbidity (abnormal condition) and various factors affecting it among school attending adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to study abnormal ocular conditions like refractive errors, vitamin A deficiency, conjunctivitis, trachoma, ocular trauma, blephritis, stye, color blindness and pterygium among school adolescents of 10-19 years age in rural and urban areas of Gandhinagar district from January to July, 2009. Systematic sampling was done to select 20 schools having 6th to 12th standard education including 12 schools from rural and 8 from urban areas. Six adolescents from each age year (10-19) were selected randomly to achieve sample size of 60 from each school. In total, 1206 adolescents including 691 boys and 515 girls were selected. Information was collected from selected adolescents by using proforma. Visual acuity was assessed using a Snellen’s chart and all participants underwent an ophthalmic examination carried out by a trained doctor. Results: Prevalence of ocular morbidity among school adolescents was reported 13% (7.8% in boys, 5.6% in girls); with 5.2% have moderate visual impairment. Refractive error was most common ocular morbidity (40%) both among boys and girls. Almost 30% of boys and girls reported vitamin A deficiency in various forms of xerophthalmia. Prevalence of night blindness was 0.91% and of Bitot`s spot 1.74%. Various factors like, illiterate or lower parents’ education, lower socio-economic class and malnutrition were significantly associated with ocular morbidity. Conclusion: Ocular morbidity in adolescents is mainly due to refractive error, moderate visual impairment and xerophthalmia

Health profile of bank employees of Ahmedabad city

Background: Banking services has become one of the highly competitive sectors in India. Many studies have found that sedentary lifestyle and mental stress have adverse health outcomes. The job of bank employees is both sedentary in nature and accompanies high levels of mental stress. With this background, the present study was conducted among bank employees in Ahmedabad city.Objectives: (1) To study the socio-demographic profile & health profile of bank employees in Ahmedabad city (2) To know the job related stress & to find out various risk factors in bank employees.Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among 360 government & 240 private bank employees of Ahmedabad city. Information was collected using predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Clinical examination (including anthropometric measurements & blood pressure measurements) was carried out of all employees. Statistical analysis was done using MS Excel V. 2010 and Epi info software 7.0. The chi- square test was applied as non-parametric test of statistical significance.Results:Prevalence of musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal problems were found slightly higher in private bank employees (55.42% & 32.88% respectively) than government bank employees (50.28%& 30.28% respectively), while ocular problems were found higher in government bank employees.Overall prevalence of hypertension &diabetes was found 25.67% &13.17% respectively.29.17% employees were partially satisfied with their job while 63.67% employees were fully satisfied, but still more than half (51.17%) employees were experiencing job stress.Conclusion: Prevalence of various health problems was found high among bank employees. There is need for strengthening adoption of certain interventional measures among this vulnerable group

A comparative study to analyze the cost of curative care at primary health center in Ahmedabad

Objectives: To determine the unit cost of curative care provided at Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and to examine the variation in unit cost in different PHCs. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out in three PHCs of Ahmedabad district namely Sanathal, Nandej, and Uperdal, between 1 April, 2006 and 31 March, 2007. For estimating the cost of a health program, information on all the physical and human resources that were basic inputs to the PHC services were collected and grouped into two categories, non-recurrent (capital resources vehicles, buildings, etc.) and recurrent resources (salaries, drugs, vaccines, contraceptives, maintenance, etc.). To generate the required data, two types of schedules were developed, daily time schedule and PHC/SC (Subcenter) information schedule. Results: The unit cost of curative care was lowest (Rs. 29.43) for the Sanathal PHC and highest (Rs. 88.26) for the Uperdal PHC, followed by the Nandej PHC with Rs. 40.88, implying severe underutilization of curative care at the Uperdal PHC. Conclusions: Location of health facilities is a problem at many places. As relocation is not possible or even feasible, strengthening of infrastructure and facilities at these centers can be taken up immediately