The intergenerational transmission of tobacco habit: Role of parents and the family

Introduction: Tobacco pandemic has become one of the greatest public health challenges of all time. The socio-environmental factors prevailing at home have been identified as one of the most important causes of adopting smoking and other types of smokeless tobacco. Objectives: The present study was conducted to find out the prevalence and pattern of tobacco use in the patients registered in the clinic and to study the role of parental and family influence on tobacco use. Materials and Methodology: This cross-sectional study was performed in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi. The study included all 307 patients who were registered in a cardiac clinic between January and December 2014. The history of tobacco use in siblings, offspring, and parents was taken from these patients. Pedigree profiles provided detailed information about tobacco use in the family. The association between the use of tobacco among parents and tobacco habits was assessed by odds ratio and Chi-square test. Results: Among the patients, 48% were tobacco users and family history of tobacco use was present in 81% of users. Odds ratio of tobacco use in parents, offspring, siblings, and three generations was 3.477, 1.987, 2.626, and 7.626 than that of nontobacco users. Conclusion: Previous anti-smoking campaigns have concentrated much of their effort on discouraging individuals from smoking with the aim of creating a nonsmoking generation. This approach does not take sufficient account of the fact, reconfirmed by our findings that children are influenced by the behavior and attitudes of adults, especially their parents

Assessment of quality of life and its determinants among the elderly residing in a rural area of Faridabad: A cross-sectional survey

Introduction: Population aging as a result of demographic transition has brought into focus issues pertaining to health status of elderly. We aimed to assess different domains of quality of life (QoL) and its determinants among the elderly population of a rural area of Faridabad. Material & Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 elderly people aged 60 years and above from October 2018 to January 2019 in village Pali of Faridabad, Haryana. The World Health Organization QOL-BREF scale was used for the assessment of QoL. Results: The study included 44% males with a mean age of 67.1 ± 7 years. The mean QOL score was highest in psychological domain (63.26 ± 18.48), followed by environmental domain (62.64 ± 16.23), physical domain (60.58 ± 19.24), and lowest in social domain (59.33 ± 17.81). Conclusion: Physical domain of QoL was significantly better in nondiseased elderly, while social domain was not significantly affected by morbidities or health-seeking behavior. Overall, QoL was fair to good. Determinants of good QoL included social as well as economic characteristics such as higher education, sex, and the absence of chronic disorders

School absenteeism during menstruation amongst adolescent girls in Delhi, India

Background: Girls' health and education form the cornerstone of development and the gateway to full participation as women in political, economic, and cultural life of a country. Poor menstrual hygiene management has been shown to result in a sense of shame, anxiety, and embarrassment that contributes to absenteeism and poor performance at school. The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of girls absent from school during menstruation, to evaluate the various factors associated with school absenteeism during menstruation, and to assess the practices regarding menstrual hygiene. Materials and Methods: A mixed method research of combined cross-sectional study and qualitative research was conducted in six government schools of Delhi by means of a questionnaire survey and focus group discussions. The sample size was 600 adolescent girls. Results: Out of 600, 245 (40%) girls remained absent from school during their menstruation. School absenteeism was significantly associated with the type of absorbent used, lack of privacy at school, restrictions imposed on girls during menstruation, mother's education, and source of information on menstruation. Nearly 65% reported that it affected their daily activities at school and that they had to miss their class tests and classes as a result of pain, anxiety, shame, anxiety about leakage, and staining of their uniform. Conclusion: Since mothers are the primary source of information, they should be counseled to dispose of their taboos about discussing issues related to menstruation. They should be taught about the ill effects of adhering to taboos related to menstruation. The curriculum on general biology should have more detail on menstruation

Prevalence and correlates of nicotine dependence among construction site workers: A cross-sectional study in Delhi

Introduction: Workers represent half the world′s population and are major contributors to economic and social development. Tobacco consumption in construction site workers has been considered a big challenge. Objectives: (1) To assess the prevalence of nicotine dependence among tobacco users. (2) To study the correlates of nicotine dependence among the construction site workers. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted using a predesigned and pretested structured proforma. The study was conducted among all construction site workers aged 18yrs and above in campus of Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and associated HAH centenary hospital, New Delhi.Karl Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Questionnaire was used to assess dependence on nicotine. Results: The mean age of construction site workers was 32.04±11.6 years. Among the workers, majority (91%) were tobacco user. Among the users, 60% found it difficult to refrain from smoking/chewing in places where use of tobacco is not allowed (e.g. hospitals, government offices, cinemas, Libraries etc). 55% of the users smoked or chewed tobacco during the first hours after waking than during the rest of the day. On multivariate analysis, the factors which were found to be significantly associated with nicotine dependence were lower income group (OR 2.57, CI:1.66-3.99), smokeless tobacco use (OR 2.36,CI:1.30-4.27) and lower education (OR = 2.86 (95% CI 1.97-4.16) for illiterate). Discussion: The prevalence of tobacco use (91%) among construction workers is very high compared to that in the general population. Recognition of construction sites as work places and proper implementation of law is needed

A community-based case–control study to investigate the role of iron deficiency in the persistence of goiter

Objectives: To find out the magnitude of iron deficiency anemia in the age group of 6–12 years and investigate the role of iron deficiency as a possible contributor to endemic goiter in school children in Ambala. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted as a subset of a cross-sectional study among 2700 children from 6 to 12 years of age to find out the prevalence of goiter. All the subjects who were found to be suffering from goiter in the cross-sectional study were enrolled in the case–control study as cases and were compared with age- and sex-matched controls (children without goiter) from the same cohort. The study was conducted from February 2011 to January 2012. Results: Out of total, goiter was observed in 12.6% of the subjects. Urinary iodine excretion was found to be <100 μg/L in 57 (10.5%) children. Mean hemoglobin (Hb) level of the study population was 11.9 g/dL. It was noted that 71% of the goitrous children had anemia (Hb <12 g/dL) as compared to 63.7% of the control group. Serum ferritin (SF) was <15 ng/mL in 70% of the children. The mean ± standard deviation of SF in the goitrous and nongoitrous children was 19.65 ± 32.51 μg/L and 27.55 ± 21.07 μg/L, respectively (P = 0.012). Conclusion: The findings in the study suggest that iron deficiency anemia in children is contributing toward the persistence of goiter in the postiodization phase