Prevalence, knowledge, and attitude of gutkha chewing among school children of Arsikere, India.

AIMS: To assess the prevalence, knowledge, and attitude of gutkha chewing among school children of Arsikere, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two thousand school children aged between 10 and 15 years were examined with individual interviews along with a questionnaire to evaluate the presence of betel nut and paan chewing habit in various forms. Children of both sexes were included in the study. Responses of all study population and the association between dependent and explanatory variables were assessed using Chi-square test. RESULTS: Twenty-eight percent of children had the habit of gutkha chewing, more among boys than girls at the ratio of 4:1 which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The habit was more common in government school children than private school children; over 70% of children believed that it is a bad habit, but half the study population was not aware of side effects; 30% of children believed that it is not a bad habit and has no side effects. CONCLUSION: There is a higher prevalence of gutkha chewing habit in school children who are not aware of the side effects. Children themselves purchase the gutkha and betel nut sachets, hence the Government should ban the sale and purchase by children.

Clinical Study to Evaluate the Association Between Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Diabetes Mellitus in Poorly Controlled Patients Whose HbA1c >8.

The relationship between sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and Diabetes mellitus has been known since more than 150 years. The pathophysiology of diabetes related hearing loss is speculative. Hearing loss is usually, bilateral, gradual onset, affecting higher frequencies. This study aims at knowing the prevalence of SNHL in DM and its relation to age, sex, duration of DM and control of DM. A total of 50 type 2 diabetics of age group 30-65 years were involved in the study. FBS, PPBS, HbA1c of all the subjects were done and later subjected to PTA. The type and severity of hearing loss was noted. Occurrence of SNHL was later compared with age, sex, duration, and control of DM. Sensorineural hearing loss was found in 66 % of type II diabetic patients and 34 % were found normal. Out of 50 diabetes mellitus patients, 33 patients had SNHL. All cases of SNHL detected were of gradual in onset and no one had hearing loss of sudden onset. Normal hearing was found in 34 % of patients, whereas 54 % of patients had mild hearing loss and 12 % of patients had moderate hearing loss. Association of hearing loss of DM patients with sex of the patient is insignificant. However there is significant association between older age group, longer duration and uncontrolled DM with that of SNHL. In subjects with HbA1c more than 8 and duration of diabetes mellitus more than 10 years prevalence of SNHL is more than 85 %, which is statistically significant. Sensorineural hearing loss in diabetes mellitus is gradually progressive involving high frequency thresholds. Hearing threshold increases with increasing age duration of diabetes and also high level of HbA1c greater than 8 %.