Prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among nursing staff in a low and middle-income country: A cross-sectional digital survey-based study.

AIM: To assess the prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among the nursing staff and educate them on prevention. BACKGROUND: Nursing staff is integral to the Indian community healthcare systems. Recent studies report a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Indian nursing staff. Therefore, data on the prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors among nursing staff are crucial for education on prevention. DESIGN: A cross-sectional digital survey-based study. METHOD: We invited 4435 nursing staff to attend our online survey. We used a customized questionnaire for data collection, including a digitized version of the Community-Based Assessment Checklist form. A score of >4 was considered high risk and warranted screening. RESULT: Among 682 nursing staff who attended, 70% had never undergone screening for non-communicable diseases. The prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors was significantly higher in male nursing staff. In addition, logistic regression analysis showed that age, tobacco and alcohol use, increased waist circumference, physical inactivity and family history of non-communicable diseases were significant risk factors among nursing staff. CONCLUSION: The study findings suggest that the nursing staff have suboptimal self-health concerns on non-communicable diseases. This situation warrants continued medical education, awareness campaigns on adopting a healthy lifestyle and health promotion.

Intersectional Inequalities in Anthropometric Failure among Indian Children: Evidence from the National Family Health Survey (2015-2016).

Increasing body of health planning and policy research focused upon unravelling the fundamental drivers of population health and nutrition inequities, such as wealth status, educational status, caste/ethnicity, gender, place of residence, and geographical context, that often interact to produce health inequalities. However, very few studies have employed intersectional framework to explicitly demonstrate how intersecting dimensions of privilege, power, and resources form the burden of anthropometric failures of children among low-and-middle income countries including India. Data on 2,15,554 sampled children below 5 years of age from the National Family Health Survey 2015-2016 were analysed. This study employed intersectional approach to examine caste group inequalities in the anthropometric failure (i.e. moderate stunting, severe stunting, moderate underweight, severe underweight, moderate wasting, severe wasting) among children in India. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the heterogeneities in the burden of anthropometric failure across demographic, socioeconomic and contextual factors. Interaction effects were estimated to model the joint effects of socioeconomic position (household wealth, maternal education, urban/rural residence and geographical region) and caste groups with the likelihood of anthropometric failure among children.More than half of under-5 children suffered from anthropometric failure in India. Net of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, children from the disadvantageous caste groups whose mother were illiterate, belonged to economically poor households, resided in the rural areas, and coming from the central and eastern regions experienced disproportionately higher risk of anthropometric failure than their counterparts in India. Concerted policy processes must recognize the existing heterogeneities between and within population groups to improve the precision targeting of the beneficiary and enhance the efficiency of the nutritional program among under-5 children, particularly for the historically marginalized caste groups in India.

Development of Mobile Application-Based System for Improving Medication Adherence Among Cancer Patients Receiving Palliative Therapy.

Objectives: Cancer patients seeking palliative care faces distressing symptoms which affect their quality of life adversely. Patients' lack of adherence to analgesics is one of the major factors contributing to the undertreatment of cancer pain. The objective of this paper is to outline the development of a mobile application-based system to develop a physician-patient relationship and to improve adherence to medications prescribed for cancer pain management. Material and Methods: The mobile application-based system is developed using alarm and cloud based data sysncronisation for improving medication adherence and self-recording symptoms among cancer patients receiving palliative therapy at a palliative care clinic. Results: Ten palliative medicine physicians tested the project website and the mobile application thoroughly instead of patients. The physician recoded the prescription and other details on the project website. The data transferred from website to mobile application. The mobile application reminded scheduled medication by alarm, collected medical adherence details, daily symptom observation, and their severity and SOS medication details. The data from the mobile application was transferred back to project website successfully. Conclusion: The developed system can directly improve the physician-patient relationship, and improve better communication and sharing of information between physician and patient. This will impact the quality of life of the patient, improve the awareness of the patient about the disease, and may reduce rate of hospitalisation. This will also help physicians to treat patients efficiently. The developed system is being tested under a randomised control trial study. The findings of the study can be generalised to all patients suffering from chronic illnesses and on long-term medications.

Individualized lifestyle intervention in PCOS women (IPOS): a study protocol for a multicentric randomized controlled trial for evaluating the effectiveness of an individualized lifestyle intervention in PCOS women who wish to conceive.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine condition which affects women in the reproductive age group. South Asian women with PCOS have a higher risk of insulin resistance and metabolic disorder compared to women from other ethnic backgrounds. Lifestyle interventions such as dietary advice and physical exercise are recommended as a first-line management option for infertile women with PCOS. Most of the randomized controlled trials evaluating the role of lifestyle interventions in infertile PCOS women were characterized by methodological issues. The uptake of lifestyle modifications as a treatment strategy in the South Asian population is complicated by a difficult-to-change conventional high-carbohydrate diet and limited availability of space for physical activity in the region. METHODS: The study is designed as an open-label, multicentre, randomized controlled trial in South Asian women with PCOS. Women attending the fertility clinic will be screened for eligibility, and women aged between 19 and 37 years who have been diagnosed with PCOS and wishing to conceive will be invited to participate in the trial. We will include women with body mass index (BMI) between ≥ 23 and ≤ 35 kg/m2 and duration of infertility ≤ 3 years. We plan to randomize women with PCOS into two groups: group A will receive the intervention which will consist of individualized advice on diet and physical exercise along with a telephonic reminder system and follow-up visits, and group B (control) will receive one-time advice on diet and physical exercise. Both groups will receive up to three cycles of ovulation induction with letrozole after 3 months of randomization during the 6-month treatment period. The primary outcome of the trial will be the live birth following conception during the intervention period. The secondary outcomes include clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, ectopic pregnancy rate, stillbirth, time to pregnancy, mean weight loss, differences in anthropometric parameters, improvement in menstrual regularity and quality of life score. DISCUSSION: The IPOS trial results could help clarify and provide more robust evidence for advocating an individualized lifestyle intervention in PCOS women who wish to conceive. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trial Registry of India CTRI/2023/04/051620. Registered on 13 April 2023.