Gender Difference in Food Choice and Eating Practice and Their Association with Health among Students of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Background: Our eating practice is generally based on the food we choose to eat. The selection of unhealthy food, high cost of healthy food items, and easy availability of fast food may have negative impact on our health and eating behaviour. This study aims to access the gender difference in food choice and eating practice and their association with health among students in Kathmandu, Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 385 randomly selected undergraduate BBA (Bachelor in Business Administration) students of Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu by using semistructured self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characters, health status, behaviour factors, eating practice, and food choice which were measured using Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). The data was analysed in SPSS. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated, and chi-square test and logistic regression were used to measure the association between two variables. Results: The study is comprised of 50.4% female and 49.6% male with mean ages of 20.04 and 20.75, respectively. A gender difference was observed in food choice but no gender difference was observed in eating practice. There was no significant association of food choice and eating practice with health. However, food choice and eating practice showed an association with the current living status of the respondents. Sensory appeal and health were the most important food choice motives among males and females, respectively. Conclusion: The study concluded that no gender difference was observed in food choice. However, gender difference was observed in eating practice. There was no association of food choice and eating practice with health.

Linkages between stress and stress coping strategies among Nepalese during COVID-19 lockdown: A nationwide cross- sectional study.

Aim: With the increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19, the universities and colleges have been shut down posing uncertainty and unpredictability contributing to stress and increased morbidity of mental problems. Students are restricted from regular academic involvement, social interaction and are confined at home to reduce the transmission of the virus which in turn tends to provoke stressors and coping strategies. We aimed to assess the linkage between stress and coping strategies among youth students during COVID-19 lockdown. Subject and methods: Web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 2520 university-level students of Nepal. Standard tools like Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Stress Coping Resources Inventory (SCRI) were used for collecting information. The final data was analyzed with the help of R-studio (version 1.2.5033). Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics (polytomous logistic regression) were computed to find out the linkages between stress and stress coping strategies. Results: The results show that students less than 23 years old, females, and living without parents were found to be more likely to have moderate to high levels of stress. The higher the stress level, the lesser was the possibility of practicing stress coping strategies. Active coping was the most preferred coping strategy while social ease was the least preferred. Conclusions: To conclude, Active coping was the most preferred coping strategy involving active information seeking, readiness to take charge of the disease-related situation along with the realization that such event is a result of chance while social ease was the least preferred strategy which suggests that the students prefer to seek help from their friends or relatives.

Sleep Quality and Its Correlates among Adolescents of Western Nepal: A Population-Based Study.

Sleep quality has a long-term impact on health leading to depression among adolescent students. We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of sleep quality and its associated factors among adolescents of western, Nepal. 514 adolescents from different schools were selected by the probability proportionate to size (PPS) method. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess the sleep quality among adolescents. The collected data were entered in EpiData 3.2 version, then extracted to excel 2019 and was analyzed with the help of RStudio (version 1.2.5033). Frequency distribution and percentage were identified as descriptive analysis whereas chi-square test was done. Variables that were found statistically significant (P < 0.05) were further analyzed using the logistic regression model. The prevalence of sleep quality in this study was 39.1%. In a bivariate analysis, ethnicity, religion, place of residence, drinking status of father, reason for selecting the currently studying faculty, satisfaction with academic performance, use of tobacco, relationship with friends or classmates, more use of internet per day, and use of internet before falling asleep were found to be statistically significant with sleep quality. Those students who left their home without informing their parents were more than three times at the risk of sleep quality than those students who never ran away from their home without informing their parents (AOR = 3.435, CI: 1.237-9.540). The overall prevalence of sleep quality among school going adolescent students was 39.1 percent which was comparatively high.

Linkage of Depression with Elder Abuse among Institutionalized Older Persons in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.

BACKGROUND: To identify the association between elderly abuse and depression among elderly living in old age homes of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 5 old age homes of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The Geriatric Mistreatment Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale were used to collect information from 220 elderly aged 65 or above, and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify the association between elderly abuse and geriatric depression. RESULTS: Among the different types of abuse analyzed, the multivariate analysis showed that neglect (AOR = 2.995; CI: 1.249-7.181) and economical abuse (AOR = 4.728, CI: 1.836-12.173) were significantly associated with increased risk of geriatric depression. Furthermore, the study identified that future saving and absence of chronic disease significantly reduced the risk of psychological abuse, neglect, and geriatric depression. CONCLUSIONS: Neglect and economical abuse are a predictor of geriatric depression. Efforts should be directed to increase awareness about the different forms of abuse among the primary caregivers of the elderly. Counseling services and support programs should be introduced in old age homes to address the high burden of geriatric depression.

Depression among Adolescents of Rural Nepal: A Community-Based Study.

This community-based study is aimed at finding out the prevalence of depression, and its correlates among adolescents of rural Nepal. Data were collected among adolescents after multistage stratified proportionate random sampling by using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess the depression among adolescent. Chi-square test and logistic regression model were applied. The prevalence of depression was found to be 27%. Adolescents who were not satisfied with their academic performance were 2.4 times more likely to have the risk of depression (AOR = 2.417, CI: 1.097-5.326). Likewise, tobacco users were almost fourteen times (AOR = 13.858, CI: 2.090-91.90), who intended to harm themselves were two times (AOR = 2.323, CI: 1.078-5.005), sleep deprivation were fifteen folds (AOR = 14.911, CI: 7.376-30.145), often scolded by their parents was almost three times (AOR = 2.931, CI: 1.195-7.436), and having poor relationship with friends were 2.4 times more likely (AOR = 2.371, CI: 1.078-5.215) of having depression. Sleep deprivation has a long-term negative impact on health leading depression.

Knowledge and Understanding of Personal Protective Equipment Use among Laborer Population of the Nepalese Workforce.

The constructing laborers are mainly unskilled, untrained, migrant, socially backward, and uneducated with low bargaining power. Thus, we assessed the knowledge and prevalence on occupational safety and health (OSH) of laborers working at private constructing sites. A descriptive cross-sectional study of 229 laborers working at private constructing sites selected by 30 cluster sampling methods from the Lalitpur metropolitan city and Mahalaxmi municipality was conducted using a structured questionnaire and observation checklist. EpiData and SPSS were used for data analysis. Most of the laborers (62%) had inadequate knowledge on OSH. The level of knowledge was significantly associated with sex, education, and family type at 95% CI (p value < 0.05). The prevalence of occupational accidents within a year was 19.7% and was significantly associated with the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at 95% CI (p value < 0.05). About one-fifth of the participants had occupational accidents within a year because of the inadequate knowledge of OSH.

HDL cholesterol: A potential mediator of the association between urinary cadmium concentration and cardiovascular disease risk.

Evidence from previous studies has shown that exposure to metals is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between metal mixtures and CVD risk and the potential mechanisms in epidemiologic studies remain unclear. The data of 14,795 adults who participated in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2016 were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to investigate the associations between urinary metal levels and CVDs. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression was performed to examine the effects of mixed metals on CVDs. Multivariate linear regression and mediation analysis were conducted to explore the associations between metals and blood lipids. Urinary cadmium (Cd) was significantly associated with an increased total CVD risk and with individual CVD risk. The odds ratio (OR) for CVD in the highest quartile of the WQS index was 1.43 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19, 1.71). One augmented urinary Cd concentration unit (Log10) was associated with a 0.93 mg/dL decrease in HDL cholesterol, a 1.34 mg/dL increase in LDL cholesterol and a 1.30 mg/dL increase in total cholesterol in the fully adjusted model. Mediation analysis showed that HDL cholesterol mediated 4.91% of the association between urinary Cd and the prevalence of CVD. Our findings suggest that urinary Cd and metal mixtures were significantly and positively associated with CVD. The downregulation of HDL cholesterol might play a significant role in mediating Cd exposure-associated CVD risk increases.

Knowledge regarding Alzheimer's Disease among College Students of Kathmandu, Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative disease, is becoming a growing burden and the leading cause of disability among older people, and there is no cure for it. It is set to be the biggest killer among the growing elderly population. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of Alzheimer's disease among college students in Kathmandu metropolitan city. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study among 385 randomly selected bachelor students of Kathmandu metropolitan city. The questionnaire included 2 sections. Section I addressed the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Section II addressed or covered the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) test. ADKS contains a set of 30 items, with true and false options. 1 point was given for the correct answer and 0 for the incorrect answer. The final sum was then the total score of the participant. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated, and the chi-square test was used to measure the association between two categorical variables. RESULTS: The mean ADKS (Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale) score is 15.45 ± 2.95 with the lowest and highest mean total scores of 8 and 26, respectively. 49.5% of the respondents scored above the mean. The number of male and female respondents who scored above the mean is 68 and 95, respectively, with p value 0.71 and odds ratio 0.922. There is no association between gender and knowledge level. Gender seemed to have no effect on the knowledge about Alzheimer's disease on the basis of the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS). However, science students had comparatively better knowledge about disease than management students. The mean score of science and management is 15.9 and 15.04, respectively, with p value 0.004. There is association between knowledge score and faculty. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that the knowledge level of college students on Alzheimer's disease is below moderate. The findings concluded that there is association between faculty and knowledge score.

Levels of a mixture of heavy metals in blood and urine and all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality: A population-based cohort study.

People are exposed to heavy metals in many ways during the course of their daily life. However, the effect of mixtures of heavy metals on mortality in the U.S. general population is unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between heavy metal concentrations (blood [lead, cadmium and mercury] and urine [barium, cadmium, cobalt, cesium, molybdenum, lead, antimony, titanium, tungsten and uranium]) and all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality. Data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2014. Poisson regression was performed to analyze the associations between single-metal and multimetal exposure and mortality. The following variables were adjusted as covariates: demographic variables (age, education, sex and ethnicity), anthropometric variables (body mass index), lifestyle variables (family income, serum cotinine category and physical activity) and medical comorbidities (CVD and diabetes). A total of 26,056 subjects from the NHANES were included in the present study (mean follow-up, 7.4 years). The age of the participants ranged from 20 to 85 years. The blood metal mixture was associated with all-cause mortality (RR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.25, 1.51), CVD mortality (RR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.06, 1.94) and cancer mortality (RR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.12, 1.76) and cadmium had the highest weight in the weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression for all associations. The urinary metal mixture was associated with an increased risk of all-cause (RR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.30, 1.68) and cancer mortality (RR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.02, 2.52). Sex differences were found in the associations of both blood and urine metal mixtures with cancer mortality. Our study suggests a potential positive association for the concentrations of heavy metal mixtures with overall, CVD and cancer mortality based on a large sample of the U.S. general population. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to confirm these important findings.