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Context: Postpartum depression (PPD) is onset of depressive symptoms in postpartum period from 2 weeks to 1 year. It causes maternal morbidity and long?term negative effects on growth and development of infant and child. It is often unreported and underdiagnosed. Aims: (1) To estimate the prevalence of PPD,(2) To determine socio?demographic, clinical, and obstetric correlates of the same. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was done in urban and rural areas of District Aligarh. Methods: A total of 304 females between 6 weeks and 6 months’ postpartum period giving consent were included in this study. Sociodemographic, obstetric, and clinico-social factors were recorded using predesigned, pretested questionnaire. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score ?10 was used to screen for PPD and International Classification of Disease (ICD?10) criteria for confirmation. Statistical Analysis Used: Correlates of PPD were determined using logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of PPD was 9.5% using EPDS and was confirmed by ICD?10 criteria. History of abortion (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 6.0, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 2.2–16.5), poor relationship with in?laws(AOR: 5.1; 95% CI 1.3–20.5), marital conflict (AOR: 13.3; 95% CI 2.2–77.6), and substance abuse in husband (AOR: 3.1; 95% CI 1.1–9.0) were found to be significant correlates for PPD. Conclusions: About one in every 10 postpartum females suffered from depression but did not seek health care for the same. Women facing social pathologies such as substance abuse in husband, marital conflict, and poor relationship with in?laws are more at risk of PPD. Screening for PPD should be included in the maternal and child health care programs to ensure early diagnosis and treatment.
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Background: Maternal mortality is on decline throughout the world, and still India accounts for around 15% maternal mortality of the world. Most of these deaths are preventable and avoidable if high quality care is given to a women. In order to achieve this it is very essential to examine healthcare needs and identify the demand side barriers in access to healthcare services by the women of reproductive age group. The study was thus planned to assess the current level of utilization of maternal health care services and factors associated with it. Methods: This descriptive, community based, cross-sectional study was conducted in the field practice area of urban health training centre (UHTC) of Department of Community Medicine, J N Medical College, AMU, Aligarh. It was carried out on 211 recently delivered women and the data was analysed using SPSS20. Results: More than 27%women reported some kind of complication in their last pregnancy. The commonest complications were found to be Anemia and Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. Significant number of women in our study recognised the need of utilizing MCH care only after experiencing complications. Conclusions: A large number of women suffer from complications during pregnancy and complications like anemia go unnoticed, which can have grave complications. Most of the women opt for health care only if they had suffered from any complication during the last pregnancy.
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Introduction:Tobacco has been considered as a major etiological factor in the development of oral potentially malignant disorders. Any form of chewable tobacco is as significant in relation to oral carcinoma as is Smoked tobacco. Objective:To find out the association of Chewable tobacco with Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders.Material Methods: it was a cross sectional descriptive study through a self-structured questionnaire and oral examination by the observer in a sample of 1078 participants.Observations:Chewable tobacco increases 7.5 times more risk for having OPMD than non-chewers. Gutkha is the most common form of smokeless tobacco 115(55.8%) and supari 1(11.1%) is the least common form of smokeless tobacco present in the participants with. Strong association was seen between frequency of tobacco use and occurrence of oral precancerous lesions OPMD.Conclusions and Recommendations:The use of smokeless tobacco was significantly associated wit
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Introduction: Oral cancer is a serious problem worldwide. It is sometimes preceded by clinically visible lesions which are called precancerous lesions, and usually culminate in development of oral cancers. Oral malignancies lay a huge burden on the patients, socially as well as economically. Community intervention programs along with involvement if dental health professionals could play a huge role in limitation of the oral malignancies. Aims and objectives: To find out the prevalence of oral potentially malignant disorders in Aligarh, and its association with age and gender. Methods: Community based Cross sectional descriptive study was performed using a pretested questionnaire in a sample of 1078 participant .Systematic Random Sampling was used and the data analysis was done using SPSS24. Results: 25.3% of the participants were found to have clinical features of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD), overall prevalence of OPMD was 19.1% in study participants, more prevalent in age group 46-55 years (28.9%), and in males (33.5%) as compared to females (7.8%). Conclusion and Recommendations: Community intervention programs, and Government aided programs should be put in place to curb this very important public health problem. The role of dental health professionals in motivating the population to limit the consumption of tobacco and tobacco containing products also cannot be undermined.
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Background: Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient for the immune system. Its deficiency is one of the most important causes of preventable childhood blindness and is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality from infections. Studies have linked vitamin A deficiency to a greater risk of malnutrition. Therefore the present study was planned to assess the intake of Vitamin A in pre- school children and to find out its association with nutritional status of Pre- School children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in urban and rural Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Children (n=400) of 12-59 months were randomly selected and mothers were interviewed after taking informed consent on pretested predesigned questionnaire on socio-demographic and Dietary intake. Anthropometry was performed using standard procedures. Results: The mean age of children was 31.9 months and mean intake of Vitamin A was 344.8 μg. Underweight, stunting and wasting was seen in 43.7%, 51.3 % and 21.8% of children respectively. Stunting was associated significantly with mean Vitamin A intake (p<0.005). 54% children had been administered Vitamin A in past six months. Signs of Vitamin A deficiency were seen in only 6.2 % children. On Multivariate analysis Height / Age Z score was significantly associated with Vitamin A intake (OR-2.8, 2.5-14.0). Conclusions: The prevalence of malnutrition for pre-school children is worrying. There is low intake of Vitamin A. There is need to find innovative and effective ways of reaching the community for educating them on balanced diet particularly rich in vitamin A.
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Introduction: Population of India has jumped to 1,290,974,613 (1.29 billion) on Dec 07, 2015. There are certain demographic factors, which affect the acceptance of family planning methods. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the extent of felt need of family planning methods and to assess the demographic factors influencing the contraceptive acceptance. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in J.N. Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, for a period of two and half year. Only the mothers in the post partum period were interviewed. Those mothers who had already accepted family planning methods were not included in the study. 1383 mothers were interviewed. Data were tabulated and analysed using SPSS version 20. Chi-square test (χ2) was applied to know the statistical significance. Results: Significant number of mothers (39.6%) had planned to adopt family planning methods. Majority of the mothers (71.4%) were in the age group of 21-30 years. In this age group, 39.7% mothers wanted to adopt family methods. As the age of the mothers increased, the acceptance rate also increased. Majority of mothers (52.9%) admitted in the hospital were Hindus. Among Muslims, 40.3 per cent mothers had felt need of family planning methods. Mostly the mothers were illiterate (50.8%). 30.8 per cent of these illiterate mothers wanted to accept family planning methods. Similar felt need (36.4%) was observed in mothers with education up to primary level (V standard). As the birth order increased, felt need also increased. Conclusion: It may be concluded that significant number of mothers had planned to adopt family planning methods. Though the campaign to promote family planning methods in our country is being carried out, the message should be given more vigorously through information, education and communication (IEC) activities and involvement of non-governmental organisations (NGO). Concerted efforts are needed to find out the reasons for unmet need and its solution