ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a distinctive and determinative stage in human life. Adolescent period serves as a transition between childhood and adulthood during which they acquire social, cognitive and emotional skills that de-termine their future. During these years, adolescent children undergo lot of physical and emotional changes. The quality of the environment where adolescents grow up shapes their physical and psychological well-being. Negative impact on mental health can happen due to encounters in homes, schools or social media which increases the risk of developing mental illness. This could be because of bullying, poverty, violence and mentally ill parents or siblings. In such cases, adolescents struggle to handle their psychological health and unless they get adequate care and support from parents, teachers and peer group, their psychological wellbe-ing gets affected. It is estimated that 1 in 7 adolescents worldwide experience mental health conditions. How-ever, majority of these psychological issues go unnoticed and untreated. This article highlights various ethical issues in the Researchers’ Perspective when a study was planned to assess the psychological wellbeing of ado-lescent school children in an urban part of Tamil Nādu, India. Knowing the ethical concerns in conducting the research on psychological wellness of adolescents will help in planning more research studies for a better un-derstanding of the epidemiology of mental illnesses among them.
ABSTRACT
Background: Ageing is an irreversible, unavoidable, universal phenomenon accompanied by gradual reduction in functional capacity of the elderly. The number of elderly populations in India is expected to triple reaching 2 billion. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and evalu- ate the association between various socio demographic and behavioural risk factors. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried among 330 senior citizens living in old age homes by using a two-stage multistage sampling method. A standardized pretested structured ques- tionnaire containing Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS) scale was used. Data was analysed using SPSS (Version 22). Results: Among 330 study respondents, around 44% had mild -to- moderate cognitive impairment and 36% had severe cognitive impairment. Nearly 74.8% have their habit of regular physical activity. Among the study subjects approximately 4% of them were current smokers, 5.2% had the habit of regular alco- hol consumption previously. Conclusion: Integration of NPHCE and NMHP can be beneficial in early diagnosis of mild cognitive im- pairment during weekly outpatient visits at PHC. Level of attention given towards Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is more when compared to screening for cognitive impairment which is an early precursor for AD.
ABSTRACT
Background: Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood and adolescent obesity can lead to systemic complications affecting the quality of life in later stages. This study aimed to assess the risk factors of obesity among school children of adolescent age. Methods: This Case control study included 110 obese and 110 non-obese adolescents between 10 and 17 years of age. Children with Body Mass Index (BMI) >+2 SD of WHO growth reference median for their age and sex were included as cases. Children with BMI between -2SD and +1SD were included as controls. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS software. Results: The risk factors which showed a statistically significant association with adolescent obesity were less educated father and mother, being a single child in the family, adolescents from nuclear type of family, having an obese parent, increased waist hip ratio and lack of exclusive breastfeeding during infancy. Conclusion: Educating children and parents on the importance of preventing obesity and harmful effects of adolescent obesity is the need of the hour. This can be done through intensive health education cam-paigns in community and schools, and regular reinforcement on primary preventive measures.
ABSTRACT
Background: With aging process, cognitive levels decline which has affected nearly 50 million people worldwide. In view of this, our study aims to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and its correlation with co morbidities among the elderly residing in old age homes in Southern India and determine its various risk factors among them. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried among 330 elderly living in old age homes by using multistage sampling method. Study population included Elderly above the age of 60 and residing in old age homes, who were willing to participate. A pretested structured questionnaire was used. Data was analysed using SPSS. Results: Of the 330 participants, nearly 44% had mild to moderate and 36% had severe cognitive impairment. The odds of developing cognitive impairment were 2.5 times more among individuals who had at least one feature of dementia when compared with those who did not have any symptoms. Conclusion: The strategies of National Programmes for Health Care of Elderly and National Mental Health Program do not cater specifically to cognitive impairment. Level of attention given towards Alzheimer抯 disease is more when compared to screening for cognitive impairment which is an early precursor for Alzheimer抯 disease.
ABSTRACT
Many Countries struggle to tackle the consequences of under nutrition and infectious diseases. At the same time, they are also now showing a rapid increase in non-communicable diseases and their risk factors like obesity and overweight, especially in urban areas. In the present era, it is quite common to find co-existence of under nutrition and obesity within a country, within a community and even within a household. Children living in developing and under-developed countries are more susceptible to poor nutrition during antenatal period, infancy and childhood. On the contrary, children also have easy access to food products with increased salt and fat percentage, decreased levels of micro nutrients and more junk calories. The synergistic effects of high calorie intake and low physical activity lead to increase in prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. This article discusses about the aetiology, epidemiology and determinants of adolescent obesity.
ABSTRACT
Although the occurrence of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in children is relatively rare, but it is associated with higher rates of mortality and severe morbidity. The peak incidence of TBM occurs in younger children who are less than five years of age, and most children present with late-stage disease. Confirmation of diagnosis is often difficult, and other infectious causes such as bacterial, viral and fungal causes must be ruled out. Bacteriological confirmation of diagnosis is ideal but is often difficult because of its paucibacillary nature as well as decreased sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests. Early diagnosis and management of the disease, though difficult, is essential to avoid death or neurologic disability. Hence, a high degree of suspicion and a combined battery of tests including clinical, bacteriological and neuroimaging help in diagnosis of TBM. Children diagnosed with TBM should be managed with antituberculosis therapy (ATT) and steroids. There are studies reporting low concentrations of ATT, especially of rifampicin and ethambutol in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and very young children are at higher risk of low ATT drug concentrations. Further studies are needed to identify appropriate regimens with adequate dosing of ATT for the management of paediatric TBM to improve treatment outcomes. This review describes the clinical presentation, investigations, management and outcome of TBM in children and also discusses various studies conducted among children with TBM.