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Background: After collection of blood from a blood donor, it undergoes certain tests for its suitability for transfusion to a recipient. According to the Red Cross, women should have at least a hemoglobin level of 12.5 g/dL and men should have 13 g/dL. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to observe the hemoglobin level of donated blood according to the sex and according to the blood groups – A, AB, B, and O. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional data audit was conducted with the data of males and females from a blood bank of a tertiary care hospital in India. A total of 4 years of data from 2013 to 2016 were analyzed. The hemoglobin levels were tested by the Shapiro–Wilk normality test. The distribution was not normal. Hence, data were presented as median (first quartile–third quartile) and tested by nonparametric tests – Mann–Whitney test and Kruskal–Wallis test. Results: Total data of 7026 blood donors (6658 [94.76%] males and 368 [5.24%] females) were analyzed in this study. The level is above the cutoff suggested by Red Cross. The overall hemoglobin level was 13.8 (13.2?14.1) g/dL. Male had higher hemoglobin 13.8 (13.2?14.2) g/dL than females 13 (13?13.5) g/dL, P < 0.0001. There was no difference in hemoglobin in A, AB, B, and O blood group in overall, males, and females. Conclusion: There were more male blood donors than female donors. Males have higher hemoglobin levels than females in all types of blood groups in the ABO system. There was no difference in hemoglobin concentration in different blood groups.
ABSTRACT
Background: Several factors cause mental stress during a pandemic where academic life is uncertain. This stress may cause a change in healthy behavior. Sleep is one of the important aspects and is deranged with physical or mental stress. Aim and Objectives: With this background, we conducted this study with university students to know the level of stress and sleep pattern and to find any correlation between them. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational online survey study was conducted in Bhubaneswar, Odisha with 100 university students during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The stress was assessed with the COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ) and subjective sleep was assessed by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI). Both the questionnaires were in English and were having Likert-type response options. The survey data were analyzed by Statistical test by GraphPad Prism 6.01 software package. Results: Among the participants, 66% had high stress, 24% had moderate stress, and 10% had low stress. The sleep quality analysis showed that 76% of students were having poor sleep and 24% had good sleep. There was a positive correlation between the CSSQ and PSQI score (r = 0.45, P < 0.0001). This indicates a strong correlation between stress and sleep quality. Conclusion: During a pandemic like the current COVID-19 pandemic, university students suffer from a high level of stress and disturbed sleep. Hence, to restore the wellbeing of the students, a proper sleep hygiene practice should be promoted that may eventually help reduce stress. On the other hand, proper information regarding academic progress and defined assessment methods may help reduce academic stress and promote good sleep.
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Background: Obesity, especially central obesity has been proved to be a risk factor for overall deterioration of health with emphasis on cardiovascular disease. Aim and Objectives: In this study, we aimed to find if there is any correlation between waist-to-hip ratios with smoking and hypertension in patients from a tertiary care hospital in Bihar. Materials and Methods: After taking permission from the institutional ethics committee, this study was conducted in the department of physiology and medicine in a tertiary care hospital in Bihar. Coronary artery disease patients were recruited from the in-patient department of medicine department. The waist circumference and hip circumference were measured by fiberglass measuring tape to the nearest 1 cm. The smoking history and history of hypertension were obtained. Results: A total of 75 patients (57 male and 18 female) were included in the study. There was 26 (34.67%) smoker and 49 (65.33%) non-smoker. Among the patients 34 (45.33%) were suffering from hypertension and 41 (54.67%) patients did not suffer from hypertension (?2 = 0.15, z = 0.38, P = 0.70). There was no gender difference in waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (t = 0.4553, P = 0.65). Among the patients, WHR, smoking, and hypertension did not show any significant correlation. Conclusion: Among the coronary patients, there was no correlation of WHR with smoking and hypertension. Even smoking and hypertension did not show any relationship. Hence, obesity, smoking, and hypertension should be considered as individual risk factors for coronary artery disease.
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Background: Body fat measurement requires a dedicated device and careful preparation of the subjects concerning food and water intake, exercise, precautions about alcohol intake, or any other condition that may change the hydration status of the subject. If simple anthropometric parameters can be used to estimate body fat that may help clinicians to know the body without measuring it. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find a regression equation to estimate body fat from height, weight, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC). Materials and Methods: First, we measured the height, weight, WC, HC, and body fat of 80 individuals with proper care for bioelectric impedance analysis. Then, this data were used to find multiple regression equation. Then, the equation was tested with 20 individuals where we measured the height, weight, WC, and HC and put those data into the equation to estimate body fat. Results: The mean age of participants was 28.12 ± 3.45 years. The height, weight, WC, and HC all contributed statistically significantly to the prediction of body fat, F (4.75) = 31.17 P < 0.0001. The established regression equation was: Body fat = 40.134 - (height in cm × 0.271) + (weight in kg × 0.412) + (WC in cm × 0.052) + (HC in cm × 0.067). During the test of the equation, measured mean fat (36.79 ± 2.64%) was not statistically different (P = 0.75) from estimated body fat (36.6 ± 3.23%). Conclusion: A multiple regression equation was formulated to estimate body fat from the height, weight, WC, and HC of an individual. This equation successfully estimated body fat from the anthropometric parameters. A further large-scale study is needed to find a more generalized estimation equation.
ABSTRACT
Background: Alternative medicine systems in India are growing with the advancement of research and pharmaceuticals. The disease – COVID-19 has still no specific treatment modality and the pandemic is continuing. Among the alternative medicine systems, which one is searched more with a connection to the pandemic, are still unknown. Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to assess the global and Indian internet search volume of alternative system medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy during the past 2 years of the pandemic (March 2020–March 2022). Materials and Methods: On the Google Trends website (https://trends.google.com), we used the following combination of phrases to search the trend and compare the trends: “COVID Ayurveda,” “COVID Yoga,” “COVID Unani,” “COVID Siddha,” and “COVID Homeopathy.” The data were filtered with the date range from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022. First, the data were collected for the whole world and then India. All the comma separated values were downloaded for further data analysis. Results: Globally, there were two spikes of searching the COVID and Yoga in the second wave and third wave. Search for homeopathy and Ayurveda also showed two peaks during the first and second waves. In India, there were three spikes of search volume for yoga in three waves. The search for homeopathy showed a peak in the first wave. We found a significant positive correlation between global searches and Indian searches. This indicates a correlated demand or knowledge-seeking regarding alternative medicine. Conclusion: People around the world search for alternative medicine as a possible treatment method for COVID-19. The most common search was for Yoga, followed by homeopathy and Ayurveda in the global population. In India, yoga was the highest searched method followed by homeopathy and Ayurveda.