Early detection of renal disease among truck drivers through organized screening.

BACKGROUND: Trucking industry is the backbone of trade and economy and in India, truck drivers are occupationally faced with various challenges. Several risk factors including stress and abnormal lifestyle predisposes this group to non-communicable disease and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the major threats. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of chronic kidney disease. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was carried out as a population-based screening programme among 3,200 truck drivers in Tamil Nadu for a period of 1 year in 2018. A structured proforma was used to obtain information regarding the diabetic and hypertensive status. Body mass index was calculated and blood pressure was measured using standard equipments. Urine dipstick method was used to detect the presence of albumin and glucose in the urine. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 40.3 years. Overweight and obesity was seen in 49.9% of the participants, while elevated blood pressure was observed in 41.1%. About 12.4% of the participants were known hypertensives on medications. Albuminuria was present in 19.7% of the participants. Albuminuria was significantly associated with elevated blood pressure, high body mass index and elevated random blood sugars (P < 0.0001). In 83.7% of the participants, random blood sugar was elevated beyond 200 mg/dl. CONCLUSION: The screening programme can be enhanced when coupled with an awareness campaign, with due focus on culturally relevant information delivered by trained health educators in the native language, so as to bring about adequate education through effective communication.

Social impact of menstrual problems among adolescent school girls in rural Tamil Nadu.

Background Adolescence is a period of physiological, psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood and is characterized by the onset of menstruation in girls. A adolescent girls are naïve about menstruation and they take time to adapt to these changes both socially and psychologically. This study was carried out to assess the psychosocial impact of menstrual problems among schoolgoing adolescent girls. Methods This study is a cross-sectional study carried out in 350 schoolgoing adolescent girls in the year 2012 in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu. Girls who attained menarche 1 year prior to the data collection were included in the study. Data regarding background characteristics and psychosocial impact of menstrual problems were collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 15 software. The χ2-test was carried out to assess the statistical significance at the 95% level of significance. Results The mean age of the participants was 14.7 years. In this study, 87.7% of the girls had at least one menstrual problem. Among these, 78.5% could not attend school during menstruation, 51.1% were unable to perform household/sports activities (p < 0.001). It was observed that dysmenorrhea and menorrhagia were at increased risk of absenting the girls from school (p < 0.05). Conclusion The key to a sound adolescent health programme is a holistic approach which also focuses on the psychological and social domain of health. This could be achieved by involving all the stakeholders like parents, teachers, etc. to work as a team. It is also essential to develop adolescent friendly health services at the grass root level.

Prevalence of Menstrual Problems among Adolescent School Girls in Rural Tamil Nadu.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Adolescent girls face a gamut of problems of which the menstrual problems are the most common. Because menstrual problems are subtle, the problems often are unreported. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: School-based study conducted in a rural school of the Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were adolescent girls who attained menarche at least 1 year before the data collection period were selected using a simple random sampling method. A total of 350 participants were included in the study. INTERVENTIONS: No interventions were done. A structured, pretested questionnaire was used to collect data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measured in this study was the prevalence of menstrual problems, namely dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and irregular menstrual cycles. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 14.74 years. The mean age at menarche was 12.4 years. In this study, 87.7% of the girls suffered from a menstrual problem. Overall, dysmenorrhea was prevalent in 72.6%, and menorrhagia and irregular menstrual cycles were present among 45.7% and 31.7% of the participants, respectively. CONCLUSION: Menstrual problems form an important domain of adolescent health and because these problems go unreported, it is necessary that adequate attention and care is provided. The consequences of the neglect of menstrual problems results in impaired reproductive and sexual health in older women.

Taboos Related to Dog Bite in an Urban Area of Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu, India.

BACKGROUND: India is known for its diverse social and cultural backgrounds with wide range of myths and misconceptions related to diseases/illnesses. One such belief is certain food taboos and diet restrictions practiced following dog bite, which is widely prevalent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a community based cross- sectional study conducted among adults population in Anakaputhur area of Kancheepuram district. The sample size was estimated to be 275 based on previous study data and simple random sampling method was used for data collection. Data collected was analysed using SPSS version 16 and results described using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test was used for finding statistical association. RESULTS: About 84.4% of the study participants said that some kind of restrictions should be followed in case of dog bite, among them 68.7% said non vegetarian foods should be avoided. About 81 % of those bitten by dogs followed some form of food restrictions. Nearly 93.6% of those bitten did follow certain restrictions, based on advice of family members/relatives while about 6.4% of the study group followed restrictions based on advice by 'medical personnel'. Illiterates and those educated up to high school; participants with no history of animal bite in their family, were more at risk of having misconceptions (p<0.05). Pet owners have more misconceptions compared to non pet owners. CONCLUSION: This study reveals the existence of certain food taboos in case of dog bite among the study population. These practices and taboos are of no use and can be harmful at times. It is important to clear these misconceptions through appropriate health education measures for better health seeking behaviour and management.