Background: Population ageing is a recognized international reality, both in developed and developing countries. The number of elderly in the developing world is increasing due to demographic transition, whereas their condition is deteriorating as a result of fast eroding traditional family system coupled with rapid modernization and urbanization. Current statistics for the elderly gives a prelude to a new set of medical, social and economic problems that could arise if a timely initiative in this direction is not taken. Aims & Objective: To determine the pattern of physical morbidity in rural elderly population and to study health related quality of life and utilization of health services among them. Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectional design was adopted for studying the health problems of elderly and their health related quality of life, using WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used for sample collection. A total of 660 individual ≥ 60 years of age were taken up for the study purpose. Results: An overwhelming majority (68.2%) of elderly enjoyed a good quality of life, while those having a fair/poor quality of life were ≤ 15%. Quality of life was better in males in physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. It was more in subjects who had graduated and currently married, belonged to non-scheduled cast and living in extended families (p<0.001). Majority of the subjects were anaemic (64.5%), suffering from dental problems (62.2%) and joint pains (51.4%). Maximum numbers of subjects (92.7%) were utilizing non-government health care facility due to long distance from their houses (33.3%). Conclusion: There is a need to highlight the medical and psychosocial problems that are being faced by the elderly people in India and strategies for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life.
Our study aimed to obtain a comprehensive insight into the etiology of nephrotic syndrome in our patient population. We analyzed medical records of 290 patients with diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome as defined by International Study of Kidney Disease in Children (ISKDC), between January 1987 and December 2000, at the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar. Primary glomerular disease was found to be the most prevalent, accounting for 91.73% of all glomerular diseases. Among primary glomerular diseases, minimal change disease (MCD) was the most common histological lesion (43.79%). Most patients presented within 3 months duration (61.4%) and the most common symptom was puffiness of face (98.45%) followed by pedal edema (91%). Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) was the second most common lesion (16.89%) followed by membranous glomerulonephritis (GN) (13.4%) and membranoproliferative GN (11.72%). Amongst secondary glomerular diseases, diabetes mellitus was the most prevalent (4.48%), followed by lupus nephritis (3.1%). In conclusion, primary glomerular diseases constituted the most common group encountered and the prevalence of MCD was quite high with males, children and young adults. FSGS was associated with a high prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD; 26.53%), hypertension (71.42%) and hematuria (81.63%).
Background: Equitable access to health care is an important issue and cannot be ignored during any pandemic. Although affordability is the most common barrier to healthcare, in a coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic lockdown people may not get necessary healthcare due to non-availability of transport, cancellation of appointments, and fear of getting infected by a coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) in the hospitals besides disruption of the healthcare services. Due to this millions of people could lose access to essential healthcare services. Objectives: The study was conducted with the objective to assess the level of unmet healthcare needs and to identify major barriers to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This was an online survey conducted at the household level during the COVID-19 pandemic on a self-designed questionnaire which was based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions,
Background: The high morbidity and morbidity associated with epidemics and disasters and economic losses thereof is a high psychosocial risk. Estimation of the burden of mental health issues and recognition of various risk groups will lead to better allocation of resources to prevent the increased burden of psychiatric morbidity during the epidemic.Methods: This was an online survey conducted during COVID-19 pandemic based on self reporting DASS 21 scale.Results: Among the participants 49.5% had depression, 34.8% had anxiety and 22.3% had stress in varying severity from mild to extremely severe forms. Female gender, less age, high level of education and unemployment were the risk factors for increased psychiatric morbidity.Conclusions: There is a dire need to recognize the mental health threat due to COCID-19 pandemic and implement the steps to protect the vulnerable population from it.
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