Background:Identifying the commonly prevailing health and nutritional disorders in school going children is essential to initiate appropriate public health measures.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional prospective study was designed to conduct a detail physical health assessment of children studying in class 1-8 (age- 5-13 years) of 31 schools of Ahmedabad city, India between December 2011 and February 2012. Under the school health program of state government, medical history, height, weight and general physical examination findings, including dental and ophthalmic examination were recorded by qualified medical practitioners. Children with abnormal results were further investigated and treated by the subject experts.Result:Total 28,256 children were screened (boys-15,087 and girls-13,169). Mean weight and height of the children were 27.04 kg and 128.81 cm, respectively. Analysis of nutritional status of the cohort population as compared to body mass index standards revealed that 8319 (29.44%) children were underweight while only 221 (0.78%) children were either overweight or obese. The subgroup analysis of basic nutrition indices in children revealed prevalence of significant malnutrition (based on Indian Council of Medical Research standards) in children below 10 years of age. Commonly prevailing health disorders included worm infestation (42%), upper respiratory tract infection (36.39%), anemia (30.99%) dental caries (25.19%) and refractory errors (10.2%).Conclusions:Malnutrition and related health disorders are commonly prevailing childhood diseases in the urban community and can effectively be addressed by appropriate public health program.

No abstract

Background: Skin diseases in paediatric population are common all over the world. There is a wide variation in the presentation of Dermatoses in various studies. The variation among dermatoses can possibly be due to region of study, prevalent environmental factors, type of population studied, and hygiene and nutritional status and environmental factors. The objective of this study was to study prevalence, pattern of presentation and aetiologies of various dermatoses in paediatrics.Methods: A prospective, observational, single center study involving 500 patients of Dermatoses was carried out in a pediatric outpatient department. Detailed history, clinical presentation and other relevant parameter were recorded in a case record form and analyzed.Results: Majority of patients with dermatoses (39.40%) belong to age group of 6 - 16 years with male preponderance. Etiological analysis showed infections and infestations were most common dermatoses. Bacterial infection (184, 36.80%) was most common followed by viral (87, 17.40%), parasitic (51, 10.20%) and fungal (25, 5.00%) infection. Dermatitis was present in 30.6% patients. Diaper dermatitis (19 patients) was the commonest dermatitis present in infants while eczema and urticaria were the commonest dermatitis in school going children.  Pyoderma was the commonest dermatoses in this study, present in 111 patients (22.20%) followed by varicella (14.40%), impetigo (12.80%); scabies (10.20%), eczema (10.20%) and urticaria (7.60%).Conclusions: Dermatoses in children are a wide spread problem which are responsible for significant morbidity in children. The high incidence of infections and infestations are possibly due to poverty, overcrowding, undernutrition, poor hygiene and lack of health education. Skin of the young children is more prone to develop skin disease.

Background: Immunization is one of the most cost effective methods of preventing childhood diseases and needs to be sustained with higher coverage for desired benefits. Objective of the study was to assess immunization coverage in children of 24-35 months of age group in urban slums of Ahmedabad city, India.Methods: Using the purposive sampling method, a cross sectional community based study was conducted in urban slum area (Vadaj area) of Ahmedabad city during July-November 2014. All 214 children of 24-35 months age group of the area were included after taking verbal informed consent of their parents or guardians. Vaccination status of the children was verified using the Immunization card. In conditions where the Immunization card was not available, the mother/parents were asked about the site of vaccinations to confirm the vaccines being given. Analysis of study was done by using appropriate statistical software. Results: Total 936 households were surveyed. There were 214 children in the 24-35 months age group. Mamta card or immunization record was available with 145 (73.6%) mothers of 24-35 months age group of children. Vaccination coverage in the age group of 24-35 months old children was maximum for BCG and OPV first dose (96.7%) followed by Pentavalent first dose (95.8%) and OPV second dose (95.3%). Overall, 75.7% of the children in the 24-35 months age group were completely immunized while only 6 children were unimmunized. Dropout rate percentage for Pentavalent 1st dose to pentavalent 3rd dose was 3.44% while for BCG to second dose of measles was 19.75%.Conclusions: Complete immunization coverage was 75.7% which was better than the national surveys still the causes for no/ partial vaccinations need to be addressed.

Background: Nutritional anemia and visual impairment among school age children are recognized as public health problem worldwide. The objective of the study was to prevalence of anemia and visual impairment among school going adolescents of Ahmedabad city, Gujarat.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried during period from January 2012 to March 2012. 4 schools were selected by purposive sampling. After taking the permission from principals of schools and informed written consent of the parents of the children, 421 children from these schools of Ahmedabad city were examined for anemia and visual impairment. The data was collected by predesigned, pretested performa and analyzed using Epi Info.Results: Out of total 421 children 205 (48.7%) were female. Mean age of the study children was 7.9 ± 1.06 years. The prevalence of anemia in children in present study was 61.9 % (261 children). The prevalence of anemia in female (134, 62.9%) was higher than males (130, 60.1%). Moderate to severe visual impairment and blindness was 7.2% in girls and 10.5% in boys respectively and the gender difference was not statistically significant. Though 38 (8.9%) children had moderate to severe visual impairment to blindness only 10 (2.3%) children were wearing spectacles.Conclusions: High prevalence of anemia and visual impairment among these children needs great attention and health education.