Background:Change in socio-economic status and various health problems adversely affect an individual's way of life during old age.Objectives:To study the health and social problems of the elderly and their attitude towards life.Materials and Methods:Descriptive study carried out in the Field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine in South India. A total of 213 elderly patients (60 years old and above) who attended the outreach clinics were interviewed using a pre-tested schedule. Findings were described in terms of proportions and percentages to study the socio-economic status of the samples and its correlation to social problems.Results:Around 73% of the patients belonged to the age group of 60-69 years old. Nearly half of the respondents were illiterate. Around 48% felt they were not happy in life. A majority of them had health problems such as hypertension followed by arthritis, diabetes, asthma, cataract, and anemia. About 68% of the patients said that the attitude of people towards the elderly was that of neglect.Conclusions:The results of the study showed that there is a need for geriatric counseling centers that can take care of their physical and psychological needs. The stringent rules for eligibility to social security schemes should be made more flexible to cover a larger population.

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Objective To estimate the burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Karnataka state jointly and to assess variation across geographical regions and risk groups. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 16416 people covering three risk groups was done between 3-16 September 2020 using the state of Karnataka’s infrastructure of 290 healthcare facilities across all 30 districts. Participants were further classified into risk subgroups and were sampled using stratified sampling. All participants were subjected to simultaneous detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG using a commercial ELISA kit, SARS-CoV-2 antigen using a rapid antigen detection test (RAT), and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for RNA detection. Maximum-likelihood estimation was used for joint estimation of the adjusted IgG, active, and total prevalence (either IgG or active or both), while multinomial regression identified predictors. Results Overall adjusted total prevalence of COVID-19 in Karnataka was 27.7% (95% CI: 26.1 to 29.3), IgG 16.8% (15.5 to 18.1) and active infection fraction 12.6% (11.5 to 13.8). Case-to-infection ratio 1:40, and infection fatality rate 0.05%. Influenza-like-symptoms or contact with COVID-19 positive patient are good predictors of active infection. RAT kits had higher sensitivity (68%) in symptomatics compared to 47% asymptomatic. Conclusion Our sentinel-based population survey is the first comprehensive survey to provide accurate estimates of the COVID-19 burden. Our findings provide a reasonable approximation of the population immunity threshold levels. Leveraging existing surveillance platforms, coupled with syndromic approach and sampling framework, renders our model replicable.

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Objective: The second round of the serial cross sectional sentinel based population survey to assess active infection, seroprevalence, and their evolution in the general population across Karnataka was conducted. Additionally, a longitudinal study among participants identified as COVID 19 positive in the first survey round was conducted to assess the clinical sensitivity of the testing kit used. Methods: The cross sectional study of 41,228 participants across 290 healthcare facilities in all 30 districts of Karnataka was done among three groups of participants (low, moderate, and high risk). Consenting participants were subjected to real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) testing, and antibody (IgG) testing. Results: Overall weighted adjusted seroprevalence of IgG was 15.6% (95% CI: 14.9 to 16.3), crude IgG prevalence was 15.0% and crude active prevalence was 0.5%. Statewide infection fatality rate (IFR) was estimated as 0.11%, and COVID 19 burden estimated between 26.1 to 37.7% (at 90% confidence). Clinical sensitivity of the IgG ELISA test kit was estimated as equal or more than 38.9%. Conclusion: The sentinel based population survey helped identify districts that needed better testing, reporting, and clinical management. The state was far from attaining natural immunity during the survey and hence must step up vaccination coverage and enforce public health measures to prevent the spread of COVD 19.