Background:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. It is an incurable disease with improvement in quality of life (QOL) as a major focus area for management. This study assesses the QOL of COPD patients and the factors affecting it.Materials and Methods:All 124 patients diagnosed with COPD in a larger cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of COPD were assessed for their QOL using St. George's respiratory questionnaire for COPD patients (SGRQ-C). Spirometry was performed to assess lung function and diagnose COPD. Chronic lung disease (CLD) severity index was used to assess the severity of symptoms and the Medical Research Council questionnaire was used to assess the severity of dyspnea. Sociodemographic data regarding the patients were also recorded.Results:Patients with COPD showed significantly reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL). CLD estimate for severity of lung disease and the Medical Research Council assessment for dyspnea and the duration of illness showed a highly significant positive correlation with HRQOL. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between lung function and SGRQ-C score. Increasing age, increased quantum of smoking, and lower socioeconomic status were correlated with poorer HRQOL. No association between QOL and education, body mass index (BMI), and gender was observed.Conclusion:This study showed that Indian patients with COPD had reduced HRQOL. Poor lung function, increased disease duration and smoking, and worsening symptoms impacted HRQOL negatively.

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Background: Environmental tobacco smoke is a serious global public health problem. A better understanding of the correlates of Environmental tobacco smoke exposure could guide the development of evidence based Environmental tobacco smoke exposure reduction interventions. The study is conducted with the objective to describe the pattern of and factors associated with Environmental tobacco smoke exposure among non-smoking adult females in urban areas of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Methods: A total of 439 households were selected by systematic random sampling. One non-smoker adult female was selected randomly from each household. Her exposure to Environmental tobacco smoke was recorded along with socio-demographic characteristic as age, education, occupation, type of family, socioeconomic status using a semistructured questionnaire based on Global Adult Tobacco Survey methodology. Her knowledge regarding harmful effects of Environmental tobacco smoke was also enquired. Data analysis was done using Chi Square test. Results: Environmental tobacco smoke exposure rate at home among the participants was 33.5%. Females with lower levels of education and lower socioeconomic status had higher exposure to Environmental tobacco smoke than their counterparts with the difference being statistically significant. Only 59.2% of the participants considered exposure to Environmental tobacco smoke to be harmful to health with the knowledge being significantly poor in those who were not exposed to Environmental tobacco smoke and had lower levels of education and socioeconomic status. Conclusion: The findings suggest the need for comprehensive tobacco control measures that would improve public understanding about health hazards of Environmental tobacco smoke exposure at home and encourage educational initiatives to promote smoke-free homes.

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Background: In India, despite substantial improvements in maternal health over the last decade or so, still condition is even poor in rural areas. As per National health policy 2017, target is to reduce MMR to 100 by 2020 and sustaining antenatal coverage at 100%, institutional delivery 80% and skilled attendance of birth 100% by 2025.The study is conducted with the objective to assess the pattern of maternal health service utilization and to identify the factors affecting it.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted at field practice area of Rural Health Training Centre, Hind Institute Of Medical Sciences, Sitapur with a sample of 208 women selected using systematic random sampling. SPSS Statistics 20.0 was used for data entry and calculation of statistical tests.Results: ANC utilization was found to be 70.7% whereas minimum recommended ANC visits were 50%. Only 54.8% deliveries were found to be institutional whereas 59.1% women received at least one postnatal check-up in our study. Most common reason for not utilizing ANC, Institutional delivery and PNC services was found to be tradition, availability of trained person and no need respectively. A highly significant association was found between maternal health service utilization and woman’s education, partner’s education, partner’s occupation, birth order and standard of living index (p<0.05).Conclusions: This study established that educating the population, empowering women, promoting maternal health service utilization in multipara’s and improving the socio-economic status of the family would yield greater results in increasing the use of maternal health services.