BackgroundThe objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of long COVID symptoms in a large cohort of people living with and affected by long COVID and identify any potential associated risk factors.MethodsA prospective survey was undertaken of an inception cohort of confirmed people living with and affected by long COVID (aged 18–87 years). 14392 participants were recruited from 24 testing facilities across Bangladesh between June and November 2020. All participants had a previously confirmed positive COVID-19 diagnosis, and reported persistent symptoms and difficulties in performing daily activities. Participants who consented were contacted by face-to-face interview, and were interviewed regarding long COVID, and restriction of activities of daily living using post COVID-19 functional status scale. Cardiorespiratory parameters measured at rest (heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, oxygen saturation levels, maximal oxygen consumption, inspiratory and expiratory lung volume) were also measured.ResultsAmong 2198 participants, the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 12 weeks was 16.1%. Overall, eight long COVID symptoms were identified and in descending order of prominence are: fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, cough, anosmia, appetite loss, headache and chest pain. People living with and affected by long COVID experienced between 1 and 8 long COVID symptoms with an overall duration period of 21.8±5.2 weeks. Structural equation modelling predicted the length of long COVID to be related to younger age, female gender, rural residence, prior functional limitation and smoking.ConclusionIn this cohort, at 31 weeks post diagnosis, the prevalence of long COVID symptoms was 16.1%. The risk factors identified for presence and longer length of long COVID symptoms warrant further research and consideration to support public health initiatives.

Background: Spinal Cord injury, whether traumatic or non-traumatic, is a devastating and debilitating neurological condition and the incidence of spinal cord injury is increasing with time. It was aimed to look into the epidemiology of spinal cord injury in Bangladesh as a preliminary step towards the prevention of this condition and the related complications.

Background: Rohingya refugees are one of the most vulnerable group due to lack of health care system, personal hygiene, shelter, sanitation and violence. Aim: The present study aims to find out the health problems and health care seeking behavior of Rohingya Refugees, to identify the socio-demographic information for such exposure group in relation to age, sex, occupation, living areas, to explore the patient's physical, emotional, perceptions, attitudes and environmental health problems and to bring out health care seeking behavior of refugees. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 149 samples were selected conveniently for this study from the refugee camps. Data was collected by using mixed type of questionnaire. Descriptive statistic was used for data analysis which has depicted through tables, pie chart and bar chart. Results: The finding of the study showed that 45.6% participants had multiple problems, followed by 16.8% participants who had other specific problems like musculoskeletal pain, visual problems and peptic ulcer. Urinary tract infection was the leading individual health problem with 11.4% of the sample group having it. 10.7% participants had hypertension, 6% had respiratory tract infection, 3.4% had nutrition deficiency, 4.75% had diabetes mellitus and 1.3% had sanitation & hygiene problems. Among the participants, 68.4% age ranged between 15-59 years. The study showed that, only 16.1% participants were satisfied with the quality of service they received while 37.6% participants said that they needed better services such as more laboratory test, radiological imaging, more medicine and more doctors. Conclusion: It is clear that refugees suffered from a variety of health problems, because their living condition and environmental situation were not similar like an independent nation. Further, basic amenities like medicines and other services were not available.

IntroductionSpinal cord injury, is certainly a debilitating and devastating condition in terms of its effect on a person`s physical, mental, familial as well as social life [1]. Due to its profound impact on a person`s overall quality of life and increasingly high incidence, injury to spinal cord due to any pathology is now considered as a morbid condition as well as a threat to both personal and national economy [2,3]. Spinal cord injury itself is a crippling condition, at the same time may lead to a variety of complications which can affect the life of the patient as it increases the treatment cost significantly and accelerate the disease process which link to early mortality [1,3,4]. The incidence of Spinal cord injury is increasing throughout the world with an annual incidence rate of 15 to 40 per million with a male predominance, more prevalence in low socio-economic society and the causes ranges from traumatic in most of the case like motor vehicle accident to gunshot injury and physical violence, however non traumatic causes like Tuberculosis (TB) of the spine is also responsible for this [3][4][5][6]. A great variety of complications usually follow injury to spinal cord such as pressure sore, urinary complications, most of which are preventable nonetheless these associated complications are the most common cause of re-hospitalization following spinal cord injury and eventually lead to a great deal of disability, morbidity, degree of dependence and mortality [1][2][3][4].Spinal cord injury is a severe condition of the musculoskeletal system, more often leading to permanent disability and on the top of that brings about drastic changes the functioning ability of the patient and eventually encompassing each and every aspect of life [5][6][7][8]. Complications may associate virtually all systems of the body namely cardio-respiratory system, genitourinary system, local disorders like pressure sore or full blown biochemical disorders. Such domino effect following the injury to spinal cord significantly decreases the quality of life of the individual and happens on the early or acute stage when initial rehabilitation process are being initiated [6]. Spinal cord injury whether traumatic or form other cause and AbstractBackground: Spinal cord injury and its health related complications pose a major impact on the overall morbidity and mortality as well as cause economic constrains. It was aimed at looking into the demographic distribution, diagnosis, as well as complications in patients with spinal cord injury.

Background: The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority group from Myanmar who have experienced severe forms of violence such as murder, rape, humanitarian defilement and forcible expellation from their motherland. Exposure to trauma has a long-lasting impact on psychological well-being and Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of depression and association with HRQoL for Rohingya displaced persons. Methodology: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study in two refugee camps in Southern Bangladesh, with a structured and language validated questionnaire. Results: The study indicates the prevalence of depression was 70% (n=150 respondents), with 8.7% reporting “severe depression” in PHQ-9. WHOQOL-BREF scores were inversely associated with symptoms on the depression scale with a strong and significant correlation (r= 0.652; p<0.01) in total and physical health; psychological (r= 0.757, p<0.01), social relationship (r= 0.479, p<0.01), environment (r= 0.443, p<0.01), increasing age (r= 0.272, p<0.01), severity of depression (r= 0.489, p<0.01). Furthermore, there was a statistically significant correlation with overall quality of life with same variables subsequently (r =0.600, 0.309, 0.482, 0.170, 0.103, 0.272, 0.339; p<0.01), also correlation was observed between married individuals and severity of depression in PHQ (r= 0.346), physical state (r= 0.353), psychological state (r= 0.358), and with social relationship (r= 0.435), with statistical significance (p= <0.01). Conclusion: There are higher incidence rates of moderate to severe depression than the population norms and low health-related quality of life than published population norms for Rohingya displaced persons living in refugee camps. Depression rates were inversely associated with HRQoL for Rohingya displaced persons living in refugee camps. Future research may consider the prevention of related medical issues for long term program implementation.

This study aims to investigate coping strategies used by Bangladeshi citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Prospective, cross-sectional survey of adults (N=2001) living in Bangladesh. Methods: Participants were interviewed for socio-demographic data and completed the Bengali translated Brief-COPE Inventory. Statistical data analysis was conducted using SPSS (Version 20). Results: Participants (N=2001), aged 18 to 86 years, were recruited from eight administrative divisions within Bangladesh (mean age 31.85, SD 14.2 years). Male to female participant ratio was 53.4% (n=1074) to 46.6% (n=927). Higher scores were reported for approach coping styles (29.83, SD 8.9), with lower scores reported for avoidant coping styles (20.83, SD 6.05). Humor coping scores were reported at 2.68, SD 1.3, and religion coping scores at 5.64, SD 1.8. Both men and women showed similar coping styles. Multivariate analysis found a significant relationship between the male gender and both humor and avoidant coping (p <.01). Male gender was found to be inversely related to both religion and approach coping (p<.01). Marital status and education were significantly related to all coping style domains (p<.01). The occupation was significantly related to approach coping (p <.01). Rural and urban locations differed significantly in participant coping styles (p <.01). Factor analysis revealed two cluster groups (Factor 1 and 2) comprised of unique combinations from all coping style domains. Conclusion: Participants in this study coped with the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing a combination of coping strategies. Factor 1 revealed both avoidant and approach coping strategies and Factor 2 revealed a combination of humor and avoidant coping strategies. Overall, higher utilization of approach coping strategies was reported, which has previously been associated with better physical and mental health outcomes. Religion was found to be a coping strategy for all participants. Future research may focus on understanding resilience in vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities or with migrant or refugee status in Bangladesh.

Introduction This study aims to investigate the health-related quality of life and coping strategies among COVID-19 survivors in Bangladesh. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 2198 adult, COVID-19 survivors living in Bangladesh. Data were collected from previously diagnosed COVID-19 participants (confirmed by an RT-PCR test) via door-to-door interviews in the eight different divisions in Bangladesh. For data collection, Bengali-translated Brief COPE inventory and WHO Brief Quality of Life (WHO-QoLBREF) questionnaires were used. The data collection period was from October 2020 to March 2021. Results Males 72.38% (1591) were more affected by COVID-19 than females 27.62% (607). Age showed significant correlations (p<0.005) with physical, psychological and social relationships, whereas gender showed only a significant correlation with physical health (p<0.001). Marital status, occupation, living area, and co-morbidities showed significant co-relation with all four domains of QoL (p<0.001). Education and affected family members showed significant correlation with physical and social relationship (p<0.001). However, smoking habit showed a significant correlation with both social relationship and environment (p<0.001). Age and marital status showed a significant correlation with avoidant coping strategies (p<0.001); whereas gender and co-morbidities showed a significant correlation with problem-focused coping strategies (p<0.001). Educational qualification, occupation and living area showed significant correlation with all three coping strategies(p<0.001). Conclusion Survivors of COVID-19 showed mixed types of coping strategies; however, the predominant coping strategy was avoidant coping, followed by problem-focused coping, with emotion-focused coping reported as the least prevalent. Marital status, occupation, living area and co-morbidities showed a greater effect on QoL in all participants. This study represents the real scenario of nationwide health-associated quality of life and coping strategies during and beyond the Delta pandemic.

Background:  Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a life threating condition which has a profound impact in the morbidity and mortality. SCI causes lifetime sufferings and mostly occur among the young adults. Not only in Bangladesh but also worldwide, SCI is a devastating and burdensome condition. This research was conducted to see the demographic profile of SCI patients in Bangladesh. Methods and Materials: This is a retrospective analysis where data was collected from medical records of all SCI patients admitted in between January 2012 to December 2014 from Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar. Results: A total of 1172 SCI patients were analyzed. Most of the patients were in their second to third decade of life which consisted 28.8% (n=338). Among total respondents, 86.2% (n=1010) were male and 13.8% (n=162) were female. Most of the participants 61.1% (n=716) were from rural area. The main cause of SCI was fall from height (FFH) {45.8% (n = 537)} followed by the road traffic accidents (RTA) {24.7% (n = 288)}. Overall, 52.3% (n = 613) of participants suffered from traumatic paraplegia while 60.9% (n = 714) had complete lesion. Among the total participants, 30.70% (n = 359) of participants had skeletal level C1-C7 injury. Division-wise distribution shows that FFH is a major cause of SCI {14.84% (n = 174)} followed by the RTA which is a second most common cause in 8.95% (n = 105) of participants in Dhaka division while SCI due to bull attacks and bullet injury are a major cause in Khulna division {1.02% (n = 12)} and Chittagong division respectively. Conclusion: The data is collected from a tertiary level of rehabilitation centre where extensive demographic data was not previously represented. In many developing countries SCI is neglected, poorly managed and deprived from society. In addition, the present study suggests that demographic factors may affect the characteristics of SCI.