Background: School teachers in urban area are experiencing sedentary life style behaviors. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension (HTN) among school teachers in Dhaka city.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from May to October of 2017. Total 323 school teachers in Dhaka city aged between 25-59 years were enrolled using cluster random sampling technique. Data on socio-demographic profile, different risk factors, co-morbidities, family history and blood pressure (BP) were recorded. HTN was recorded according to pre-defined criteria. Factors associated with HTN analyzed by Chi-square test (χ2).Results: The prevalence of HTN among school teachers was 52%. The mean ± SD age was 46.5±7.8 years. Majority teachers (52%) were earning between 20,000 and 50,000 Bangladeshi Taka per month and about 61.6% had service duration >15 years. Development of HTN was significantly associated with age, monthly family income and service duration (p=0.001). Majority participants were female (65.6%) and female to male ratio was 1.9:1. Female teachers were more hypertensive compared to male (68% vs 32%). Taking extra salt (OR 1.977, 95% CI 1.269-3.079), low intake of fresh vegetables (OR 2.048, 95% CI 1.228-3.416), higher waist circumference (OR 1.990, 95% CI 1.006-3.933) and mental distress (OR 1.724, 95% CI 1.045-2.844) were found to be significantly associated with HTN.Conclusions:The prevalence of HTN was higher among the study participants. Building awareness by promoting healthy life style and behaviors for prevention and control of HTN should be given importance among teachers.

Abstract:Objective: Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear. This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted to explore the knowledge on care of autistic children among the mother's attending Protibondhi Foundation, Dhaka. Methods: A total of 385 samples were selected purposively, but due to time and budget constrict it was 150 finally. Data were collected by using an anonymous, pre-tested, semi structured and self-administered questionnaire. Results: The study revealed that more than 50% of the respondent's were in the age group 16-30 years, majority of the respondent's were Muslim. Almost 84% of the respondents were SSC-Graduate and majority of them (nearly 50%) were housewife .The monthly family income was ranged between Taka 25,001-50,000 and its percentage was 53.3%. The knowledge about type of autism is very low, the data showed that only two types of autism they knew and the respondent's knowledge about the risk factor was also very low; only 24% of the respondents had knowledge about complications during pregnancy and delivery related risk factors. About 28% needed physiotherapy, 30% needed occupational therapy, 34% needed speech therapy & 44.7% needed psychotherapy. Here significant association was found between age, education and knowledge about autism (p<0.05). Conclusion: Overall knowledge on care of autistic child was not satisfactory among respondents.

We examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and continuum of care (CoC) completion rate in maternal, neonatal, and child health among mothers in Bangladesh. We used data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) from 2017 to 2018. Our findings were based on the responses of 1527 married women who had at least one child aged 12 to 23 months at the time of the survey. As a measure of SES, we focused on the standard of living (hereinafter referred to as wealth). The CoC for maternal and child health (MNCH) services is the study's outcome variable. The CoC was calculated using seven MNCH interventions: four or more antenatal care (ANC) visits with a skilled practitioner, delivery by a skilled birth attendant, post-natal care for mothers (PNCM) within two days of giving birth, post-natal care for newborns (PNCM) within two days of birth, immunization, age-appropriate breastfeeding, and maternal current use of modern family planning (FP) methods. Only 18.1% of Bangladeshi women completed all seven MNCH care interventions during the reproductive life span. Participants in the high SES group were 2.30 times (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.61–3.28) more likely than those in the low SES group to have higher composite care index (CCI) scores. Women with secondary or higher secondary education, as well as women who were exposed to mass media at least once a week, women who lived in an urban setting, women who had an intended pregnancy, and women with one parity, are associated with high CCI scores when other sociodemographic variables are considered. The complete CoC for MNCH reveals an extremely low completion rate, which may suggest that Bangladeshi mothers, newborns, and children are not receiving the most out of their present health care. Participants in the high SES group displayed higher CCI values than those in the low SES group, indicating that SES is one of the primary drivers of completion of CoC for MNCH services.

Background: Menstruation is one of the natural changes that occur in female in her normal life. Though it is a natural phenomenon, most of the adolescent girls have some wrong beliefs and behavior regarding menstruation.Objective: To assess knowledge on menstruation among adolescence school girls in a selected area of Dhaka City.Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among conveniently selected 240 adolescent girls. A pre-tested modified questionnaire was used to get data by face to face interview. Knowledge level was determined by predefined scoring.Results: Mean age of respondents was 15.46 + 1.17 years. Mean monthly family income of respondents was 22500±4256 BDT. Majority of the respondents (88%) did not have knowledge about menstruation before the onset of their menarche. Most of the respondents (88%) were not mentally prepared for the first period. About 5.6% of the respondents felt good or normal during menstruation followed by 51%, 39.4% and 4% had uncomfortable, afraid and disgusting feeling respectively. Majority of the respondents (44%) knew about menstruation from TV.Conclusion: Most of the respondents had poor knowledge/no knowledge about menstruation.Chatt  Shi Hosp Med Coll J; Vol.15 (1); Jan 2016; Page 31-34

for a period of one year and six months starting from July 2012 to December 2013. The main objective of the study was to determine the serum ascitic fluid albumin concentration gradient in children with chronic liver disease and nephrotic syndrome. A total of 55 children were studied. Among them, 31 children with chronic liver disease with ascites were designated as Group I and rest 24 nephrotic syndrome children with ascites were designated as group II. The mean age of the children was 8.3±3.6 years ranging from 1.0-15.0 years. The mean age of the male patient was 8.0±3.6 years and that of female patients was 9.3±3.5 years. No statistically significant mean age difference was found between male and female patients (p>0.05), although female patients had a bit higher mean age than male patients. The mean age of the group I patients was 9.2±3.7 years ranging from 1.0-14.0 years and group II patients was 7.2±3.2 ranging from 2.0 to 15.0 years and the mean age difference between two groups patients was statistically significant (p<0.05) indicated that patients with chronic liver disease had higher age than patients with nephrotic syndrome. Chronic liver diseases patients where liver biopsy could not be performed to ascertain the exact nature of the disease were labeled as unclassified chronic liver disease. The aetiology of chronic liver diseases of the group I patients. Out of 31 patients, highest percentage of patients were of unknown etiology 17 (54.9%) followed by hepatitis B virus 7 (22.6%) and Wilson's disease 5 (16.1%). It was evident that 24 (77.4%) had serum bilirubin >1.2 mg/dl, serum ALT >40 IU/L was 25 (80.6%), prothrombin time more than 3 second than control 23 (74.2%) and serum albumin less than 3.5 mg/dl was 24 (77.4%). The mean serum albumin was 2.8±0.5 mg/dl in group I patients and 1.7±0.4 mg/dl in group II patients. The albumin in ascitic fluid was 1.2±0.4 mg/dl in group I patients and 0.9±0.3 mg/dl in group II patients. Similarly, serum-ascites albumin gradient was 1.6±0.5 in group I and 0.8±0.2 in group II. It was evident that mean serum albumin, ascetic albumin as well as serumascites albumin gradient was significantly higher among the group I patients compared to group II patients (p<0.001).

Background: Healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth measures the standard of living anticipated. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the main global risk factors for HALE at birth. Methodology: The data of 212 countries have been extracted from the data hub of World Health Organization, Worldometer, World Bank, and United Nations. The HALE at birth was considered as the dependent variable and the death rate due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19), recovery rate from COVID 19, tuberculosis (TB) incidence, universal health coverage (UHC) service index, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption rate, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rate, average household size, gross domestic product (GDP), and current health expenditure were considered as the independent variables. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression model were used as the statistical tools to analyze the data. Results: The study results revealed that the HALE is found lowest in Central African Republic (44.9 years) and highest in Singapore (76.2 years). On the other hand, the death rate due to COVID 19 is found highest in Nicaragua (32.0%). In case of the recovery rate from COVID 19, the lowest value is seen in Tajikistan (0.0). Again, the lowest UHC service index is found in Montserrat (0.0). Alcohol consumption rate is found highest in Moldova Republic (15.20). In case of HIV prevalence rate, the highest value is seen in Eswatini (27.30). Average household size is seen highest in Senegal (8.30). The recovery rate from COVID 19, UHC service index, GDP, current health expenditure TB incidence, tobacco smoking, HIV prevalence rate and average household size were significantly correlated with the HALE at birth. Again, the multiple linear regression model identified the UHC service index, alcohol consumption rate, HIV prevalence rate and average household size as the significant factors which are responsible for the variation in HALE at birth worldwide. Conclusion: The UHC service index, alcohol consumption rate, HIV prevalence rate and average household size are the most associate factors of HALE at birth globally. Bangladesh Journal of Infectious Diseases, December 2022;9(2):59-68