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Introduction: World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020, due to the constantly increasing number of cases outside China. Previously, India had global record of highest single day spike of Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) cases, with 97,894 cases on 17thSeptember 2020. Aim: To find out the demographic and clinical characteristics of critically ill patients of SARS-CoV-2 and comparing the outcomes of patients admitted in COVID dedicated Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with and without co-morbidities and also in different age groups and sex. Material and Methods: This retrospective study from July 2020 to December 2020 was a single centre observational experience of management of COVID-19 patients at COVID dedicated ICU in Firozabad, India. The following data were recorded: age, sex, comorbidities and mode of oxygen delivery (invasive mechanical ventilation, non-invasive mechanical ventilation, high flow nasal canula). Chi-square test was used to compare the outcomes of patients admitted in COVID dedicated ICU with and without co-morbidities and also in different age groups and sex. Results: In this study, the data of 120 severely ill COVID-19 patients were reviewed. The mean age of patients were (58±15.29) years and male to female ratio was 3:1. At least one comorbid condition was reported in 53.3% of patients-most common being Hypertension (36.6%) followed by Diabetes mellitus 2 (20%), COPD (15%). Then Cardiovascular Diseases, Renal, Liver diseases and ailments followed. All patients admitted to COVID ICU had moderate to severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Older age (61 years and above, mortality 17%), male sex (16.7% deaths among 90 critically ill male COVID patients) and presence of comorbid conditions appear to have higher mortality in this study. However apart from comorbid conditions (p=0.001) none was statistically significant. The overall mortality in this study of 120 critically ill COVID patients was 14.16%. Conclusion: From this study, it can be suggested that survival of critically ill COVID patients can further be improved by better management of their comorbid conditions and avoiding complications of invasive ventilation. However, further multicentric studies with large sample size are needed to confirm these findings.

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Introduction: Hearing is essential to learn language and speech and to develop cognitive skills. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), world-wide approximately 350 million people have hearing disorder. The performance of some moderately severe hearing-impaired adults and children using hearing aids is poorer than that of even profoundly hearing-impaired individuals using cochlear implants with advanced speech processing strategies. Aim: To find out the appropriate candidates in need of cochlear implantation in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on hearing impaired patients attending Ear Nose Throat (ENT) Out Patient Department (OPD) of tertiary health care center in Prayagraj Uttar Pradesh from August 2011 to July 2012. The study population consisted of 95 patients categorised into four groups (pre-lingual children and adults, post-lingual children and adults) who presented with the chief complaints of impaired hearing and delayed speech. A detailed history, clinical and other relevant systemic examination and investigations were done. Patients were subjected to free field audiometry, pure tone audiometry and Brainstem-Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA) for assessment of hearing threshold level. Patients used hearing aid for six months and after hearing aid use, their hearing threshold and speech discrimination scores were estimated. Patients, whose aided score on open-set sentence test was less than 50%, were selected as candidate for cochlear implants, as they were not significantly benefited by hearing aids. Results: Out of the 95 cases, 48 were found to be suitable for cochlear implantation, which formed 50.5% of the study group. Pre-lingual hearing impaired adults had the highest percentage i.e., 86.7%, fulfilling the criteria for cochlear implantation followed by pre-lingual children, in whom 46.7% fell in this category. A 26.7% of postlingual children and 20% of postlingual adults were found suitable for cochlear implantation. Conclusion: The pre-lingual hearing impaired children and adults are more in need for cochlear implantation than the postlingual hearing-impaired children and adults. Approximately, 134,501 cases were estimated to be, in need of cochlear implantation in Prayagraj district based on the census estimate of 2011.