BACKGROUND: India is all set to begin vaccination against COVID-19. A good number of people are falling prey to anti-vaccination campaigns, and therefore, some amount of vaccine hesitancy must have developed. The primary objective of the study was to find the level of potential COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Kashmiri population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the valley of Kashmir. A predesigned questionnaire was shared online. The participation of respondents was voluntary. Exclusions were made on account of residence outside Kashmir valley, duplicate forms, and wrong information. The data were entered into Microsoft Excel 2010 and analyzed using SPSS version 23. RESULTS: A total of 487 respondents were included. About 67% of the participants were in the age group of ≤30 years, 55% female, 54% rural, and 16% had ever been COVID-19 positive. About 14% of the participants were completely hesitant about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 40% were unsure if they will accept the vaccination. The main reason for the total nonacceptance of the vaccine was the doubts about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines (67%). Urban people were more likely to be hesitant to the vaccine than rural people (odds ratio [OR] 1.845, confidence interval CI 1.022 to 3.333). Those who were ever COVID-19 positive were 3.3 times more likely to say “no” to COVID-19 vaccination than those who were never positive. CONCLUSION: Strategic steps must be taken to minimize the vaccine hesitancy associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Authorities should direct efforts toward vaccine education, creating awareness among people about the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.
Background: According to world health organization (WHO), exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months of life is vital for optimal growth and development of a child. During this period, other liquids or breastfeeding substitutes should not be given to infants except for medicine or oral rehydration solution. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the child health clinic of the department of community medicine, SKIMS. The study participants were mothers accompanying their infants coming for immunisation at the child health centre. A semi-structured, questionnaire was used to interview the mothers regarding breast feeding practices of their infants. The data was entered in Microsoft excel 2010 and analysed using SPSS Version 20. Results: The prevalence of EBF was 38.7%. Mixed feeding was received by 54% and 7.3% were formula-fed. Variables that were significantly associated with EBF include residence and mother’s education. Infants from rural area were more likely to be exclusively breastfed compared to those from urban area (OR=0.365; 95% CI=0.166-0.802; p=0.012). Mothers with up to 9 years of formal education were more likely to exclusively breastfed their children than those with more than 9 years of formal education (OR=0.300;95% CI=0.121-0.744, p=0.009). Conclusions: To ensure that the rate of EBF among the mothers is increased, all the stakeholders (spouse, family and government) as well as the people at work place must play their part to the best extent.
Background: The present study was planned to find out socio-economic coordinates and morbidity profile of the inhabitants of a peri-urban area of Srinagar district- urban field practice area of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). Methods: A cross-sectional community-based house to house study of Anchar area (peri-urban) was conducted for a period of six months. Out of six localities/mohallas of anchar, three localities/mohallas representing the core area and comprising the major chunk of population were purposively selected for the study. All the households of the selected localities were included in the study. Results: The inhabitants of area are moderately positioned on socio-economic scale. The area lacks an adequate liquid waste disposal system. The prevalence of tobacco use was found to be 30.61%. 10.94% of the total population was found to be morbid. Most common morbidities found were hypertension (5.15%) followed by diabetes (1.41%), hypothyroidism (1.23%) and cardiovascular disease (0.82%). Conclusions: Life style diseases are preponderate among the study population. Sustained and regular health check-ups ought to be carried out with a special focus on awareness and education.
Background: Adverse events following immunization (AEFI) is an event of unexpected medical emergency occurring after vaccination without any causal association with vaccination. It can be any unintended, abnormal laboratory finding or anything. The present study was conducted to evaluate the incidence and severity of AEFI associated with the COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: All the beneficiaries who had received two doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccine from SKIMS Soura and provided consent were included in this prospective study. Each beneficiary was contacted telephonically. A self- designed questionnaire was used to interview them. The beneficiaries were contacted twice. The data was entered into and analysed using SPSS version 20. Results: A total of 267 participants (52.3%) reported at least one of the AEFI following Covaxin vaccine. It was found that participants with AEFIs following the first dose had more chances to develop them following its second dose and this difference was found to be statistically significant (OR=6.8, p=0.0001). A total of 670 participants (38.0%) reported at least one of the AEFI following Covishield vaccine. The incidence of AEFIs was more after the first dose (31.6%) than that of the second dose (6.4%) and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Most of the AEFI are minor and can be managed symptomatically. Therefore, these AEFIs should not be a hurdle for vaccination.
Background: Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is a significant cause of morbidity among pregnant females and also affects the foetal outcome. Numerous risk factors have been identified. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of PIH and the factors associated with PIH. Methods: This was a cross-sectional hospital-based study. Pregnant women admitted for delivery in the gynaecology and obstetrics department of SKIMS Soura formed the study participants. Patients with chronic hypertension were excluded. A minimum sample size of 295 was calculated but finally a sample of 402 was achieved. The data was collected over a 3-month period from July to September 2021 using convenient sampling. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed using IBM SPSS version 23. Results: A total of 402 pregnant women were included. Majority (61%) of the participants were up to 30 years of age, majority (97.8%) were up to para 3 and 89% were literate. The prevalence of PIH was 6.5%. Hypertension was more frequent among the women with age more than 30 years (p=0.041) and women with higher pre-pregnancy BMI (p=0.010). Maternal education, occupation and parity were not associated with hypertension in pregnancy. Conclusions: In our study older women and women with higher body mass index (BMI) were more at risk of having PIH in pregnancy. Therefore, we would recommend earlier age at marriage and lifestyle modification for maintaining normal BMI.
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