Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem. Adherence to anti-diabetic medications improves glycaemic control, which in turn prevents complications as well as reduces out-ofpocket expenditure. The World Health Organization highlights that the impact of interventions directed to improve adherence has far greater implications than specific medical interventions. There are several factors that contribute to poor adherence. Not many studies have been conducted to explore adherence to diabetes medications in eastern India.Objectives: To measure medication adherence among patients suffering from diabetes. To determine the various risk factors influencing adherence to medication. To find out the association of health-related quality of life with adherence to medication.Methodology: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient Department of General Medicine and Endocrinology of a tertiary care hospital in eastern India from January to March 2020. Adult subjects, who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus for at least six months, were interviewed using a pretested, structured questionnaire containing 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) to determine adherence to diabetic medications. Data were analysed in SPSS version 27 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).Results: The mean age of the 331 participants interviewed was 53.40 (SD 11.0) years and the majority were males (57.1%). Medication adherence of 34.14% (n=113) was found among the subjects. Having any comorbidity, positive family history of diabetes and the habit of current alcohol intake increased the odds of poor adherence by 3.26 times, 1.88 times, and 2.35 times respectively in binary logistic regression analysis. Those following a diabetic diet had a protective effect, decreasing poor medication adherence by 79.6%. Poor medication adherence increased by 1.077 times with every one-day increase in unhealthy days. Conclusion:The medication adherence was 34.14% and as compared to other similar studies medication adherence in the study population was poor and was associated with unhealthy days.

BackgroundAdolescent girls are vulnerable to many problems, undernutrition being the most common. This results in growth restriction resulting in stunting, wasting, underweight and last but not the least iron-deficiency anaemia. Nutritional needs are high during puberty which later leads to complications during pregnancy and its outcomes.Materials and methodsA field based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the nutritional status of the girls and to determine the various factors responsible for undernutrition. After clearance from the Institution Ethical Committee (IEC) and permission from Child Development Programme Officer (CDPO), the study was conducted in the anganwadi centres (AWC) of urban slums in the field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine from the 1st October 2014 to the 31st October 2016. All the adolescent girls enlisted in the seven anganwadi centres were included as study subjects with their consent. A pre-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on following sections. (a) socio-demographic profile and (b) nutritional status. Dietary intake was taken using the 24-h recall method. Anthropometry was measured and haemoglobin (Hb) was estimated. SPSS version 21 was used for descriptive and analytic statistics.ResultsAmong the 160 girls 98(61.3%), 69(43.1%), 53(33.1%) were underweight, stunted and wasted, respectively. Anaemia was present among 144(90%) of the girls.ConclusionStrict monitoring of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFS) as well as nutrition education are essential measures to solve the problem of undernutrition among adolescent girls.

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Background: Menarche is a significant milestone in the developmental journey of an adolescent girl about which she should be aware so that she can manage it properly. Poor personal hygiene and unhealthy menstrual practices give rise to repeated reproductive tract infections (RTIs). The Objectives were to assess the knowledge and perception regarding menarche; to study various problems related to menstruation and to evaluate various practices to manage menstruation with special emphasis on hygiene. Methods: Field based cross-sectional study was conducted among students of Class IX of a Government Girls High School in the field practice area of Department of Community Medicine in October 2015 using pre-designed, pretested, semi structured questionnaire. Data thus collected was analysed using appropriate statistics. Results: Menarche was attained by 86% of girls. Of which only 15% were aware about it. Mothers were the source of information for 94% of the girls. Duration of menstrual bleeding lasted normally for 3-4 days among 50% girls. Normal periodicity of cycles of (21-35) days was present in 69% of girls. Exclusively, sanitary napkins and clothes were used by 56% and 31% of the girls respectively. Clothes were reused by 73% of them, out of which 88% sundried after washing. Due to unavailability of soaps and dustbins, only 42% changed their pads or clothes in school. Conclusions: The knowledge and practice about menstruation is not adequate among the adolescent girls. Education of girls and their caretakers about healthy menstrual practices is essential .Schools should be provided with better sanitary facilities.

Context:Breast milk is the first natural food for babies which is adequate for the first six months of life. But practically very few mothers exclusively breast feed their babies as they start complementary food before completion of six months. Inadequate knowledge and practice regarding infant feeding practices can result in various infections of infants such as diarrhoea and pneumonia. Inorder to evaluate the pattern of breastfeeding and weaning and their influencing factors a cross-sectional study was conducted in immunization OPD of M.K.C.G MCH from August-October 2014 (3 months) among 152 mothers attending the immunization OPD using a pre-designed, pretested and semi-structured Odiya questionnaire. Data thus collected was analysed using appropriate statistical tests. Results: Among the 152 mothers who were interviewed , 28(18%) of them had low birth weight babies. Out of the 148 mothers who had breast fed, initiation of breast feeding was done within half an hour by 64(43.2%) of the mothers. Out of them,18 (12.1%) of mothers had given pre-lacteal feeds. Among infants greater than six months, exclusive breast feeding has been done in case of 28(33%) of them . Among the 84 mothers who have weaned their babies before completion of six months, 82(98%) have reasoned insufficient milk. After introduction of outside food ,70(62.5%) infants did not suffer from any problem whereas among the rest 32(61.5%) suffered mostly from diarrhoea. Mothers had adequate knowledge regarding various aspects of infant feeding. Conclusion: Antenatal mothers should be counselled regarding importance of exclusive breast feeding as well as timely introduction of complementary foods along with necessity of hygiene. Working mothers can practice expressed breast feeding as well use the CRECHE to maintain exclusivity of breast feeding.

Aim and objectivesThe infection of microbial agents in cirrhosis has increased due to poor immunity, which increases morbidities and mortalities worldwide. The present study aimed to assess the incidence, the type of infections, the pattern of resistance, and the course of hospitalization among cirrhotic patients in the Eastern coastal region. MethodologyThe study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, and the current study was undertaken for 24 months at the

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Background: Screening for anemia among tribal school children has been a challenge. Objectives: To validate a point-of-care (POC) device (mission ® plus hemoglobinometer) to the gold standard method, spectrophotometry. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: The representative sample of 953 tribal adolescents from the residential schools of Odisha. Methods: Hemoglobin was measured simultaneously by the POC and gold standard method during January to July 2019. The validity of the POC device was measured by sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). The area under the curve was calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Concordance of the POC device with the gold standard method was determined by the Bland–Altman plot. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), precision (⍴), a bias correction factor (C b ), and the concordance correlation coefficient were also calculated. Deming regression analysis was performed, and a linear equation was established. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 13.07 (±1.48) years. The prevalence of anemia was 45.54% by the gold standard method. The sensitivity and specificity of the POC device were 94.9% and 56.1%, respectively. PPV and NPVs were 64.4% and 93.0%, respectively. The area under the ROC curve was found to be 0.856. The ICC was 0.887 (95% confidence interval: 0.872–0.901). Conclusions: Very good reliability/absolute agreement for hemoglobin measurements existed between the POC device and the gold standard method making it suitable as a screening device.