Background:Caregivers of patients with intracranial tumors handle physical, cognitive, and behavioral impairments of patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude of burden experienced by primary caregivers of patients operated for intracranial tumors and evaluate factors influencing it.Methods:Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to assess home-care burden experienced by primary caregivers of patients operated for intracranial tumors. Using purposive sampling, 70 patient-caregiver pairs were enrolled. Modified caregiver strain index (MCSI) was used to assess the caregiver burden. Mini mental status examination (MMSE), Katz index of independence in activities of daily living (ADL), and neuropsychiatric inventory questionnaire (NPI-Q) were used to assess the status of patients.Results:Of 70 caregivers, 45 had mild, and 22 had moderate MCSI burden. A number of behavioral changes in NPI-Q had a significant correlation with MCSI burden (P < 0.001), whereas MMSE and Katz-ADL of patients did not show significant relation with caregiver burden. In NPI-Q, irritability, agitation, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances had a significant impact on MCSI. Among caregiver factors, unemployment, low per capita income, time spent, inability to meet household needs, quitting the job, and health problems had a significant impact on MCSI. In separate multivariate analyses, irritability component (P = 0.004) among behavioral changes of patients and caregivers’ inability to meet household needs (P < 0.001) had a significant association with caregiver burden independent of other factors.Conclusions:Behavioral changes in patients (especially irritability) and financial constraints had a significant independent impact on the burden experienced by primary caregivers of patients operated for intracranial tumors. Identifying and managing, these are essential for reducing caregiver burden.
Background:Rehabilitation is probably one of the most important phases of recovery for many stroke survivors. The current study was conducted with the objective to assess the utilization of rehabilitation services and factors affecting nonutilization of rehabilitation services among the stroke survivors.Materials and Methods:The current study was carried out in the Neuro Outpatient Department of a tertiary care hospital in India. It was a descriptive study. Consecutive 55 stroke survivors who had met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited in this study. Self-structured rehabilitation tool was used to collect the data.Results:Data were analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. Majority of the patients comprised 70.9% of males and 29.1% of females. Among participants, 70.90% were aware about rehabilitation, 67% were utilizing rehabilitation services, whereas 33% were not utilizing rehabilitation services. In the current study, certain reasons were found behind not utilizing rehabilitation services. There were 83.3% of participants who had lack of awareness about rehabilitation services and 61.1% of participants who had no availability of rehabilitation services. Only 45.5% of rural inhabitants were utilizing rehabilitation services as compared to 81.2% of urban inhabitants and 83.23% of suburban inhabitants.Conclusion:Rehabilitation is of utmost importance. Hemiparesis, difficulty in performing activity of daily living, difficulty in performing social activities, and difficulty in reasoning were the most common problems faced by people suffering stroke after discharge from the hospital. There was lack of awareness and utilization of rehabilitation services by patients among Indian stroke population. Hence, health workers have an immense role in educating, motivating, and ensuring that rehabilitation services in rural inhabitants.
Introduction: The Indian Diabetes Risk Score is a tool which was devised by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation to screen people for the risk of developing Diabetes mellitus; it comprises of the family history, the abdominal circumference, age and the physical activity. Aim of the Study:This study was aimed at finding out whether the Indian Diabetes Risk Score (MDRF) correlated with the blood sugar levels, the lipid profile and the blood pressure readings of medical students.Methods: Seventy five female and 75 male students who signed the informed consent were selected for the study. Their IDRS was calculated by using a validated questionnaire which involved the family history, the abdominal circumference, age and the details of the physical activity. All of them had their blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and lipid profiles measured.Results: There were 101 students with an IDRS of <30, 42 students with a moderate IDRS (30-50) and 7 who had a high IDRS of ≥60. The fasting plasma glucose was significantly correlated with the IDRS (P=0.001, r = 0.472), with a mean FPG of 84 ± 3.63mg/dl in the low risk groups, of 88 ± 4.93mg/dl in the moderate risk groups and of 94 ± 6.50mg/dl in the high risk groups. The total cholesterol value was r = 0.420 (P= 0.001), the total triglycerides value was r = 0.373 (P=0.001), the LDL cholesterol value was r = 0.578 (P=0.001) and the VLDL value was r = 0.566 (P=0.001), which positively correlated with the risk score and the HDL value r = -0.480 (P=0.001) correlated negatively with the risk score. There was no correlation between the IDRS and the blood pressure. Conclusion:Our study showed that nearly 40% of the medical students had a moderate to a high IDRS. The IDRS significantly correlated with the fasting plasma glucose and with all the components of the lipid profile. The IDRS did not correlate with the blood pressure readings. INTRODUCTIONDiabetes is one of the major non-communicable diseases of the world and India has the dubious distinction of being the "diabetic capital" of the world. We have 40 million Indians with diabetes this forms the largest diabetic pool in the world [1]. The major threat is that 66% of the population of the Indian diabetic pool is undiagnosed. The rise in diabetes in India can be attributed to the genetic predisposition, the sedentary life-styles and the changing food habits.It has been found that 66% of the Indian diabetes cases are not diagnosed, as compared to 50% in Europe and 33% in the USA. A diabetes risk score will help in devising effective screening strategies to unmask the hidden burden of the disease. The risk factor approach needs aggressive identification for planning prevention strategies and for an early diagnosis. Several diabetes risk scores or risk engines have been devised for prevention programmes in the USA, Scandinavia and in the UK. Mohan et al., from their Chennai Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES) cohort, have developed a single user friendly Indian diabetic risk score [2] (MDRF-IDRS), which takes into consid...
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