BACKGROUNDAgeing is a natural process. By 2020, the number of people aged 60 years and older will outnumber children younger than 5 years in the entire world. This natural phenomenon of population ageing is rampant in developing countries like India while data and studies regarding health conditions and prevalence of multimorbidity is lacking.

Background:Obesity is a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths.Objectives:To find the prevalence and risk factors for obesity in women aged 20-60 years in Ludhiana city.Methods:The present study is a community based cross sectional study carried out in an urban area of Ludhiana among women aged 20-60 years. Among the study population of 324 women, a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to record the socio-demographic and anthropometric profile of women. Chi square test and logistic regression was used to find the association of obesity and hypertension with socio-demographic variables.Results:The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12.7% and 29.6% respectively. Obesity was found to be more common among middle-aged Punjabi housewives belonging to upper socio-economic strata. There was strong association between overweight/obesity and hypertension.

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Background: Infant and young child feeding practices directly affect the nutritional status of children under two years of age and, ultimately, impact child survival. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the WHO infant and child feeding indicators in a rural area of Ludhiana, Punjab, India. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in fifteen villages of Ludhiana district under rural health training centre of Department of Community Medicine, Dayan and Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. The data was obtained from mothers/primary caregivers of 813 living children 0-23 months of age group and information about seven core and three optional WHO infant and young child feeding indicators was collected using WHO questionnaire. Prevalence estimates with 95% confidence interval were calculated. A Χ2 test and Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% CI was calculated wherever required. Results: Only 56.7% of infants were put to breast within one hour of birth, while three fourths of infants younger than 6 months were exclusively breastfed. About seventy percent of children aged 12-15 months and 54.7% of children 20-23 months continued breastfeeding at 1 & 2 years respectively. Almost all the children born in the last 23 months were ever breastfed. Nearly ninety percent of infants 6-8 months of age were fed with complimentary foods at the recommended daily frequency. Conclusion: To improve breastfeeding practices, health education needs to be strengthened for target population having sub-optimal breastfeeding indicators.   DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v6i6.12067Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.6(6) 2015 60-65

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are leading cause of non communicable deaths in India. CVD risk prediction charts by World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) are designed for implementing timely preventive measures. The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of CVD risk parameters and to estimate total CVD risk among adults aged ≥40 years, using the WHO/ISH risk charts alone and also to assess the effect of the inclusion of additional criteria on CVD risk.Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in fifteen villages of Ludhiana district under rural health training centre of Department of Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. Desired information was obtained using WHO STEPS survey (STEP wise approach to surveillance) from 324 adults aged ≥40 years. Anthropometric, clinical and laboratory measurements were also performed. WHO/ISH risk prediction chart for South East Asian region (SEAR-D) was used to assess the cardiovascular risk among the subjects.Results: WHO/ISH risk prediction charts identified 16.0% of the subjects with high risk (≥20%) of developing a cardiovascular event. The study population showed higher prevalence of physical inactivity, obesity, abdominal obesity, hypertension and diabetes. Amongst high risk CVD group, maximum prevalence was of hypertension and high perceived stress level. However, the proportion of high CVD risk (≥20%) increased to 33.6% when subjects with blood pressure ≥160/100 mmHg and /or on hypertension medication were added as high risk.Conclusions: A substantial proportion of this community is at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.