Background The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a major threat to the world. The preventive strategies designed to minimize the virus transmission by remaining at home, being isolated, and keeping social distance, which would substantially reform people’s lifestyle, physical activity, eating habits, etc. Consequently, those measures might create a disturbance in weight management and overweight. Therefore, how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the physical activities of individuals and its impacts on the Body Mass Index (BMI) is explored herein. Methods An online-based cross-sectional study collected data from 338 Bangladeshi adults in November 2020. The questionnaire included socio-demographics, health-related variables, physical activity-related variables, and diet measurement. Inferential statistics (i.e., chi-square test, McNemar test) were used to measure the associations between BMI and studied variables with a consideration of two scenarios (‘before’ and ‘during’ the pandemic inception), where p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Results showed that the prevalence of overweight was 30.5% ‘before’ the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased to 34.9% ‘during’ the pandemic; that means 4.4% of the participants significantly gained weight after the pandemic inception. There was no significant role of socio-demographic (e.g., gender, age, current residence, occupation) or physical activity-related factors (e.g., unavailability of outdoor space, not performing regular physical exercise, exercising with a partner) in changing the BMI status after the pandemic inception. However, following a proper diet plan during the COVID-19 pandemic was observed to decrease BMI status significantly. Conclusions The present study suggests that a minor portion of the participants reported increasing their overweight status after the pandemic inception, whereas having a proper diet plan during the pandemic can significantly decrease BMI status. Therefore, the importance of the appropriate diet plan should be considered while implementing any policies.

Background: A very common medical condition during pregnancy is Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) which has become a global health concern, not only for its higher prevalence, but also because it can be a predisposing factor for type 2 DM and causes other increased health risk for both mother and their offspring in later life.Objective: The objective of the study was to compare knowledge of GDM including source of knowledge, treatment, awareness about GDM and impact of GDM on the baby among mothers with GDM and healthy pregnant mothers.Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted in Cumilla city from May to October 2016. Eighty-nine participants attending the outpatient department of two hospitals and one antenatal clinic in Cumilla city were selected. A structured questionnaire and in-depth interview method was used to obtain data.Result: Significant difference has been found in knowledge between GDM patients and normal pregnant women regarding source of knowledge (p=0.01), treatment of GDM (p=0.000), risk factors of GDM (p=0.01), problems in managing GDM (p=0.003), nutrition maintenance (p=0.006) and physical exercise (p=0.000). No significant difference has been found in GDM awareness (p=0.83) and its impact on the baby (p=0.28) in two groups. Awareness of GDM is found to be associated with higher education (p=0.000), meal plan (p=0.03) and maintaining nutrition (p=0.01).Conclusion: Knowledge about GDM is poor among pregnant women, especially among normal pregnant women.Journal of Science Foundation 2018;16(1):20-26

The coronavirus disease - 2019 (COVID-19) is a multisystem illness associated with several metabolic derangements. Studies report that post-acute COVID-19 syndromes (PACs) continue to evolve, however, polyphagia is not uncommon. Herein, we report a rare occurrence of polyphagia in a patient following acute COVID-19 illness. A-41-year-old Ugandan female with a negative past medical history presented with complains of excessive appetite, eating large amounts of food, inability to feel satisfied, failure to control desire to eat, and weight gain 6 months following recovery from a mild episode of acute COVID-19 pneumonia. Her body mass index rose to 30 Kg/m 2 from 22 Kg/m 2 prior to suffering from COVID-19. There was no history of polyuria, polydipsia, pruritus, or prior eating disorder or related history. Investigation found that brain computed tomography scan was normal, fasting blood sugar to be 5.6 mmol/L (normal range, 3.9–7.0 mmol/L), adrenocorticotropin hormone level to be 8.763 pg/mL (normal range, 6–40 pg/mL), erythrocyte sedimentation rate to be 12 mm/hour (0–30 mm/hour), but there was an elevation in glycosylated hemoglobin level (HbA 1c, 7.7%). She was commenced on psychotherapy and behavioral changes with good outcomes. Polyphagia may be one of the rare PACs, requiring further research.

BackgroundA group of 63708 Bangladeshi adults from a rural area were screened in 2011–12 for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk using a questionnaire based tool developed as part of the ‘WHO CVD-RISK Management Package for low-and medium resource setting’. In the current study participants who were found to be high risk and a sample of the not high risk participants from the screening were further characterized clinically and biochemically to explore the burden and determinants of CVD risk factors in a remote rural Bangladeshi population.MethodsThe high risk participants comprised all 1170 subjects who screened positive in 2011–12 and the not high risk group comprised 563 randomly sampled participants from the 62538 who screened negative. Socio-demographic, behavioral, anthropometric, clinical and biochemical data (glucose and lipids) were collected by standardized procedures. Body Mass Index (BMI) was classified following Asian BMI criteria. Data was analyzed using univariable and multivariable methods.ResultsOn univariable analysis in high risk and not high risk participants respectively, age in years (M ± SD) was 50 ± 11 for both groups, ratio of male: female was 40:60 and 66:44, current smoking 28.5 % and 50.6 %; smokeless tobacco use 37.1 % and 34.8 %; overweight and obesity measured by body mass index (BMI) was 39.1 % and 20.5 %; high waist circumference (WC) 36.1 % and 11.9 %; high waist to hip ratio (WHR) 53.8 % and 26.3 %; and with high waist to height ratio (WHtR) 56.4 % and 28.4 %, existence of hypertension (HTN) was 15.8 % and 3.6 %, pre-HTN 43.8 % and 12.1 %, diabetes (DM) 14.0 % and 10.5 %, pre-DM 16.9 % and 12.1 % and dyslipidaemia 85.8 % and 89.5 %. In multivariable logistic regression analysis female sex, BMI, WC, WHR and WHtR, HTN and dyslipidaemia remain significantly more common among high risk participants (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe prevalence of clinical and biochemical risk factors of CVDs are quite high even in this rural population and this may be related to the socioeconomic and cultural transition in Bangladeshi society. Surprisingly more of the high risk group was female and there were fewer smokers. Obesity and hypertension were more frequent in high risk participants.

Background: A very common medical condition during pregnancy is Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) which has become a global health concern, not only for its higher prevalence, but also because it can be a predisposing factor for type 2 DM and causes other increased health risk for both mother and their offspring in later life. Objective: The objective of the study was to compare knowledge of GDM including source of knowledge, treatment, awareness about GDM and impact of GDM on the baby among mothers with GDM and healthy pregnant mothers. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted in Cumilla city from May to October 2016. Eighty-nine participants attending the outpatient department of two hospitals and one antenatal clinic in Cumilla city were selected. A structured questionnaire and in-depth interview method was used to obtain data. Result: Significant difference has been found in knowledge between GDM patients and normal pregnant women regarding source of knowledge (p=0.01), treatment of GDM (p=0.000), risk factors of GDM (p=0.01), problems in managing GDM (p=0.003), nutrition maintenance (p=0.006) and physical exercise (p=0.000). No significant difference has been found in GDM awareness (p=0.83) and its impact on the baby (p=0.28) in two groups. Awareness of GDM is found to be associated with higher education (p=0.000), family history of DM (p=0.05), meal plan (p=0.03) and maintaining nutrition (p=0.01). Conclusion: Knowledge about GDM is poor among pregnant women, especially among normal pregnant women. Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research 2019;6(1):32-37