Journal of Community Health Research
Volume:13 Issue: 1, Jan-Mar 2024

Anemia during pregnancy is an important public health problem, in developing countries. This community based study was conducted in Northeast India to study the prevalence of anemia along with the associated socioeconomic factors.

The present one-year cross sectional study was carried out in the selected villages under Lahowal Block of Dibrugarh District and the relevant data was collected in a pre-designed and pre-tested proforma by house to house interviews. The sample size was calculated 310. Clinical examination was done and haemoglobin estimation was performed using Sahli’s acid hematin method. Data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel using percentage, range, t-test and ANOVA; wherever applicable. A significance level of 5% was taken with 95% confidence interval

Anemia was seen in 89.68% of the subjects. The highest mean hemoglobin (Hb) level was observed in the 1st trimester subjects (9.14 gm/dl), while the lowest mean Hb-level was observed in the 3rd trimester subjects (8.90 gm/dl). A significant difference was observed between the mean Hb-levels of the study subjects belonging to nuclear families and joint families, subjects belonging to different socio-economic status, different levels of education, different professions, those consuming tobacco and those not consuming tobacco, and those consuming betel nut and not consuming betel nut.

There was a high prevalence of anemia in pregnancy which was related to the socioeconomic status, occupational status, level of education, type of family, and personal habits in these women.

Among non-communicable diseases, myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke are the most common cause of death in the world. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between risk level and preventive behaviors of heart in people aged 30 to 60 years of Jiroft city in 2022.

This research was a cross-sectional study. The population under study is 383 middle-aged individuals (30-60 year) of Jiroft city with the combined sampling method. The data collection tools was reseacher made, included demographic questions, risk perception questionnaires, and preventive behavior questions for MI and stroke. Information was analyzed by SPSSv21 software and further analyzed with descriptive statistics tests, chi-square test, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation test at level 0.05.

The participants' average age was 41.26 ± 8.32 years. The highest percentage (51.4%) of middle-aged individuals had a risk level between 10 and 20% for cardiovascular diseases. The study investigated a significant correlation (p < 0.01) between risk level, risk perception, and preventive behaviors for MI and stroke. Smoking and physical activity failed to reveal a significant correlation (p > 0.05), but other dimensions of preventive behaviors correlated positively and significantly with the total score of preventive behaviors (p < 0.01).

According to study findings, risk perception plays a significant role in influencing preventive behaviors for MI and stroke. It is recommended to conduct educational interventions to enhance understanding of the actual risk of MI and stroke, particularly among individuals with a high-risk assessment level. This would encourage the adoption of preventive behaviors in this population.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, in some countries, mandatory vaccination programs were put to practice. However, there were widespread opposition against vaccination, which is investigated in this research.

This was a descriptive-analytical research and data collection was conducted by referring to documents, books and articles in library.

With the emergence of corona virus in the world and the need to end this dangerous pandemic, various countries, including Iran's legal system, decided to implement "compulsory vaccination" mechanisms. The findings of this study indicated that the government from the perspective of various schools (even the school of individual originality) was not only allowed to legislate rules to make vaccination obligatory, but also it was expected to enact appropriate laws to create public safety.

According to the principles of Islamic jurisprudence and law, including the priority of collective interests over the individual, the rule of no harm, and the authority of the Supreme Leader, the government is not only authorized but also obliged to enact laws for making vaccination obligatory.

The practice of breastfeeding is vital in child nutrition and morbidity. The authors aimed to determine breastfeeding practices and factors related to Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) among mothers with children aged six months to 2 years in an urban area of Thrissur district, Kerala, India.

This was a community-based and cross-sectional study conducted on 339 mothers using cluster sampling in 2016 for one year in the urban area of Thrissur district, Kerala. Details regarding sociodemographic factors, obstetric history, child-related data and breastfeeding practices were collected from mothers using a pretested and semi-structured questionnaire. Analyses were done using SPSS16 and Epi Info 7.

The mean age of study population was 27.21 ± 4.27. 223 mothers (65.78 %, 95% CI = 60.43-70.77) initiated breastfeeding within 1 hour, and prelacteal feeding was observed in 25 cases (7.37%, 95% CI = 4.92-10.83). 99.71% practiced feeding on demand, and 30.97% (95% CI = 26.15- 36.24) of children were exclusively breastfed up to 6 months with mean duration of 3.95± 1.79 months. The mean age at which complementary feeding started was 4.83 ± 1.32 months. Cultural beliefs, mothers' employment, and problems during breastfeeding were significant predictors of EBF for up to 6months.

Despite high educational status and good antenatal care among the study population, breastfeeding practices were not carried out at the recommended level. Breastfeeding was initiated within 1 hour of delivery by 2/3rd ,and  1/3rd of the children were exclusively breastfed up to 6 months. Cultural beliefs and mothers' employment were factors associated with EBF.

Patients' education is a key factor in patients' care. The purpose of this study is to design a protocol for a convergent parallel mixed methods study to explore the experiences of patients about their received educations based on andragogy model.

This convergent parallel mixed method study includes two parallel quantitative and qualitative phases. During the quantitative phase, a cross-sectional survey will be conducted on 350 adult patients who had the history of hospitalization and received patient education from selected hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Sampling method will be random, and data collection tool will be a researcher-made questionnaire based on the principles of andragogy. The questionnaire’s validity and reliability are also measured, and data will be analyzed using SPSS 16. The qualitative phase will be conducted on adult patients who will be recruited purposively with maximum variation from the selected hospitals. Data will be gathered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed by directed content analysis. With regard to mixed method and using aligning convergence method, the results of the two sets of data will be compared or merged to see if the findings confirm or disconfirm each other. In this parallel section, the similarities between quantitative and qualitative results for assessing patient education are discussed and adapted to suit each other based on andragogy.

The findings of this study will provide information regarding defects in patient education, suggesting that the principles of andragogy will develop patient education programs.

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is regarded as one of the most frequent and costly conditions which can affect patients’ quality of life. The current study aims to investigate changes in quality of life among patients with CLBP.

Prospective observational study was performed from December 2021 to February 2022 in Baharan, Sina and Asadabadi traditional medicine clinics, Tabriz, Iran. Patients were recruited using a convenience sampling method, who were aged 20 years or older and had low back pain symptoms for 12 weeks or more.  Data were collected at baseline, one month and two month follow-up by interviewing the patients. The study tool was Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaire.

Out of 210 participants, 62.4% (131) were female. The change in mean score of life quality at the baseline, one- month and two-month follow-up was 23.76, 35.08 and 40.11, respectively (P = 0.0001).There were significant changes in all eight dimensions of life quality (P = 0.0001).  Additionally, younger Patients (50 ≥) had 1.35 scores of life quality higher than older patients (P = 0.021). Retired, self-employed, housewife and unemployed patients had 6.41, 4.68, 4.18 and 5.38 scores of quality of life lower than office workers, subsequently (P = 0.001). Furthermore, illiterate patients, patients with primary and high school educations had 5.76, 2.61 and 1.33 scores of quality of life less than patients with university degree (p < 0.05).

ITM treatment method could contain several effects on the dimensions of quality of life among patients with CLBP. More detailed investigation is required to achieve greater accuracy.