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Background: India has seen more than 43 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of April 2022, with a recovery rate of 98.8%, resulting in a large section of the population including the healthcare workers (HCWs), susceptible to develop post COVID sequelae. This study was carried out to assess the nature and prevalence of medical sequelae following COVID-19 infection, and risk factors, if any. Methods: This was an observational, multicenter cross-sectional study conducted at eight tertiary care centers. The consenting participants were HCWs between 12 and 52 weeks post discharge after COVID-19 infection. Data on demographics, medical history, clinical features of COVID-19 and various symptoms of COVID sequelae was collected through specific questionnaire. Finding: Mean age of the 679 eligible participants was 31.49 ± 9.54 years. The overall prevalence of COVID sequelae was 30.34%, with fatigue (11.5%) being the most common followed by insomnia (8.5%), difficulty in breathing during activity (6%) and pain in joints (5%). The odds of having any sequelae were significantly higher among participants who had moderate to severe COVID-19 (OR 6.51; 95% CI 3.46-12.23) and lower among males (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.39-0.76). Besides these, other predictors for having sequelae were age (≥45 years), presence of any comorbidity (especially hypertension and asthma), category of HCW (non-doctors vs doctors) and hospitalisation due to COVID-19. Interpretation: Approximately one-third of the participants experienced COVID sequelae. Severity of COVID illness, female gender, advanced age, co-morbidity were significant risk factors for COVID sequelae. Funding: This work is a part of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)- Rational Use of Medicines network. No additional financial support was received from ICMR to carry out the work, for study materials, medical writing, and APC.
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BACKGROUND: In today's world, the mass media plays an important role, and it can provide a unified platform for all public health communication, comprehensive healthcare education, and guidelines. As a result, we investigated the various types of general health and oral health messages and advertisements broadcast through various forms of mass media. OBJECTIVE: The main objective is to identify & analyze the health & oral-health related dialogue and messages with the content of the mass media. METHOD: ology: Content analysis of general health and oral health-related advertisements was done in various media, like the print media (magazines & newspapers), television (audio-visual) and radio stations (audio). The data was collected by an independent investigator, like prime time, advertisements, articles, and public service announcements (PSAs), etc., and the observations were recorded for subsequent analysis. RESULTS: Only n â= â753 incidents of health n â= â663 (88.1%) and oral health n â= â90 (11.9%) were reported during the study period, out of 6180 pages of published print media and 200 âh of prime-time broadcast channel & station advertisements, respectively. There are n â= â506 incidents in the print media, implying that health n â= â481 (95.1%) and oral health n â= â25 (4.9%) are, respectively. Compared to other media, audio-visual media, n â= â229, show 26.7% of incidents of oral health information (n 58), while 73.3% of incidents are of general health information (n 171). Only 38.9% of oral health incidents (n â= â7) were broadcast during prime time. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study may help promoters, policymakers, public health providers, and other stakeholders, to be more precise about general or oral health-related information to be effective in the messages the mass media have been utilizing and in improving future health.
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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: There is a paucity of data on the management of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in patients with Coronavirus disease -2019 (COVID-19) amid concerns about the risk of transmission during endoscopic procedures. We aimed to study the outcomes of conservative treatment for GI bleeding in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, 24 of 1342 (1.8%) patients with COVID-19, presenting with GI bleeding from 22nd April to 22nd July 2020, were included. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 45.8 ± 12.7 years; 17 (70.8%) were males; upper GI (UGI) bleeding: lower GI (LGI) 23:1. Twenty-two (91.6%) patients had evidence of cirrhosis- 21 presented with UGI bleeding while one had bleeding from hemorrhoids. Two patients without cirrhosis were presumed to have non-variceal bleeding. The medical therapy for UGI bleeding included vasoconstrictors-somatostatin in 17 (73.9%) and terlipressin in 4 (17.4%) patients. All patients with UGI bleeding received proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics. Packed red blood cells (PRBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFPs) and platelets were transfused in 14 (60.9%), 3 (13.0%) and 3 (13.0%), respectively. The median PRBCs transfused was 1 (0-3) unit(s). The initial control of UGI bleeding was achieved in all 23 patients and none required an emergency endoscopy. At 5-day follow-up, none rebled or died. Two patients later rebled, one had intermittent bleed due to gastric antral vascular ectasia, while another had rebleed 19 days after discharge. Three (12.5%) cirrhosis patients succumbed to acute hypoxemic respiratory failure during hospital stay. CONCLUSION: Conservative management strategies including pharmacotherapy, restrictive transfusion strategy, and close hemodynamic monitoring can successfully manage GI bleeding in COVID-19 patients and reduce need for urgent endoscopy. The decision for proceeding with endoscopy should be taken by a multidisciplinary team after consideration of the patient's condition, response to treatment, resources and the risks involved, on a case to case basis.
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BACKGROUND: The selection of a low-risk blood donor involves a dialogue between the trained medical staff and the volunteer blood donor, and this is where the knowledge of the prospective blood donor with regard to the risk factors for acquiring hepatitis B and C and the mode of spread through a blood transfusion is of utmost importance. Therefore, the study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude on hepatitis B and C with regard to blood donation, in the existing and the potential donor base. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 4000 participants, including 2000 blood donors and 2000 nondonors. The study tool was a pilot-tested, self-administered questionnaire, content and construct validated using Delphi methodology. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 25.12 ± 8.43 years ranging from 18 to 60 years; 24.64 ± 8.31 years in donors and 25.61 ± 8.55 years in non-donors. The study included 69.8% males and 30.2% females, with 87.5% males and 12.6% females in donors and 52.1% males and 47.9% females in non-donors. Overall knowledge score was 51.02%, being 51.21% in donors and 50.84% in non-donors. Overall attitude score was 47.93%, being 47.09% in donors and 48.77% in non-donors. There was a low degree of significant linear correlation between knowledge and attitude in the study participants. CONCLUSION: Based on the results obtained in the study, it is evident that neither the existing level of knowledge nor the attitude of both donors and nondonors towards hepatitis B and C is adequate for being able to select a low-risk blood donor.
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A growing number of innovative mAb therapeutics are on the global market, and biosimilar versions have now also been approved, including in India. Although efficacy and safety is demonstrated prior to approval, targeted pharmacovigilance is essential for the identification and assessment of risk for any mAb products. We analyzed the ADR data related to mAbs reported to the NCC-PvPI through the spontaneous reporting system Vigiflow during April 2011 to February 2014 to identify mAbs with the highest number of ADR including fatal/serious ADR. Only 0.72% reports were related to mAbs. Although 15 mAbs are approved in the country, only 6 mAbs were reported through Vigiflow. Rituximab was highly reported, and no fatal/serious ADR related to any mAbs were reported during the study period. Our study shows that PvPI is effective and robust system in the detection and assessment of risks associated with the use of mAbs.