Sanjeev Kumar Rasania

The influence of television on urban adolescents of Delhi

Indian Journal of Community Medicine/Vol 39/Issue 1/Jan 2014 Sir, The history of television (TV) can be dated back to early 1960’s when TV first came to India by the name of “Doordarshan” commonly named as “DD,” the so-called national TV network of India. It became an important means of mass media communication channel because of its unique feature of combining both audio as well as video technology. After around 50 years it has entered each and every home thus, serving as an important medium for disseminating information to its viewers. As it serves multiple functions of providing entertainment, information and education, it has a great influence on children’s overall development right from a very early age.(1) On one side it makes children aware of healthy habits, on the other hand, excessive TV watching leads to physical inactivity and consequently increased incidence of obesity.(2) Time spent in watching TV may be utilized in reading, outdoor games, etc. Since, adolescents form the most vulnerable and habitforming stage of life, the present community based cross-sectional study was done on urban adolescents of Delhi.

Wealth index and maternal health care: Revisiting NFHS-3.

The third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) is a large dataset on indicators of family welfare, maternal and child health, and nutrition in India. This article using NFHS-3 data is an attempt to bring out the impact of economic status, i.e., the wealth index on maternal health. The study was based on an analysis of the NFHS-3 data. Independent variables taken were the wealth index, literacy, and age at first child birth. Effects of these variables on the maternal health care services were investigated. Out of the total 124,385 women aged 15-49 years included in the NFHS-3 dataset, 36,850 (29.6%) had one or more childbirth during the past 5 years. The number of antenatal care (ANC) visits increased as the wealth index increased and there was a pattern for choice of place of delivery (for all deliveries during the last 5 years) according to the wealth index. Logistic regression analysis of the abovementioned variables were sought to find out the independent role of key determinants of the different aspects of maternal health care. It showed that the wealth index is the leading key independent determinant for three or more ANC received: Tetanus toxoid (TT) received before delivery, iron tablet/syrup taken for more than 100 days, and institutional delivery. Mothers literacy was the leading independent key determinant for early antenatal registration. The study suggested that along with the mothers literacy, the wealth index that is an important predictor of maternal health care can be added for categorization of the districts for providing differential approach for maternal health care services.

Air pollution and environmental risk factors for altered lung function among adult women of an urban slum area of Delhi: A prevalence study

Background: Household and ambient air pollution are jointly responsible for about 7 million premature deaths annually. Women living in slums, with unhealthy environment, both indoors and outdoors, particularly those living close to industrial and/or vehicular pollution zones due to multiple sources of air pollution, are at the higher risk of having impaired lung function tests. Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abnormal lung functions and to identify the environmental risk factors associated with them among adult women of 18–59 years. Materials and Methods: A total of 550 women aged 18–59 years were approached in a representative urban slum. Five hundred consented to participate and 299 had prebronchodilator spirometry satisfying ATS standards. House visits to assess environmental conditions were conducted to determine their association with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Chi-square test was used to test the association of risk factors with lung functions. ANOVA was used to test the association of mean values of FEV1 and FVC with age. Results: Out of 299 participants with acceptable spirometric curves, 5% had reduced FEV1/FVC ratio than the normal and 26.8% and 17.4% had lower values than predicted for FVC and FEV1, respectively. Altered lung function was related to age, tobacco smoking, and history of respiratory disease. Conclusions: Both ambient and household air pollution have a deleterious pulmonary effect on long-term women residents of a representative urban slum in Delhi.

An epidemiological study on home injuries among children of 0–14 years in South Delhi

Background: Injuries are an important public health problem worldwide, accounting for 5 million deaths, of which unintentional injuries account for 0.8 million deaths in children. Though there are many factors responsible for injury in the home, the environment plays an important role. Objectives: The objectives were to study the magnitude and pattern of home injuries in children aged 0–14 years and to assess the environmental risk associated with home injuries. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 in a ward of Mehrauli containing 20,800 households, and the total sample of children was selected from 400 households by systematic random sampling, with sampling interval being 52. Information was taken using a predesigned, semi-structured, pretested proforma from both the parents and children. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 12. Results: The prevalence of home injury was found to be 39.7% in the last 1 year, significantly higher in the age group of 1–3 years (54.3%) followed by 5–10 years (45.1%) (P = 0.000). The total number of injuries and the average number of injuries in girls were significantly higher than those of boys. The most common type of home injury was falls (59.5%) followed by injury with sharps and burn injury. The environmental risk was assessed using standard and working definitions and found unsafe electrical points (95.3%), unsafe stairs (100%), unsafe kitchen with access to sharps (29.3%), access to active fire (19.3%), and unsafe furniture and objects (22.8%). Conclusion: Though home injury did not occur in 60% of the children during the study period, the risk of injury in the future is high. Educating the parents and the children at schools and environmental modification are important strategies for prevention of home injury.