scholarly journals Prevalence of health problems in suburban schools in Chennai, India

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Haritha S. Kumar ◽  
Sekar Pasupathy ◽  
Balaji Chinnasami ◽  
Balaji Ramraj

Background: School health programmes help in early detection of health problems but the literature about its effectiveness in India is sparse. Hence, this study was undertaken. The aim of the present study is to measure the weight, height and BMI in school children and to interpret it using the IAP growth charts, to estimate the prevalence of stunting, undernutrition, overweight, obesity, refractory errors, hearing impairment and dental caries in children and to compare the prevalence of above parameters among gender and age.Methods: This is a cross sectional study, conducted between January to March 2017 in 3 suburban schools in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A total of 631 children in the age group of 6-18 years were screened by an expert team. Weight and height was measured using standard equipments, BMI was calculated and plotted on IAP growth charts. Vision was tested using Snellen chart by an optometrist. Dental evaluation was done by a dentist and hearing screening done by an audiologist using puretone audiometry. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test, P value of <0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Out of 631 children, 344 were boys and 287 were girls. 507 children belonged to the primary age group (6-12 years) and 124 children belonged to the secondary age group (12-18 years). The prevalence of stunting was 0.7% and was gradually decreasing with increasing age. The overall prevalence of thinness, overweight and obesity was 10.1%, 1.5% and 7.1% respectively. Underweight was more common among the primary age group whereas obesity was more commonly seen in secondary age group. The prevalence of weight abnormalities in both the age groups and sexes were statistically significant. 19% children had visual defects and the prevalence was more in older children. Dental caries was more commonly seen in primary dentition and the prevalence was 18.9%. Due to lack of ambient conditions, only severe hearing impairment was detected. 5 (0.8%) children had severe hearing impairment. Conclusions: The burden of health problems like malnourishment, refractory errors, dental caries and hearing impairment are high in school children. With the results of the present study, we can conclude that there is a need for implementation of school health screening programmes to detect these health problems at an early stage. To bring a significant change in the community, a dedicated national school health screening program is needed

2013 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 181-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beena J. P.

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the level of fear of dental procedures among 6-12 year school children and correlate the prevalence of dental caries with their dental fears scores. Materials and Methods: The study sample of 444 school children, comprising of 224 girls and 220 boys in the age group of 6-12 years old from a private English medium school were selected. Each student was asked to independently complete a Children′s Fear Survey Schedule - Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) questionnaire. Children having a score of ≥ 38 were included in the ′′dental fear′′ group while those scoring <38 were placed in the ′′without dental fear′′ group. All dental examinations were performed in the classroom. Results: Fear scores were highest for ′′Injections,′′ (3.76 ± 0.68) ′′Choking,′′ (3.48 ± 0.63) and ′′Dentist drilling′′ (2.88 ± 0.69). The overall mean score of CFSS-DS in our study was 37.0 ± 8.89, mean score of DMFT and DMFS were 0.58 ± 0.74 and 0.73 ± 1.09, respectively. Mean score of deft and defs were 4.40 ± 2.34 and 7.28 ± 5.49, respectively. Conclusion: The study showed the prevalence of dental fear in 6-12 year old children and there was no statistically significant co-relation between the level of dental fear and dental caries in these children.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (207) ◽  
pp. 352-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saraswati M Padhye

Introduction: High Body Mass Index is one of the risk factors for many chronic diseases and adverse health outcomes. It is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It also have many adverse effect on reproductive health of the women like sub fertility, polycystic ovarian disease, menstrual abnormality etc. The purpose of this study is to find Basal Metabolic Rate and the diseases pattern of reproductive age woman in Nepal. Methods: This is a descriptive study of women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) attending a private gynaecology clinic in Kathmandu Valley from October 2016 to June 2017. Six hundred and eight women of current reproductive age group participated in this study. Women’s particulars and complaints were noted down. Detailed history was taken. Height, weight and blood pressure were recorded and general examination was done. BMI was calculated as BMI is weight in kilogram divided by height in meter square, and it was interpreted as per WHO guidelines. Results: Out of the total 608 participants, 243 (40%) were overweight, 96 (15.8%) were obese. Regarding the common health problems, 154 (25.3%) have sub fertility and 199 (32%) had genitourinary infection. Similarly, 90 (14.8%) had menstrual problems. Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen significantly comparing to the study done decade ago in same setting. Similarly, sub fertility rate has also risen whereas the prevalence of genitourinary infections has decreased. Keywords: BMI; genitourinary infection; Nepal-reproductive age women; sub fertility.


Author(s):  
Syed Abid Asghar ◽  
Pratibha Gupta ◽  
Mrinal R. Srivastava ◽  
J. P. Srivastava ◽  
Zeashan H. Zaidi

Background: School health is an important branch of community health. School health services is an economical and powerful means of raising community health. In school child is vulnerable to stress, tension and endangerment of group life because all children are not the same and comes from different socioeconomic and cultural background and with different immunity status. Child is quite vulnerable at this growing age and hence become easy victims of many non-communicable diseases such as dental caries, anaemia, visual and hearing defects. The objective of the study was to assess health status of primary school children in rural areas of Lucknow.Methods: The present school-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural area of Lucknow from February to July 2015. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select primary schools from 1st to 5th standard. All students who were present at the time of survey were included in the study. A pre-structured performa for each student was used to record information regarding anthropometric measurements, physical examination/ personal hygiene, clinical findings.Results: A total of 170 children were examined, among these 82 (48.23%) were boys and 88 (51.77%) were girls. Dental caries was the most common infirmity observed in 63 (37.05%) children with 95% CI (33.35- 40.75) and was statistically significant (p<0.05) with boys 29.27% and girls 44.31%. Anaemia were found in 65 (38.23%), boys were 32.92% and girls 43.18%. Ear discharge was seen in 17 (10%) children, boys were 6.10% and girls 13.63%.Conclusions: The common infirmity found were dental caries, anaemia and ear discharge. Effective strategy with good monitoring and evaluation is imperative in ensuring adequate and optimal implementation of school health services in primary schools in rural Lucknow.


Author(s):  
Vishal Samadhan Dhande ◽  
R. D. Gadekar ◽  
M. K. Doibale ◽  
P. L. Gattani ◽  
V. K. Domple ◽  
...  

Background: Though the school health services cater to health needs to an extent, the children who drop out of schools lose on this count. These children never derive the attention for the reason of school dropouts nor are they covered under any major health programs pertaining to their health problems. The objective of the study were to study health profile of the school dropout children aged 7–16 years residing in the slums of municipal corporation area of Nanded city; to study socio-demographic factors of the families of these school dropout children.Methods: It was a community based cross-sectional study carried out in urban slums of Municipal Corporation of the Nanded city in Maharashtra on the children of age group 7 to 16 who dropped out from the school. Total 455 study subjects were studied by using simple random sampling method. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on socio demographic variables. Thorough clinical examination of each subject was carried out.Results: The mean age of study subjects was 14.2 (±1.9 SD) years. Out of total 455 study subjects, 264 (58%) were boys and 191 (42%) were girls. 11.20% study subjects were having skin infections, 25.71% were having dental caries, 3.29% were having ear impairment, 9.89% were having visual impairment, and 1.31% was having stammering of speech.Conclusions: Anaemia, skin infections, dental caries, visual impairment were major health problems noted in the school dropped out children. Poor socioeconomic status, religion, type of family, more number of children in the family was some sociodemographic factors responsible for school dropout. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. OR7-OR9
Author(s):  
Sebastian Christian ◽  
Manasvi Duggal ◽  
Shalini Dehal

INTRODUCTION: Children are the pillars of the future of a country shall rest, are no less than a treasure and need to be as healthy as possible. AIM: To assess the health status of school children in various areas of Una city, Himachal Pradesh, India. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The present study was conducted among school children aged 7-18 present on the day of the study. Data collected was cross-sectionally using a pre-validated and pre-tested questionnaire duly standardized prior to commencement of the study. The first section of the questionnaire contained details about the demographic profile, and in the second, the examiners recorded the presence or absence of common childhood diseases, namely pallor, lymphadenopathy (L.N.), Bitot spots, Worm infections, Scabies, Ear discharge, Dental caries and Fluorosis.  Statistical analysis included the Shapiro-wilk test to check for data normalcy, followed by descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation. Significance value (p) was kept significant at ≤0.5. RESULTS: Most children belonged to the age group of 12-15 years (42.8%), followed by 7-11 years(34.3%) and 16-18 years(22.9%). Majority of the students were girls (61.5%) and most them belonged to the age group of 12-15 years(41.0%). Disease in any from was observed in 813 (76.2%)  of the children, with the most prevalent disease observed being dental caries (32.3%), followed by fluorosis (20.5%) and pallor (14.3%). Pearson’s correlation revealed a strong, positive association between the disease status and age (0.7) and gender (0.8). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate the need to have various specific programmes to reduce the burden of various diseases, namely dental caries and pallor among school children through efforts of various programmes.


Author(s):  
Aniruddh Ranga ◽  
J. P. Majra

Background: School-age children spend one-third of their time in schools. Teachers are key personnel to look after the health of school children. Teachers can provide health education to school children, assess the school environment for better health outcomes, provide health care services and help in the maintenance of school health records. Aim of the study was to assess the status of knowledge of school health services (SHS) among school teachers.Methods: Government and private schools in a Northern Indian state. A community-based cross-sectional study. It includes 50 randomly selected designated schoolteachers for SHS by the PPS methods from the schools which were functional since at least five years in the study area. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge regarding SHS. Percentage, proportion and χ2 test were used as statistical methods. The p-value 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: 38% participants were of 41-50 years of age group, 54% were females and 48% had an experience of ≤10 years. 22% participants had training regarding SHS. 40% participants had moderately adequate knowledge (p-value=0.04). It was observed to be more among participants of rural, government, age group of 31-40 years, with experience of 21-30years, female and among trained teachers for school health.Conclusions: School teachers were lacking in knowledge regarding environment and sanitation; communicable and non-communicable diseases; and health education for school children. We also observed that training regarding SHS was a majorly missing component which could be the reason behind poor level knowledge among schoolteachers.


Author(s):  
Mariana C. Helou ◽  
Salim M. Adib

Background: Primary health problems among school children are rarely disaggregated between urban and rural areas. This report describes findings in children examined during school health visits in a rural region in South Lebanon. Methods: Medical visits were carried out in four public schools in the Qana region, district of Sour, between December 2007 and May 2008. Results: A total number of 887 students were examined. Age varied between 4 and 16 years old.  The majority (78%) had a normal weight for their age. Around 7.1 % of males and 3.5 % of females were considered obese for their age. The most frequent abnormality found was dental caries (59%). In addition, 14% of students had cerumen earplugs, and 3.6% had untreated defective visual acuity. Cases of pediculosis (n=62) were found in just one school, indicating a local outbreak of limited scope. Conclusions: There were only minor differences between health problems in this rural area and those measured in an urban area 10 years earlier. Dental problems continued to be predominant. In future campaigns, health education sessions should be conducted about personal hygiene and adequate nutrition with students, teachers and/or parents, in parallel to conducting the medical visits.  


1949 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guttorm Toverud

A preliminary report is submitted on the occurrence of dental caries in Norwegian children, during and after the World War. Dental examinations of 8,000 to 9,000 school children from different parts of Norway have been carried out each year from 1940 to 1948. It is concluded from the statistical results of the investigation that the caries frequency decreased steadily from year to year during the war. The reduction in the number of carious tooth surfaces per child from the beginning of the war to the lowest number some time after the war ended amounts to 50 to 75%. A study has also been undertaken on 600 to 700 children, 2½ to 7 years old. The results in this younger group show even a greater reduction. In both groups the decrease is statistically significant. From 1946 the caries frequency has increased again in the school children as well as in the pre-school children. In both groups the increase is statistically significant. The turn of the caries curve after the war differs according to the age-group. The cause of the decrease in caries frequency during the war and the cause of the increase after the war is discussed. Based on the rationing of the various food articles our tentative conclusion is that the decrease may be attributed to the lowering in consumption of refined carbohydrates and the increase in consumption of more natural foods, i.e. protective foods. This may have resulted in an increased resistance of the teeth and a reduction in the local factors which produce decay. More detailed studies of the change in caries frequency as well as of the change in food consumption and habit of living during and after the war are necessary before a definite conclusion can be drawn. Such studies are being continued.


Author(s):  
Bharat Meharda ◽  
Sanjeev Kumar Sharma ◽  
Govind Singhal ◽  
Dilip Kumar L.

Background: Obesity is one of today’s most neglected public health problems. Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health problems. Obesity causes cluster of non-communicable diseases and creating an enormous socioeconomic and public health burden. Methods: School based cross-sectional study was done in Udaipur city of Rajasthan. Simple random sampling method was used to obtain 1000 study subjects. Questionnaire included their general information, factor contributing to overweight and obesity. Results: 500 (50.00%) subjects were from the government schools and 500 (50.00%) from private schools. Among study participants 336 (33.60%), 332 (33.20%) and 332 (33.20%) were from 8th, 9th and 10th class respectively. 8.20% Overweight and 2.40% obesity found among school children. Overweight and obesity was found high in private schools 14.00% as compared to government schools 7.20%. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is slightly more in girls 12.60% than boys 8.60%. Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity is more than 10% in school children of Udaipur city, The prevalence of overweight and obesity was high among girls, among school children’s whose mother were working.  


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