Background: Low birth weight (LBW), defined as a live birth weighing less than 2500 g, is a significant public health problem in India. The complex nature of this problem is not fully understood. Moreover, significant disparities in LBW prevalence not only documented across various socio economic groups but across states and districts as well. The identification of spatial patterns of LBW and its determinants is important for understanding epidemiology of this public health challenge. Objective: This paper examines the determinants and spatial patterns of Low birth weight prevalence spatial pattern of LBW and its determinants in India. Methods: Using fourth round of National Family Health Survey data, regression and spatial analysis have been performed through STATA, ArcGIS and GeoDa software. Results: The result indicates lower odds of LBW prevalence among educated mothers, mothers who have more than 4 ANC visit, mothers who took IFA tablets during pregnancy, mothers with normal BMI and mothers with age above 20 years. The Moran's I for LBW is 0.543. It indicates high spatial autocorrelation in LBW over the districts of India The bivariate LISA maps obtained indicate spatial distribution of LBW and independent variables systematically contrasts the districts of central and eastern India (e.g. in Uttar Pradesh) with those of the extreme south (e.g. in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc.). Conclusion: Our findings reveal greater attention towards maternal and child health care especially for the backward districts in the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Bihar and Rajasthan are needed. Several maternal and social factors leads to the occurrence of low birth weight. Emphasis should be placed on improving the nutritional status of the mothers.

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are widespread among workers in the weaving industry. The most affected body regions are the neck, shoulders, back, and wrist. The present study attempts to understand risk factors for MSDs in various body region among handloom and power loom weavers. Method: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted on a sample of 364 weavers during November 2019 to February 2020. The survey instrument for measuring musculoskeletal symptoms was adopted from a standardised Nordic questionnaire. The impact of the occupation of weaving on MSDs was analysed using binary logistics regression. Results: The 12-month prevalence of MSDs was higher among handloom weavers compared to power loom weavers, particularly in the upper back (84-45%), lower back (82-50%), knee (60-35%), and shoulder (76-42%) respectively. Similar patterns were observed in the 12-month prevalence of MSDs, which prevented regular activity inside or outside the home. Analysis suggests that the occupation of weaving raises the risk of MSDs particularly in the shoulder (OR: 4.52, C.I.: 2.63-7.76), lower (OR: 6.9, C.I.: 3.79-12.54) and upper back (OR: 5.63, C.I.: 3.19-9.95). Older age and long years of working are significant risk factors for MSDs. Conclusions: The findings suggest a relatively higher prevalence of MSDs among handloom weavers, particularly in the upper back, lower back and shoulder, compared to Powerloom weavers. Preventive measures and treatment to minimise the burden of MSDs among handloom weavers are strongly recommended.

Background India suffers from a high burden of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases due to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practices among human population. With age the immune system becomes complex and antibody alone does not determine susceptibility to diseases which increases the chances of waterborne disease among elderly population. Therefore the study examines the prevalence and predictors of water-borne diseases among elderly in India. Method Data for this study was collected from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), 2017–18. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate analysis was used in the present study to reveal the initial results. Proportion test was applied to check the significance level of prevalence of water borne diseases between urban and rural place of residence. Additionally, binary logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between the outcome variable (water borne diseases) and the explanatory variables. Results The study finds the prevalence of water borne disease among the elderly is more in the rural (22.5%) areas compared to the urban counterparts (12.2%) due to the use of unimproved water sources. The percentage of population aged 60 years and above with waterborne disease is more in the central Indian states like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh followed by the North Indian states. Sex of the participate, educational status, work status, BMI, place of residence, type of toilet facility and water source are important determinants of water borne disease among elderly in India. Conclusion Elderly people living in the rural areas are more prone to waterborne diseases. The study also finds state wise variation in prevalence of waterborne diseases. The elderly people might not be aware of the hygiene practices which further adhere to the disease risk. Therefore, there is a need to create awareness on basic hygiene among this population for preventing such bacterial diseases.

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Background With the increase in elderly population, the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among Indian older adults is also increasing. The present paper tries to assess how different anthropometric measures of obesity and physical activity affects cardiovascular disease risk among older adults in India. Methods The data from Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) has been used. The total sample size for the present study is 31,464 older adults aged 60 years and above. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression has been used to measure the association of obesity measures and CVD prevalence. Results About 35.2% (n = 11,058) of the older adults suffered from CVD. Moreover, 22.2% (n = 6,217) of the older adults were obese/overweight, 23.7% (n = 6,651) had high risk waist circumference and 77.0% (n = 21,593) had high risk waist-Hip ratio. The likelihood of CVD was 60%, 50%, and 34% significantly higher among older adults who were obese/overweight [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.60; CI: 1.48–1.72], had high risk waist circumference [AOR: 1.50; CI: 1.39–1.62] and high risk waist-Hip ratio [AOR: 1.34; CI: 1.25–1.44], respectively compared to older adults with normal BMI and those who do not have a high risk waist circumference and high risk waist hip ratio. Moreover, older adults who never did physical activity had 22 per cent higher risk of CVD than those who did frequent [AOR: 1.22; CI: 1.13–1.32] physical activity. Conclusion The burden of overweight and obesity along with physical inactivity increases the risk of CVD in older adults. These findings highlight the urgent need for framing direct and indirect strategies to control obesity in order to reduce the burden of CVD among older adults in India.