The Wuhan City of China evidenced unknown aetiology pneumonia cases at the end of December 2019. On 7 January 2020, the causative agent was identified as a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), currently referred to as SARS-CoV-2, and coronavirus disease as COVID-19. Older adults and people of any age who have underlying medical conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes, have shown worse prognosis. The aim of this study to evaluate the risk of serious adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19 by stratifying the comorbidity status. We conducted a retro-prospective study of 405 patients admitted into the Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka,Bangladesh.  Among 405 cases, mean age was 46.33 years. About 216 (53.3%) patients were male. Almost  322 (79.5%) patients were managed inside Dhaka city. The most common symptom was fever on or after hospitalization (71.9%). Of the 405 cases the prevalence of specific comorbidities was: hypertension (n=141, 34.8%), other cardiovascular diseases (n=42, 10.4%) cerebrovascular diseases (n=7, 1.7%), diabetes (n=140, 34.6%), COPD (n=4, 1.0%), chronic kidney diseases (n=65, 16.0%), malignancy (n=4, 1.0%) and asthma (n=51,12.6%). Overall, 307 (75.8%) patients discharged alive during the time frame of this study. 98(24.2%) patients died, 63 (15.6%) were admitted to the ICU and 16 (4.0%) received invasive ventilation. Patients with comorbidities should take all necessary precautions to avoid getting infected with SARS CoV-2, as they usually have the worst prognosis. There is a need for a global public health campaign to raise awareness, on reducing the burden of these comorbidity illnesses causing deaths in COVID-19- infected patients. Bangladesh Med J. 2020 Jan; 49 (1): 19-25

Menopause is an inevitable stage of every woman’s life. This cross sectional study was conducted to assess the relationship between physical activity and menopausal symptoms from January to December 2017. By convenient sampling total 213 post menopausal women were interviewed from Mirpur, situated at the northern part of Dhaka. Five most prevalent menopausal symptoms were joint and muscular pain (90.1%), anxiety and sleep disturbance (80.3%), chest discomfort as well as physical and mental exhaustion (78.9%). Most of the respondents were physically active (63.4%), few were inactive (1.9%) and 34.7% respondents were Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) active. The mean of total Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET)-minute per week was 2713.46 ± 1152.24 minutes. Menopausal symptoms retrieved from Menopause Rating Scale were assessed according to physical activity level. Physical and mental exhaustion was found statistically significant (p=0.04) with the higher proportion reported in divorced and widowed (90.5%). Significant relationship between psychological subscale and educational status was seen (p=.03). There was significant association between dryness of vagina and educational status (p<0.01). Physical and mental exhaustion and heart problems were found to be significantly higher among working women (p<.05). The relationship between BMI (Body Mass Index) and hot flash was found statistically significant (p<0.001). Significant statistical difference also was found between irritability and increase in BMI (p <0.001). Hot flash (p=0.001) and depression (p=0.002) were found to be statistically significant in relation with tobacco use. Uro genital symptoms ( p=.03), hot flash (p=0.01) and depression (p=0.009) were found to be statistically significant in relation with history of chronic disease. Only urinary problems were found statistically significant with HRT use. (p >.05). Anxiety was found statistically significant (p=.04) with highest proportion found in HEPA active women (89.2%). Proportion of sleep problems (100%), physical and mental exhaustion (100%), bladder problems (urinary incontinence) (75%), joint and muscular discomfort (100%) were more in inactive than minimally active and HEPA active women but the relationships were not statistically significant (p>.05). The result indicates that physical activity may have some role in reducing menopausal symptoms. Bangladesh Med J. 2018 Jan; 47 (1): 11-17

Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN's) specially Rohingya population considered as a maltreated minority. They suffered physical brutality that consequences are physical, sexual and psychological trauma.  This community based cross-sectional study was carried out to ascertain the prevalence rate and associated factors of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the 363 adult Rohingyas in the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh by a semi-structured questionnaire through face-to-face interviews during the study period of June 2018 to November 2018. Among the 363 study participants, 60.33% had probable PTSD. The prevalence of PTSD was found higher in female (64.7%) in comparison to male (53.52%) and a statistically significant association (P=0.03) found between sex and PTSD. Married people had a higher prevalence of PTSD (64.62%) in compared to unmarried people and a significant association (P=0.003) found with the presence of PTSD. The prevalence of PTSD was very high (72.55%) among the respondents those faced sexual exploitation. Among the exploitations related variables, having previous experience of sexual exploitations were found statistically significant associated (P=0.039) with PTSD. Hypertension had a statistically significant association (P=0.02) with PTSD and the prevalence of PTSD among Hypertensive patients was 71.79%. Probable PTSD was highly prevalent among the Rohingya population in Bangladesh. Measures should be taken by trained healthcare professionals and mental healthcare providers. Bangladesh Med J. 2021 January; 50(1) : 39-45

Globally tuberculosis (TB) has become the leading cause of death from infectious diseases. Tuberculosis is a chronic infection and a person may suffer from tuberculosis and other chronic medical conditions at the same time. Co-occurrence of multiple chronic conditions in the same individual, known as multimorbidity (MM) is increasing worldwide. This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2017 to December 2017 to reveal the extent of multimorbidity among tuberculosis cases. A TB case with multimorbidity was defined as TB with multimorbidity (TB-MM) subject. By convenient sampling, 227 tuberculosis cases from 8 Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course (DOTS) centers from Dhaka, Mymensingh and Netrokona districts were enrolled in this study. Among 227 tuberculosis cases 29 (12.8%) cases had multimorbidity (TB-MM subjects). Prevalence of multimorbidity was significantly higher in age group ≥40 years (p<0.001), male cases (p=0.034) and cases who had family income >30000 BDT/month (p=0.001), were currently smoker (p=0.028) and whose BCG scars were not seen (p<0.001). This study recommends that each TB case should be investigated for other chronic conditions to reveal the actual national magnitude of multimorbidity. Bangladesh Med J. 2017 Sep; 46 (3): 74-79

Caregivers play an important role for the treatment and wellbeing of the psychiatric patients. Constant caregiving role exert stress on the caregiver which is usually handled by them. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the level of stress and coping status among conveniently selected 171 care givers of major psychiatric patients at National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dhaka. Data was collected by the pre-tested semi-structure questionnaire blended with perceived stress and coping scale through face to face interview. Average coping status was found in most of the (70%) care givers; good coping status was found in more than one fifth (21%) of the caregivers and few (02%) caregivers had poor coping status. Stress and coping status was found (p<0.05) significantly related. This study finds the perceived stress among all the caregivers under study population; where high level of stress were perceived by more than three fourth of the caregivers and moderate to low level of stress were perceived by most of the caregivers. Caregiver-centric interventions, services and programs are recommended to plan and implement so that they should not compromise their caregiving work. Bangladesh Med J. 2020 Jan; 49 (1): 38-44