The study shows significant association between biomass fuel use and respiratory involvement among rural women in Bangladesh, although the potential confounding of urban/rural residency could not be ruled out in the analysis. The use of smoke-free stoves and adequate ventilation along with health education to the rural population to increase awareness about the health effects of indoor biomass fuel use might have roles to prevent these involvements.

Despite success in tuberculosis control, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Bangladesh is increasing and currently multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis rate is 3.6% in new cases and 19% in re-treatment cases. This study focused on determination of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis which is warranted for effective prevention strategy. An unmatched case control study was conducted in 2010. Purposively recruited 136 culture-proved multi-drug-resistant- tuberculosis cases and 152 cured tuberculosis patients were interviewed. Associations between exposure and outcome variables were initially tested by chi2-test, t-test. A result was considered significant at p value < 0.05. Effects of exposure variables were also assessed after adjusting for other variables by binary logistic regression models. Crude and adjusted Odds Ratio with 95% Confidence Interval was computed. Younger age (p = 0.008) and, peri-urban locality (p = 0.002) were associated with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. History of contact (p < 0.001) and tuberculosis in the past (p < 0.001) were four and eight times, respectively, more likely to influence multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Regularity [Odds Ratio 0.05; 95% Confidence Interval (0.01 to 0.39)] and always observation of treatment [Odds Ratio 0.25; 95% Confidence Interval (0.10 to 0.61)], sputum conversion [Odds Ratio 0.02; 95% Confidence Interval (0.01 to 0.08)] negatively associated with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Gender and socio-economic status did not show any influence. Treatment course and sputum conversion was the best predictors. Like other developing countries adequacy of treatment is the most important exposure variable. Strengthening of control activities might contribute in preventing development of resistance in tuberculosis patients.

Age, education, father's occupation, crowding, kitchen location and intimate contact with a TB case were significantly associated with smear-positive childhood TB.

Introduction Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRDs) are some of the most prevailing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide and cause three times higher morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) than in developed nations. In Bangladesh, there is a dearth of data about the quality of CRD management in health facilities. This study aims to describe CRD service availability and readiness at all tiers of health facilities using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2017 to June 2018 in a total of 262 health facilities in Bangladesh using the WHO SARA Standard Tool. Surveys were conducted with facility management personnel by trained data collectors using REDCap software. Descriptive statistics for the availability of CRD services were calculated. Composite scores for facility readiness (Readiness Index ‘RI’) were created which included four domains: staff and guideline, basic equipment, diagnostic capacity, and essential medicines. RI was calculated for each domain as the mean score of items expressed as a percentage. Indices were compared to a cutoff of70% which means that a facility index above 70% is considered ‘ready’ to manage CRDs at that level. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS Vr 21.0. Results It was found, tertiary hospitals were the only hospitals that surpassed the readiness index cutoff of 70%, indicating that they had adequate capacity and were ready to manage CRDs (RI 78.3%). The mean readiness scores for the other hospital tiers in descending order were District Hospitals (DH): 40.6%, Upazila Health Complexes (UHC): 33.3% and Private NGOs: 39.5%). Conclusion Only tertiary care hospitals, constituting 3.1% of sampled health facilities, were found ready to manage CRD. Inadequate and unequal supplies of medicine as well as a lack of trained staff, guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of CRDs, equipment, and diagnostic facilities contributed to low readiness index scores in all other tiers of health facilities.

Background WHO estimated 20% of adolescents (10–19 years) have mental health problems. We examined the prevalence and associated risk predictors of overweight/obesity and perceived stress using eating behaviors and physical activity among school-and-college-going urban adolescents in Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional study with a multistage sampling technique was employed to select 4609 adolescent students, aged 13–19 years, from all eight Bangladesh divisions during January–June 2019. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing Turconi Physical Activity Questionnaire (PAQ), Adolescent Stress Questionnaire (ASQ), Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and Anthropometric measurements. Logistic regression and different association measures assessed relationships among adolescent characteristics. Results The major 61.5% of adolescents were in moderate-to-extremely-severe levels of stress, 28.2% were overweight/obese, only 2.7% had a very active lifestyle, and 30.5% had a sedentary lifestyle. Perceived stress was positively and significantly correlated with eating behaviors and body mass index, whereas physical activity was significantly associated with the prevalence of overweight/obesity and high stress. The prevalence of overweight/obesity (53.8%) and high stress (52.5%) was higher in males. Adolescents’ obesity was 2.212 times more likely who had a sedentary lifestyle (95% CI 1.377–3.552), 1.13 times more likely for those who had experienced stress due to school/leisure conflict (95% CI 1.051–1.222), and 1.634 times more likely for those who were tempted by restrained eating behavior (95% CI 1.495–1.786). Conclusion Stress on secondary school-and-college-going students needs to be recognized, and strategies need to be developed to improve adolescents’ mental health.