Sickle Cell Anemia is a common hematological disorder affecting children, mostly from indigenous tribal populations in Africa and India. There is no synthesized evidence to inform policy on its prevalence and distribution across India. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to estimate and summarize the prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) and Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) among children aged < 18 years in India. Following standardized methods of systematic reviews, a comprehensive search of all major medical databases was performed. Through independent stepwise screening, ten eligible studies were included in the study. Original peer-reviewed studies reporting the prevalence of either SCD or SCT among Indian children below 18 years of age were included for subsequent methodological quality assessment and data extraction using predefined standardized tools. Random and fixed effects models for meta-analysis were used to arrive at summary estimates for prevalence with 95% confidence intervals. Subgroup analysis was performed among tribal and non-tribal children. The included studies used data from around 2 million participants in total. The pooled prevalence of SCD among children in India is 0.8% (95% CI: 0.6-1.0%) and that of SCT was 9.2% (95% CI: 8.5-10.0%).

Objective: The objective of this review was to summarize and compare the estimates of diabetes among adults in community and hospital-based settings in Odisha, India. Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a major non-communicable disease as well as a risk factor. In a vast and diverse country such as India, where health is a state subject, regional synthesized and up to date estimates of DM burden is necessary for informed policy making. No such estimates are currently available for the state of Odisha. Materials and Methods: Peer-reviewed published original research articles related to prevalence DM in the state of Odisha published between 2011 and 2022 were retrieved from 4 medical databases and analysed. Study screening, selection, data extraction and critical appraisal was done by 2 independent review authors. Data synthesis and assessment of certainty of the evidence was done in meta-analysis of the results. Results: A total of 15 studies, that included 17339 participants, with overall good methodological quality were included in the review. The overall prevalence of DM among adults in the state of Odisha based on Community based surveys was 6.8% (95% CI: 2.3–13.4%). The prevalence in older adults aged 60 years or above is higher at 22.2% (95% CI: 8.6–39.9%). The prevalence in studies that relied on self-reported methods of screening was 4.8% (95% CI: 1.7–9.3%) as compared to those that diagnosed participants based on standard criteria (12.1%; 95% CI: 8.1–16.7%). Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of DM in the state of Odisha, which was higher than previously available national and regional estimates. This prevalence was much lower in community-based studies and in self-reported surveys pointing towards significant under diagnosis of hypertension in the state of Odisha and highlighting a need for a robust community-based screening program among adults in the state.

There is limited evidence from India on the effect schizophrenia has on the quality of life (QoL) of patients.Our study aimed to determine the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia and analyze its determinants. This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the psychiatric outpatient department of SLN Medical College and Hospital in Koraput among 100 adult patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.Data was collected by psychiatrists usingthe Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) tool along with the WHO QoL BREF versionHADS (Hamilton Anxietyand Depression Scale) and GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning) tools. Among the participants, the lowest scores for WHOQOL-BREF werereported in the psychological domain of health (mean=11.6; SD=2.3), followed by the social domain (mean=12.2; SD=3.3) and environmental domains (mean=13.8; SD=2.4). The highest score was seen in the physical health domain (mean=13.9; SD=2.6). In general, the QoL was better among females than males. We found a significant association between the socio-demographic characteristicssuch as social support and the quality of life in schizophrenia. Significantly higher scores wererecorded from respondents who had good financial and living conditions and this was seen in all domains of the quality of life.