Context: “Aging India” has become a phenomenon of public health importance. Old age is beset with physical, mental, and social challenges. Among these, mental health concerns are least prioritized in most of the developing countries with depression being the most common and easy to screen. Aims: To assess the burden of geriatric depression and determine its association with sociodemographic factors such as religion, age, gender, education, marital status, and family type. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in July-August 2018 in village Kirpind in north India. Methodology: 162 subjects aged 60 years or more, both males and females participated in the study. Depression was assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale and those with a GDS score >=5 were categorized as depressed. Statistical Analysis Used: Pearson's Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used for analysis. Results: Nearly 59.3% of subjects had no depression, 33.9% were suffering from mild to moderate depression whereas 6.8% were severely depressed. The mean age of subjects was 69 (±7.4) years. Chi-square test was used to study the association of various factors with depression and only female gender showed a positive statistical association. On using binary logistic regression analysis, being female again emerged to be a significant predictor of depression while no other factor was significantly associated with the outcome. Conclusions: There is a need to sensitize primary care workers and physicians to identify and manage geriatric depression early. It also points towards the need for multicentric, longitudinal studies evaluating various aspects of geriatric depression.

No abstract

Background: The dengue infection has become endemic in India as a result of changing environmental conditions and lack of awareness among the public. So, the present study was conducted with the objectives of studying the awareness of dengue and dengue control practices among urban population in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.Methods: The study was of cross sectional design conducted in the fever clinic of Government Medical College and ESI Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Systemic random sampling was done to select the study participants. A pre-tested, pre-validated semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data was obtained from 270 individuals during August to November 2017.Results: Among the study participants, 254 (94.1%) had heard of dengue. Among them, 145 (53.7%) correctly identified the symptoms of dengue, 221 (81.6%) correctly responded that the dengue is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and 82 (30.4%) had correct knowledge about Aedes mosquito breeding places. Younger age group individuals and those with higher education had significantly better awareness about mosquito control measures (p<0.005).Conclusions: Majority of the study population was aware about dengue, only half of them knew about the symptoms of dengue and only one-third correctly knew about breeding habitats of Aedes mosquitoes. Therefore, already functioning health campaigns should ensure that the knowledge acquired is put into practice.