Context:Non-communicable diseases, no longer a disease of the rich, impose a great threat in the developing nations due to demographic and epidemiological transition. This increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and their risk factors is worrisome. Adherence to hypertension (HT) medication is very important for improving the quality of life and preventing complications of HT.Aim:To study the factors determining adherence to HT medication.Settings and Design:A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, with a total population of around 16,005.Materials and Methods:This study was carried out over a period of 6 months (February-July) using a pre-structured and validated questionnaire. All eligible participants were selected by house-to-house survey and individuals not available on three consecutive visits were excluded from the study. The questionnaire included information on demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, adherence to HT medication, blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI). Caste was classified based on Tamil Nadu Public Service commission.Statistical Analysis:Data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed in SPSS version 16. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Ethical Consideration: Informed verbal consent was obtained prior to data collection. The patient's adherence to HT medication was assessed using the Morisky 4-Item Self-Report Measure of Medication-taking Behavior [MMAS-4].Results:We studied 473 hypertensive patients of which 226 were males and 247 were females. The prevalence of adherence was 24.1% (n = 114) in the study population. Respondents with regular physical activity, non-smokers and non-alcoholics were more adherent to HT medication as compared with respondents with sedentary lifestyle, smoking and alcohol intake (P < 0.005). Based on health belief model, the respondents who perceived high susceptibility, severity, benefit had better adherence compared with moderate and low susceptibility, severity, benefit.

Objective:To estimate the usefulness of the Indian diabetes risk score for detecting undiagnosed diabetes in the rural area of Tamil Nadu.Materials and Methods:The present study was conducted in the field practice area of rural health centers (Chunampett and Annechikuppam, Tamil Nadu), covering a population of 35000 from February to March 2008 by using a predesigned and pretested protocol to find out the prevalence and the risk of diabetes mellitus in general population by using Indian diabetes risk score.Results:1936 respondents comprising 1167 (60.27%) females and 769 (39.73%) males were studied. Majority 1203 (62.50%) were Hindus. 1220 (63.%) had studied up to higher secondary. 1200 (62%) belonged to lower and lower-middle socio-economic class. A large number of the subjects 948 (50%) were below 35 years of age. Most of the respondents 1411 (73%) indulged in mild to moderate physical activity. 1715 (87.91%) had no family history of diabetes mellitus. 750 (39.64%) individuals were in the overweight category (>25 BMI). Out of these overweight persons, 64% had high diabetic risk score. It is observed that chances of high diabetic score increase with the increase in BMI. Prevalence of diabetes in studied population was 5.99%; out of these, 56% known cases of diabetes mellitus had high (>60) IDRS. Co-relation between BMI and IDRS shows that, if BMI increases from less than 18.50 to more than 30, chances of high risk for developing diabetes mellitus also significantly increase.Conclusions:This study estimates the usefulness of simplified Indian diabetes risk score for identifying undiagnosed high risk diabetic subjects in India. This simplified diabetes risk score has categorized the risk factors based on their severity. Use of the IDRS can make mass screening for undiagnosed diabetes in India more cost effective.

The present study was conducted in the Urban Health centre, Muthialpet, Pondicherry covering a population of 40000 from July to October 2007 by using a predesigned and pretested proforma to find out the risk of diabetes in general population by using Indian Diabetes Risk Score. A total of 616 respondents were studied comprising 325(53%) females and 290(47%) males. Majority 518(85%) were Hindus. Of them, 380 (62 %) had studied up to higher secondary and above, 539 (87%) belonged to upper middle and upper socioeconomic class. A large number of the subjects 422(68%) were above 35 years of age. Most of the respondents 558(90.50%) indulged in mild to moderate physical activity. Again, 422 (68.50%) had no family history of diabetes mellitus, 315 (51%) individuals were in the overweight category (>25 BMI), and 261 (83%) of high Diabetic Risk Score individuals were overweight. It is observed that chances of high diabetic score increase with the increase in BMI. Prevalence of diabetes in the studied population were 51 (8.27%), out of that 39 (76%) had high (>60) IDRS score. The relationship between BMI and IDRS shows that if BMI increases from under weight (<18.50) to obesity (>30) chances of risk for diabetes also increases significantly.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Understanding of health seeking behaviour (HSB) is essential to provide need based health care services to the population. Many factors like sex, age, type of illness, access to services and perceived quality of the services, influences the health seeking behavior. This study assessed the HSB among rural population of a coastal area in Tamil Nadu.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A community based descriptive study was done in a rural coastal area of Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu state of India. Using simple random sampling method, 559 participants were selected. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Information about socio-demographic characteristics, presence of acute or chronic illness, health care seeking behavior and reasons for non-utilization of particular health facilities etc. was obtained. Chi square test was applied to find the association of health care seeking behavior with various participant characteristics.  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Among 559 study participants, majority (56.4%) visited public health care facilities for various illnesses. Almost one-third of the study participants visited the private health facilities and another 11.6 percent visited other health facilities including pharmacies. Among various causes, febrile illnesses (39.5%) and pain (20.8%) were the most common reasons for visiting a health care facility. Individual’s income was significantly associated with the HSB (p value &lt;0.05). Availability of services, free of cost was reported as most common reason for preferring to the public health facility. On other hand, private practitioners were preferred due to their better availability and quality of care.</p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Public health care facilities were preferred by due to low cost of services and HSB varies with the type of illness and income of the individuals.

Objective:To study the prevalence of obesity and overweight among school children in Puducherry. To identify any variation as per age, gender, place of residence and type of school.Setting and design:Secondary data analysis of a school-based cross sectional study in all the four regions of Puducherry.Materials and Methods:Children between 6 and 12 yrs were sampled using multistage random sampling with population proportionate to size from 30 clusters. Anthropometric data (BMI) was analyzed using CDC growth charts. Data was analyzed using SPSS, BMI (CDC) calculator, CI calculator and OR calculator.Results:The prevalence of overweight (≥85th percentile) among children was 4.41% and prevalence of obesity (>95th percentile) was 2.12%. Mahe region had the highest prevalence of overweight (8.66%) and obesity (4.69%). Female children from private schools and urban areas were at greater risk of being overweight and obese.Conclusions:Childhood obesity is a problem in Puducherry and requires timely intervention for its control.