Frequency Of Acute Illnesses Research Articles

Prevalence of Protein Energy Malnutrition among Under-five children in Odisha: A Review

The WHO has identified PEM as one of the major problems among the children round the world. Also, over the years it has been found that developing countries like India have been facing the issue of PEM among children particularly at the most crucial stage of their development. Moreover, this is prevalent mostly among the rural masses and the poor and arises due to issues relating to poverty, poor environmental sanitation, poor dietary practices, low socioeconomic status, maternal education, frequent infection, and poor household food security, high consumption of rice, frequency of acute illness and low birth weight of child. This paper is a review on the status of PEM among young children (under the age of five) in Odisha. The study is based on analysis and meta-analysis of secondary sources of relevant literature and the inferences thereof suggesting possible strategies to combat this problem.

A Wellness Program for First Year Medical Students

Entering medical students experience distress symptoms due to the demands of the intensive curriculum, adjustment to new environments and increased responsibilities. The purpose of this controlled, randomized study was to determine the effects of a structured wellness program on measures of anxiety, depression and frequency of acute illness in 449 first year medical students. The effects of eight sessions of stress management were compared to a wait list control group. High risk students were identified based on scores on psychological inventories and number of recent life events (WLE). Results showed that depression, anxiety scores and frequency of acute illness were higher in women than in men, and were higher in students with multiple life events. Significant decreases were observed in depression in the intervention group students when WLE was the covariate (p=.045). Further, the high risk group showed consistently lower depression scores after the intervention compared to high risk wait list controls (p=.003), and these changes were maintained at the end of school year. There were no significant changes in anxiety or frequency of acute illness. Wellness programs can be implemented in medical school and may be particularly useful for entering students with elevated psychological distress.

The Potential Biases in Studying the Relationship between Asthma and Microbial Infection

Objective. To assess bias in parent reports of asthma status of children and detection bias of medical records-based asthma ascertainment and to examine effects of such bias on the association between asthma status and infections.Methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted to compare the correlations between the frequency of acute illnesses and that of medical evaluations between children with or without asthma according to parental report and medical record review by following a group of children who were enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Sick Child Care Program in Rochester, Minnesota. Parents completed a self-administered questionnaire to determine asthma status of their child. Also, comprehensive medical record reviews were conducted to determine asthma status of each subject by applying predetermined criteria for asthma.Results. A convenience sample of 115 parents and their children participated in this study. The mean age of the parents who participated in the study was 32.8 years (standard deviation: 5.4 years); 93% were female (mothers); and 90% were white. Of the 115 children who participated in this study, 84% were reported to be white and 49% were female. The mean age of the children was 2 years (standard deviation: 1.0 year). Parents whose children had asthma by report appeared to be less likely to seek medical evaluations (Spearman's rho: 0.42,p = 0.11) when their children had acute illnesses, compared to those of non-asthmatic children (rho: 0.64,p < 0.001). Concerns that asthmatic patients (rho: 0.62,p < 0.001) are more likely to see health care providers and undergo medical evaluations and laboratory tests when they have acute illnesses than non-asthmatic patients (rho: 0.64,p < 0.001) are not supported by our study.Conclusion. Parental report bias needs to be considered carefully when studying the relationship between asthma and microbial infection.

LUMBAR PUNCTURE AT THE END OF TREATMENT FOR BACTERLAL MENINGITIS: BASELINE FOR SUBSEQUENT DIAGNOSTIC LUMBAR PUNCTURE

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) values at the end of successful treatment for bacterial meningitis are frequently abnormal. Performance of a lumbar puncture (LP) at the end of treatment has recently been discouraged because this LP does not identify the rare patient who will relapse. However, an LP at the end of treatment may provide critical baseline CSF values if a subsequent diagnostic LP is performed.This retrospective study was undertaken to determine how often children were seen for an acute illness after treatment for bacterial meningitis and how frequently diagnostic LPs were done. Forty eight patients three years old or younger treated for bacterial meningitis (1977-1981) were studied. Follow-up information regarding physician visits within the two weeks following hospitalization was obtained for 44 of 48 eligible children.LPs performed at the end of treatment had one or more abnormal values in 25 (75%) of 34 patients. Eleven (25%) of 44 children were seen by a physician for an acute illness during the two weeks after completion of treatment. A diagnostic LP was performed in four (12%) of the 33 infants under one year of age. LP results at the end of treatment were needed in the management of two of these infants.The frequency of acute illnesses and diagnostic LPs in the two weeks after treatment of meningitis suggests the continuing need for an end-of-treatment LP to provide baseline information.