<p><i>*2 refused to answer hence total response is 4</i>,<i>141</i>... more <p><i>*2 refused to answer hence total response is 4</i>,<i>141</i></p><p>Characteristics of participants enrolled in the study.</p
Background: People who are obese have a higher risk of acquiring many severe diseases. Feeding pr... more Background: People who are obese have a higher risk of acquiring many severe diseases. Feeding preferences and physical activities are deemed to play an important role in obesity in children. Objectives: This study aimed to find out the prevalence of over nutrition among primary level children in selected private schools of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). It also assessed the impact of physical activity level and feeding preferences on their nutritional status. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was done among 488 children and their parents, in six schools of KMC between May and August 2016. Children with written permission were included in the study, while absentees or hostel dwellers were excluded. Multistage cluster sampling was used for sampling. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu Medical College Public Limited and informed consent was taken from all participants. The questionnaire contained questions regarding socio-demo...
High prevalence of behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) warrants a life cours... more High prevalence of behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) warrants a life course approach for efficient prevention. Our previous HARDIC trial in semi-urban Nepal shows conventional CVD educational interventions for mothers improved knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP). Digital cardiovascular health promotion provides opportunities to efficiently reach adolescents. Our aim was therefore to develop such digital health promotion through a serious game that is educational and entertaining, as an innovative way to reach adolescents. We conducted a mixed-method study to assess adolescents’ KAP and perception regarding CVD, explored opportunities for digital cardiovascular health promotion, and developed a concept for a serious game prototype. In total, 649 adolescents grades 8-10 in two government and seven private schools in a semi-urban community of Nepal were surveyed cross-sectionally following parental consent. A self-administered questionnaire assessed KAP of CV...
Background Sense of coherence (SOC) is a core concept of salutogenesis which relates to individua... more Background Sense of coherence (SOC) is a core concept of salutogenesis which relates to individuals’ overall life orientation. Stronger SOC associates with better coping strategies, better health, and better quality of life. Although the SOC-questionnaire is validated in many cultures and languages, it has not, to date, been applied in Nepal. Objective To determine and evaluate women’s SOC before and after a health education intervention. Method This study was conducted as a part of the Heart-health Associated Research, Dissemination, and Intervention in the Community in the semi-urban Jhaukhel- Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance Site in Nepal. Jhaukhel and Duwakot were selected as the control and intervention areas, respectively. Participants were women with children aged 1-7 years. Eight hundred and fifty-seven women before and 1,268 women after the health education intervention participated in the study. The statistical analysis was carried out with chi-square tests and one-...
Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle which requires energy expenditure is known as phy... more Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle which requires energy expenditure is known as physical activity (PA). WHO has recommended that at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity PA or a combination of both per week is required for health benefits. Physical inactivity is one of the strongest risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and other conditions and is attributable to 6% of global premature death. However, data on the PA of teachers are unavailable in Nepal. They are considered one of the risk groups for NCDs because of the less active nature of their job. So, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the educational intervention based on the theory of planned behaviour on PA intention among secondary school teachers in Bhaktapur district, Nepal. For this study, we recruited 126 teachers from 6 schools. Each intervention and control group contained three randomly selected secondary schools. All the teachers from the selected schools were enro...
Behavioral risk factors, particularly the major four- tobacco consumption, harmful use of alcohol... more Behavioral risk factors, particularly the major four- tobacco consumption, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity- are accountable for a major proportion of cardiovascular disease burden. Driven by urbanization and globalization, these risk factors are rising in many of the low- income countries including Nepal. Population-based surveys and hospital reports indicate cardiovascular diseases are rising in Nepal. The first countrywide WHO-STEPS risk factor survey conducted in 2007-2008 showed that 23.8% are daily smokers, 28.5% are current drinkers, and 61.9% consumed less than five servings of fruits and vegetables, while 5.5% had low physical activity. Risk factors are generally more prevalent in urban areas than rural. We aimed to study the status of these behavioural risk factors in a community that is rapidly undergoing transition from a village to an urban community. We conducted the study in Duwakot and Jhaukhel, two urbanizing villages 13 kilometers from...
<p><i>Note</i>: <i>P</i>-values are for test for differences in pre... more <p><i>Note</i>: <i>P</i>-values are for test for differences in prevalence</p><p>Prevalence (%) of behavioral and biological risk factors for selected non-communicable diseases among aged 15–69 years.</p
Background Mothers with young children in the peri-urban Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surv... more Background Mothers with young children in the peri-urban Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance site of Bhaktapur district have misconceptions and poor behavioural practice regarding diet and physical activity. We developed the Hearthealth Associated Research, Dissemination and Intervention in the Community trial - a health promotion intervention for mothers. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the intervention's feasibility, acceptability, potential for transferability and scaling up, and to determine its immediate outcome. Method Duwakot and Jhaukhel were randomly selected as the intervention and control communities, respectively. We trained 47 peer mothers from Duwakot, each of whom gave classes with 10 fellow mothers of their neighbourhood. The process evaluation was carried out on a continuous basis at different points of the intervention held from August to November 2016. Result In round one, the participation and completion rates were both >...
BACKGROUND Over the centuries, the world has witnessed alcohol use as a common phenomenon among t... more BACKGROUND Over the centuries, the world has witnessed alcohol use as a common phenomenon among the male population. Owing to the vulnerability of women towards alcohol and its possible consequences on women as well as children when pregnant or lactating mothers drink alcohol, there is utmost need to know the alcohol use among this population. The study sought to assess alcohol use among the Nepalese women aged 15-69 years. METHODS It was a sub-set analysis of 2807 women aged 15-69 years, extracted from a data of national cross-sectional study, NCD Risk Factors: STEPS Survey Nepal 2013 carried out among 4200 adults in 2013 using a multistage cluster sampling. Data collected in personal digital assistants using WHO NCD STEPS instrument version 2.2 were transferred to Microsoft Excel, cleaned in SPSS 16.0, and analyzed in STATA 13.0. RESULTS We reported 11.7% (95% CI: 9.5-14.3) ever users of alcohol, 9.4% (95% CI: 7.4-11.7) last 12 months alcohol users, 7.1% (95% CI: 5.2-9.0) current ...
<p>*statistically significant confidence interval</p><p><sup>a</sup>... more <p>*statistically significant confidence interval</p><p><sup>a</sup> The number of risk factors was the dependent variable. Each RR reflects the risk of having <i>x</i> or more risk factors versus having fewer against the risk in the reference group. Hence, the ARR represents the average effect of the covariate on the risk of having <i>x</i> number of risk factors or more.</p><p>Mean number of behavioral or biological risk factors for non-communicable diseases and independent effects of covariates on risk factor clustering in individuals.</p
IntroductionUncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseas... more IntroductionUncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease and death in Low-income and middle-income countries. Improvements to medication adherence and lifestyle changes can be assisted by using mobile phone text messaging interventions. This study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of a text messaging intervention for blood pressure control ‘(TEXT4BP)’, developed based on behavioural change theory to improve treatment adherence and lifestyle change among hypertensive patients in Nepal.Methods and analysisThe TEXT4BP intervention will be tested using a two-arm parallel-group, unblinded, individually randomised controlled trial. This feasibility study would recruit 200 clinically diagnosed hypertensive patients aged 18–69 years, currently receiving blood pressure-lowering medication for more than 3 months, visiting a tertiary healthcare facility in Kathmandu, Nepal. A nested qualitative study will assess the acceptability of the sh...
Introduction: Tobacco smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factors for noncommun... more Introduction: Tobacco smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. It has been seen that medical students have a higher frequency of smokingcompared to the general population. This study aims to determine the prevalence of smoking amongthird-year medical students in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the hospital’s third-yearundergraduate medical students over a four-month period (October 2019 to January 2020). Ethicalclearance was received from the Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu Medical Collegeand Teaching Hospital. The whole sampling technique was used to collect data. The Global HealthProfessional Students Survey questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was done in thestatistical package for social sciences. Results: The prevalence of current smoking among selected medical students of Kathmandu MedicalCollege and Teaching Hospital i...
Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases has increased in the last few decades in low-... more Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases has increased in the last few decades in low-and middle-income countries including in Nepal. There is limited data on population based prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Hence, this study aims to determine the nationwide prevalence of selected chronic non-communicable diseases in Nepal.Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional population-based study was conducted from 2016 to 2018. Data was collected electronically on android device inbuilt with research and monitoring software from 13200 eligible participants aged 20 years and above. Data was cleaned in SPSS version 20.0 and analyzed using Stata version 13.1.Results: The overall prevalence of selected non-communicable diseases was found to be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 11.7% (95% CI: 10.5-12.9), diabetes mellitus 8.5% (95% CI: 7.8-9.3), chronic kidney disease 6.0% (95% CI: 5.5-6.6) and coronary artery disease 2.9% (95% CI: 2.4-3.4) in Nepal. Prevalence of non-communic...
Hypertension is now a public health problem worldwide. Studies done in the past and in the recent... more Hypertension is now a public health problem worldwide. Studies done in the past and in the recent times in Nepal indicate a rising epidemic here as well. Salt is one of the factors always associated with high blood pressure. The article attempts to review this relation, particularly in the context of Nepal. It also touches upon the controversies surrounding salt and blood pressure, and ends with recom-mendations on reducing salt in the diet.
<p><i>*2 refused to answer hence total response is 4</i>,<i>141</i>... more <p><i>*2 refused to answer hence total response is 4</i>,<i>141</i></p><p>Characteristics of participants enrolled in the study.</p
Background: People who are obese have a higher risk of acquiring many severe diseases. Feeding pr... more Background: People who are obese have a higher risk of acquiring many severe diseases. Feeding preferences and physical activities are deemed to play an important role in obesity in children. Objectives: This study aimed to find out the prevalence of over nutrition among primary level children in selected private schools of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). It also assessed the impact of physical activity level and feeding preferences on their nutritional status. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was done among 488 children and their parents, in six schools of KMC between May and August 2016. Children with written permission were included in the study, while absentees or hostel dwellers were excluded. Multistage cluster sampling was used for sampling. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu Medical College Public Limited and informed consent was taken from all participants. The questionnaire contained questions regarding socio-demo...
High prevalence of behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) warrants a life cours... more High prevalence of behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) warrants a life course approach for efficient prevention. Our previous HARDIC trial in semi-urban Nepal shows conventional CVD educational interventions for mothers improved knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP). Digital cardiovascular health promotion provides opportunities to efficiently reach adolescents. Our aim was therefore to develop such digital health promotion through a serious game that is educational and entertaining, as an innovative way to reach adolescents. We conducted a mixed-method study to assess adolescents’ KAP and perception regarding CVD, explored opportunities for digital cardiovascular health promotion, and developed a concept for a serious game prototype. In total, 649 adolescents grades 8-10 in two government and seven private schools in a semi-urban community of Nepal were surveyed cross-sectionally following parental consent. A self-administered questionnaire assessed KAP of CV...
Background Sense of coherence (SOC) is a core concept of salutogenesis which relates to individua... more Background Sense of coherence (SOC) is a core concept of salutogenesis which relates to individuals’ overall life orientation. Stronger SOC associates with better coping strategies, better health, and better quality of life. Although the SOC-questionnaire is validated in many cultures and languages, it has not, to date, been applied in Nepal. Objective To determine and evaluate women’s SOC before and after a health education intervention. Method This study was conducted as a part of the Heart-health Associated Research, Dissemination, and Intervention in the Community in the semi-urban Jhaukhel- Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance Site in Nepal. Jhaukhel and Duwakot were selected as the control and intervention areas, respectively. Participants were women with children aged 1-7 years. Eight hundred and fifty-seven women before and 1,268 women after the health education intervention participated in the study. The statistical analysis was carried out with chi-square tests and one-...
Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle which requires energy expenditure is known as phy... more Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle which requires energy expenditure is known as physical activity (PA). WHO has recommended that at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity PA or a combination of both per week is required for health benefits. Physical inactivity is one of the strongest risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and other conditions and is attributable to 6% of global premature death. However, data on the PA of teachers are unavailable in Nepal. They are considered one of the risk groups for NCDs because of the less active nature of their job. So, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the educational intervention based on the theory of planned behaviour on PA intention among secondary school teachers in Bhaktapur district, Nepal. For this study, we recruited 126 teachers from 6 schools. Each intervention and control group contained three randomly selected secondary schools. All the teachers from the selected schools were enro...
Behavioral risk factors, particularly the major four- tobacco consumption, harmful use of alcohol... more Behavioral risk factors, particularly the major four- tobacco consumption, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity- are accountable for a major proportion of cardiovascular disease burden. Driven by urbanization and globalization, these risk factors are rising in many of the low- income countries including Nepal. Population-based surveys and hospital reports indicate cardiovascular diseases are rising in Nepal. The first countrywide WHO-STEPS risk factor survey conducted in 2007-2008 showed that 23.8% are daily smokers, 28.5% are current drinkers, and 61.9% consumed less than five servings of fruits and vegetables, while 5.5% had low physical activity. Risk factors are generally more prevalent in urban areas than rural. We aimed to study the status of these behavioural risk factors in a community that is rapidly undergoing transition from a village to an urban community. We conducted the study in Duwakot and Jhaukhel, two urbanizing villages 13 kilometers from...
<p><i>Note</i>: <i>P</i>-values are for test for differences in pre... more <p><i>Note</i>: <i>P</i>-values are for test for differences in prevalence</p><p>Prevalence (%) of behavioral and biological risk factors for selected non-communicable diseases among aged 15–69 years.</p
Background Mothers with young children in the peri-urban Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surv... more Background Mothers with young children in the peri-urban Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance site of Bhaktapur district have misconceptions and poor behavioural practice regarding diet and physical activity. We developed the Hearthealth Associated Research, Dissemination and Intervention in the Community trial - a health promotion intervention for mothers. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the intervention's feasibility, acceptability, potential for transferability and scaling up, and to determine its immediate outcome. Method Duwakot and Jhaukhel were randomly selected as the intervention and control communities, respectively. We trained 47 peer mothers from Duwakot, each of whom gave classes with 10 fellow mothers of their neighbourhood. The process evaluation was carried out on a continuous basis at different points of the intervention held from August to November 2016. Result In round one, the participation and completion rates were both >...
BACKGROUND Over the centuries, the world has witnessed alcohol use as a common phenomenon among t... more BACKGROUND Over the centuries, the world has witnessed alcohol use as a common phenomenon among the male population. Owing to the vulnerability of women towards alcohol and its possible consequences on women as well as children when pregnant or lactating mothers drink alcohol, there is utmost need to know the alcohol use among this population. The study sought to assess alcohol use among the Nepalese women aged 15-69 years. METHODS It was a sub-set analysis of 2807 women aged 15-69 years, extracted from a data of national cross-sectional study, NCD Risk Factors: STEPS Survey Nepal 2013 carried out among 4200 adults in 2013 using a multistage cluster sampling. Data collected in personal digital assistants using WHO NCD STEPS instrument version 2.2 were transferred to Microsoft Excel, cleaned in SPSS 16.0, and analyzed in STATA 13.0. RESULTS We reported 11.7% (95% CI: 9.5-14.3) ever users of alcohol, 9.4% (95% CI: 7.4-11.7) last 12 months alcohol users, 7.1% (95% CI: 5.2-9.0) current ...
<p>*statistically significant confidence interval</p><p><sup>a</sup>... more <p>*statistically significant confidence interval</p><p><sup>a</sup> The number of risk factors was the dependent variable. Each RR reflects the risk of having <i>x</i> or more risk factors versus having fewer against the risk in the reference group. Hence, the ARR represents the average effect of the covariate on the risk of having <i>x</i> number of risk factors or more.</p><p>Mean number of behavioral or biological risk factors for non-communicable diseases and independent effects of covariates on risk factor clustering in individuals.</p
IntroductionUncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseas... more IntroductionUncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease and death in Low-income and middle-income countries. Improvements to medication adherence and lifestyle changes can be assisted by using mobile phone text messaging interventions. This study aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of a text messaging intervention for blood pressure control ‘(TEXT4BP)’, developed based on behavioural change theory to improve treatment adherence and lifestyle change among hypertensive patients in Nepal.Methods and analysisThe TEXT4BP intervention will be tested using a two-arm parallel-group, unblinded, individually randomised controlled trial. This feasibility study would recruit 200 clinically diagnosed hypertensive patients aged 18–69 years, currently receiving blood pressure-lowering medication for more than 3 months, visiting a tertiary healthcare facility in Kathmandu, Nepal. A nested qualitative study will assess the acceptability of the sh...
Introduction: Tobacco smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factors for noncommun... more Introduction: Tobacco smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. It has been seen that medical students have a higher frequency of smokingcompared to the general population. This study aims to determine the prevalence of smoking amongthird-year medical students in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Nepal. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the hospital’s third-yearundergraduate medical students over a four-month period (October 2019 to January 2020). Ethicalclearance was received from the Institutional Review Committee of Kathmandu Medical Collegeand Teaching Hospital. The whole sampling technique was used to collect data. The Global HealthProfessional Students Survey questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was done in thestatistical package for social sciences. Results: The prevalence of current smoking among selected medical students of Kathmandu MedicalCollege and Teaching Hospital i...
Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases has increased in the last few decades in low-... more Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases has increased in the last few decades in low-and middle-income countries including in Nepal. There is limited data on population based prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Hence, this study aims to determine the nationwide prevalence of selected chronic non-communicable diseases in Nepal.Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional population-based study was conducted from 2016 to 2018. Data was collected electronically on android device inbuilt with research and monitoring software from 13200 eligible participants aged 20 years and above. Data was cleaned in SPSS version 20.0 and analyzed using Stata version 13.1.Results: The overall prevalence of selected non-communicable diseases was found to be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 11.7% (95% CI: 10.5-12.9), diabetes mellitus 8.5% (95% CI: 7.8-9.3), chronic kidney disease 6.0% (95% CI: 5.5-6.6) and coronary artery disease 2.9% (95% CI: 2.4-3.4) in Nepal. Prevalence of non-communic...
Hypertension is now a public health problem worldwide. Studies done in the past and in the recent... more Hypertension is now a public health problem worldwide. Studies done in the past and in the recent times in Nepal indicate a rising epidemic here as well. Salt is one of the factors always associated with high blood pressure. The article attempts to review this relation, particularly in the context of Nepal. It also touches upon the controversies surrounding salt and blood pressure, and ends with recom-mendations on reducing salt in the diet.
Uploads
Papers by Abhinav Vaidya MD PhD