Browsing by Author "Unnikrishnan, B"
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Publication Prevalence and Factors Associated with Current Smoking Among Medical Students in Coastal South India(Kathmandu University, 2011) Ganesh Kumar, S; Subba, SH; Unnikrishnan, B; Jain, A; Badiger, SABSTRACT Background Smoking among health care personnel such as medical students is an important public health issue. More effective measures to reduce tobacco smoking among medical students are needed worldwide. Very few studies had been conducted in past in India and other developing countries to understand the magnitude of problem. Objectives To determine the prevalence and associated factors of current smoking among medical students. Methods Cross sectional study was conducted during January and February 2009 among 333 study subjects selected randomly from four batches of a teaching institution. Subjects were administered a self administered pre tested questionnaire and smoking status was assessed as per the criteria laid down by WHO. Proportion, chi square test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results The prevalence of current smoking was found to be 22.4% (67). There were widespread deficiencies in knowledge of smoking among students of different classes, as an important causal factor in many diseases like gastro intestinal malignancy, heart problems, asthma, and emphysema. It was found that only half of them were willing to quit smoking (33). Fourth year students (OR=2.54) and presence of peer pressure (OR=21.91) had independent significant association with current smoking. Conclusion Prevalence of smoking among medical students is high that warrants adoption of comprehensive smoking control interventions among them. KEYWORDS Knowledge, Peer pressure, Prevalence, Smoking,Publication Trends of acute poisoning in south Karnataka(Kathmandu University, 2005) Unnikrishnan, B; Singh, B; Rajeev, ABackground: In recent times poisoning with agricultural chemicals either accidental or suicidal has become common due to easy availability and low cost. So it has become essential to find out the burden of poisoning to the victims, family and to hospital and morbidity and mortality among the victims. Aims: To determine the trends of poisoning along with various parameters such as mode of poisoning, type of poison used, outcome of the poisoning, the most vulnerable age group, occupation of the victim, and the marital status. Method: A 5 year retrospective study in which all the patients of acute poisoning admitted to Govt. Wenlock Hospital, Mangalore during the period from 1st Jan 1999 to 31st December 2003 were included. A total of 546 cases were admitted due to acute pois oning during the study period. Results: Three hundred and eighty (69.6%) males and one hundred and sixty six (30.4%) females were admitted to the hospital due to poisoning. Organophosphates were the most commonly used suicidal poison irrespective of age, sex and occupation of the victim. There were two hundred and thirty five cases of male suicidal poisoning and one hundred and twenty six female cases of suicidal poisoning. Majority of poisoning cases were seen in manual labourers. The increasing trend of poisoning was observed for the period of 1999 to 2003 except for the year of 2003. Conclusion: The study highlights about the problem of poisoning in the region. Since the majority of the victims of the poisoning are from low socio economic status. There is economic burden on the family members of the victim of poisoning as the earning member of the family becomes ill (for treatment), dies (loss of earning member) and also emotional setback and disturbance. Keywords: Poison, Organophosphates, manual labourers, suicide.