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Background: Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted parasitic infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) advocated flow charts for curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to improve the care. In this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the validity and reliability of WHO syndromic algorithm for vaginal discharge against trichomonas immunochromatographic test (ICT). Trichomonas ICT is a test with high validity, reliability, and feasibility. Objectives: The objective was to evaluate the validity and reliability of WHO syndromic algorithm for vaginal discharge against trichomonas ICT as a screening tool for trichomonas infection among women of reproductive age in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in sexually transmitted disease clinics, well woman clinics, gynecology clinics, and institutional health clinics in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. We enrolled 100 women in the age group of 15-45 years using the stratified random sampling method. They were interviewed and examined and the specimens were collected to identify trichomoniasis by culture and ICT. Two-stage analyses were done to evaluate the performance of the WHO algorithm against Trichomonas ICT. Results: In a two-stage analysis, the specificity of syndromic algorithm improved from 80.9% to 94.4% while false positive rate reduced from 19.1% to 5.6%. The net effect of specificity was 98.7% while the false positive rate was 1.3%. Conclusion: The validity and reliability of WHO syndromic algorithm as a diagnostic tool for trichomoniasis can be improved by adding trichomonas ICT.

Background: The point prevalence of depressive disorders in the elderly population in India varies from 13 to 25%. Since the World Health Organization (five) Well-being Index (1998 version) is simple and easy to administer, an attempt is made to evaluate the Indian version of this instrument to identify depression in the elderly Indian community. Objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of depression among the elderly population of rural areas of Udupi district, Karnataka, India. (2) To determine the validity and reliability of WHO (five) Well-being Index (1998 version) as a screening instrument to identify depressive disorders in elderly population in this Indian setting. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of eight months (from March 1 to October 31, 2002) in the three taluks of Udupi, Kundapura, and Karkala; belonging to the Udupi district of South India. We selected 627 people in the age group of 60 years and above for the study. Simple random sampling, without replacement method, using the probability proportionate to size (PPS) technique was used. The WHO (five) well-being index (1998 version) was validated against the major International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) depression inventory of mastering depression in primary care version 2.2. Proportions and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated and Kappa statistics was applied to determine the reliability of the screening instrument. P value

The prevalence of bronchial asthma appears to have increased continuously since the 1970s, and bronchial asthma now affects an estimated 4 to 7% of people worldwide. Trends in childhood bronchial asthma from population-based prevalence and routine statistics in India were reviewed. The prevalence of bronchial asthma increased in a secular trend. The prevalence of a life-time diagnosis of bronchial asthma increased in all age groups. The incidence of new childhood bronchial asthma episodes increased. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma in India. Problem Statement: Bronchial asthma prevalence studies lack consistency, possibly because of the ill-defined diagnostic criteria and non standardized study protocols. From some of the important community survey reports, the median prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma in India was determined to be 3.3% (with IQR = 2.3-13.8%). Conclusion: Research during recent years suggests that the prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma has been on the rise. Due to a lack of nationally representative data on the prevalence, risk factors, and prognosis of the disease, there is an urgent need for more public health research in this direction.

A study on psychiatric morbidity in Kukundoor village of Karkala taluk, Karnataka by Ajay K.T. (1999)(1), using the SCAN 2.1 version (WHO, 1998) questionnaire, determined a one-month point prevalence of 63.8% of mental disorders. This was the fi rst study conducted using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) for screening mental health problems in adult population of Karkala.

Correspondence to: Dr. Ankur Barua, Department of Community Medicine, Sikkim-Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS), 5th Mile Tadong, Gangtok 737 102, Sikkim, India. E-mail: ankurbarua26@yahoo.com Received: 17.05.04 All the aspects of “health status”, “life style”, “life satisfaction”, “mental state” or “well-being” together reflect the multi-daimensional nature of Quality of Life in an individual.(1,2) Geriatric mental health problems with respect to the quality of life often remains neglected.(3-5) Hence, this mental health study was conducted to explore the different domains of quality of Life affected by sociodemographic factors in elderly population.

1. While psychiatric disorders in total have a worldwide prevalence of 32.5%, schizophrenia has a prevalence of 1.5% (worldwide). The prevalence of schizophrenia in India is about 1%, this may be due to diagnostic drawbacks rather than decreased number of cases 2 . The etiological factors involved in the pathogenesis of the disease include genetic predisposition (60% concordance rates in monozygotic twins), family environment (presence of stressors & disease among other family members), viral infection (inconclusive proof), cerebral infections and neurotransmitter disturbances 2,3,4 . This study was conducted with on objective to study the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients suffering from schizophrenia and related psychoses in a Mangalore hospital.

Background: The number of studies from India on geriatric health problems, particularly mental health disorders and quality of life, is limited. Aim: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the geriatric population visiting the Dr T.M.A. Pai Rotary Hospital, Karkala, Karnataka. It examined the different domains of quality of life according to sociodemographic variables. Methods: We studied 70 individuals in the geriatric age group (≥60 years) who visited the hospital over a period of two months from March 2003 to April 2003. The results were expressed in terms of mean and SE of mean. Z-test and one-way ANOVA test were applied to compare the mean scores of different variables under the four domains. A p value