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Aim: To find the prevalence of self-reported diabetes mellitus (DM) in rural Kerala.Methodology: Interview schedule was used to collect the information on pre-designed and pre-tested proforma. Self-reported DM was taken as outcome measure. All these patients were diagnosed by their respective physicians and were on anti-diabetic drugs. Body weight was measured to the nearest 1 kg using bathroom scale; while height was measured using a nonstretchable tape to the nearest 1 mm. Standard classification of obesity and waist circumference was used.Results: The present cross-sectional study was carried out in the Venganoor village of Kerala. Four hundred and sixty four subjects, 64.4% women and 35.6% men, were selected randomly. Nearly half of the subjects were in the age range of 25-54 years, while about one-third of the subjects were over 55 years. Among the men, 38.5% were ever smokers, while 5.5% were in the habit of consuming alcohol. 27.8% of the subjects were found to be obese, while 20.3% of the subjects reported raised waist circumference. The level of physical activity in the majority of the subjects was either sedentary or mild. On multivariate analysis, increasing age was found to be significantly associated with self-reported diabetes (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.04-1.09). The other factors namely sex, smoking habit, alcohol use, obesity, waist circumference and physical activity were found to be statistically nonsignificant.Conclusion: The prevalence of self-reported diabetes was found to be 13.1% and that it was seen to be associated with increasing age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tobacco consumption, either in smokeless form or as smoking, is reported to be responsible for major non-communicable diseases, namely, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cancers. Whatsoever control strategy is being used, the community participation is of utmost importance, which will depend largely on the level of the knowledge in the community., Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitude of a rural community towards the harmful effects of tobacco use., Setting and Design: Venganoor Gram Panchayat of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala; cross-sectional study., Materials and Methods: Interview schedule was used to collect the information on pre-designed and pre-tested proforma. The information recorded, included the demographic characteristics and socio-economic characteristics. The awareness regarding tobacco use and the attitude towards its non-usage was done, by putting forward, open and closed-ended questions., Statistical Analysis: Percentages and proportions; t-test; chi-square test., Results: The present study included 302 (64.7%) females and 165 (35.3%) males. Among the males, 44 (38.5%) were ever smokers. Though 451 (96.6%) of the subjects knew that tobacco use is harmful for health, only 101 (22.5%) of the subjects knew that it causes cardiovascular diseases. Electronic and print media were the common source of such knowledge being reported by 265 (58.7%) and 202 (44.7%) subjects, respectively., Conclusions: The subjects were aware about the harmful effects of tobacco use. However, more efforts are needed to make them aware about the role of tobacco smoking and chewing, in causing cardiac problems.