Prevalence and temporal shifts of various diseases in a closed community: A clinical study from a public sector university
Keywords:
Diseases, prevalence, seasonal variation,, female community.Abstract
Epidemiological studies are of significant concern in the field of public health. Though an ample
account of such studies is available from teaching and non teaching medical institutions (basic health
units, rural health centers and hospitals established at district level by local government), no such data
is available from any public/private sector university. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify
temporal variations in health problems of female students from a public sector university. In this cross
sectional study, the data for more than 4000 female students of age 20 to 25 years coming to medical
centre of the university during the year 2010 was recorded. The records indicated that the maximum
number of patients was encountered during the month of March. Among the females, upper respiratory
tract infections were of higher prevalence followed by allergic rhinitis/spasm particularly during winter
(December, January and February) and early spring (March). The prevalence of various ailments and
temporal variations were found to be highly significant (P< 0.001 for both). The study clearly signified
that occurrence of most of the aliments for instance scabies can be attributed to overcrowding and bad
personal hygiene. It also became evident that certain ailments were related to mental tensions such as
acid peptic disease while others (anemia and gastrointestinal disorders) were due to nutritional
imbalance poor hygienic conditions and low quality diet. The findings suggested that living conditions
of the community should be improved and awareness among masses regarding personal health and
hygiene should be created by involving professionals to conduct lectures and seminars. Moreover, the
centre should be well equipped with proper diagnostic facilities for efficient working. Furthermore, an
overall increase in health budget is pivotal to raise health care standards of the institution.
