This study was conducted to assess the traumatic impact of the second wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on depression, anxiety, stress, sleep quality, mental well-being, and resilience among the general population of India. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in May-June, 2021 via Google Forms, which included adult individuals who were willing to participate in the study. The purposive and snowball sampling technique was used to ensure the principle of maximum diversity. Standardised tools [Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Impact of Event-Revised (IES-R), Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS), and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)] were used to collect data. A total of 1,109 responses were analysed for this study. Participants of different age groups (mean age: 32.98 ±14.72 years) and different sociodemographics were enrolled. The younger population group (18-34 years) was found to be the most affected among all the age groups. The findings revealed that 44.18% showed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms. About 48.87%, 65.56%, and 22.09% of the participants had significant depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms respectively, and 11.27% had disturbed sleep patterns. Mental well-being was found to be disturbed for 74.75% of the study population, out of which only 4.15% showed high resilience capacity. The associated collective psychological trauma mapped out by this paper is a pandemic in itself and needs to be addressed on a scale similar to the efforts being made to curb the physical symptoms of COVID-19.

This study assessed the safety and efficacy of deep tissue laser therapy on the management of pain, functionality, systemic inflammation, and overall quality of life of older adults with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The effects of deep tissue laser therapy (DTLT) were assessed in a randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled, interventional trial. Forty participants were randomized (1:1) to receive either DTLT or sham laser therapy (SLT). In addition to the standard-of-care treatment, participants received either DTLT or SLT twice weekly for 4 weeks and then once weekly for 8 weeks (a 12-week intervention period). The two treatments were identical, except that laser emission was disabled during SLT. Assessments for pain, functionality, serum levels of inflammatory biomarkers, and quality of life (QOL) were performed at baseline and after the 12-week intervention period. The results from the two treatments were compared using ANOVA in a pre-test-post-test design. All participants randomized to the DTLT group and 85% (17 of 20) of participants randomized to the SLT group completed the trial. No significant differences in baseline characteristics between the groups were observed. After the 12-week intervention period, pain levels significantly decreased in both groups and were significantly lower in the DTLT group than in the SLT group. The Timed Up and Go test times (assessing functionality) were significantly improved in both groups and were 16% shorter in the DTLT group than in the SLT group. Serum levels of IL-6 decreased significantly in both groups. Additionally, serum levels of MCP-1 decreased significantly in the DTLT group but not in the SLT group. Patients’ quality of life improved significantly in the DTLT group but not in the SLT group. Deep tissue laser therapy significantly reduced pain and improved the quality of life of older patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Clinical Trial Registry-India CTRI/2017/06/008739 . [Registered on: 02/06/2017]. The trial was registered retrospectively.

BACKGROUND: The world is worsely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Increased mortality has been observed in older adults with multiple comorbidities. Six-minute walk distance (6MWD) at admission can help us to guide the requirement of oxygen during hospital stay that can be used to determine which patient can be managed at home. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a prospective observational study conducted on COVID-19 patients admitted at AIIMS, New Delhi, from October to December 2020. Patients aged more than 60 years were included in the study and underwent 6-min walk tests. Polypharmacy and multimorbidity were also assessed along with dyspnea which was measured on BORG scale. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Statistical software STATA (version 14.2) was used for all the analyses. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 68.76 (7.4). Oxygen saturation prior to the 6-MWT was normal and has significantly higher than the post test ( P ≤ 0.001). 6MWD was significantly correlated with pre values of oxygen saturation. 6MWD was observed more in patients who did not require oxygen during hospital stay. Self-reported dyspnea, pulse rate, oxygen saturation, and systolic blood pressure were significantly associated with the patients who had an oxygen requirement during the hospital stay. CONCLUSION: Self-reported dyspnea after 6MWT was found to be associated with oxygen requirement during hospital stay. Patients who have covered more distance in 6-min walk test have less oxygen requirement during hospital stay hence can be managed at home. This will reduce the health-care burden and will help to tackle the outburst during the ongoing pandemic.

COVID-19 has infected millions of people across the globe, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Currently, there are no vaccines available for COVID-19, and the most effective way to curb its spread is to follow preventive practices. The present study aimed to assess the extent of adoption of preventive practices among the general population in India. A web-based cross-sectional survey was carried out recruiting 964 participants from all over India through purposive sampling. A pre-validated questionnaire consisting of 37 questions was used to collect data. Items 1A to 18A covered various preventive practices and items 1B to 19B covered reasons for not following those preventive practices. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted. Most participants reported taking precautions such as wearing masks (91.80%), covering both nose and mouth (79.14%) and avoiding hand shaking (83.40%). However, practices like following social distancing in public places (51.76%) and workplace (51.04%), frequent hand washing/sanitising (63.59%) and washing hands for at least 20 seconds (45.44%) were less commonly observed. Participants failed to follow social distancing because of overcrowding and lack of space. They also found it cumbersome to wash hands multiple times. Female participants and people residing in metropolitan and small cities were fairly doing well in following preventive practices. The study helped in identifying the glitches in following various preventive practices against COVID-19 during unlock phase and reasons for the failure to perform these practices.

Background: Geriatric syndromes (GS) are multi‐factorial conditions that make older adults vulnerable to morbidities and poor outcomes. The main objective was to observe the frequency of GS in older patients with COPD.Methods: A case‐control study was conducted in the Geriatric department of a tertiary care hospital in India to evaluate geriatric syndromes including falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, functional impairment, urinary incontinence, malnutrition, and depression in patients with COPD and controls without COPD. The factors having a significant association with the occurrence of these GS in COPD patients were observed.Results: In this study, 150 cases and 150 controls were included. The mean age of the participant was 65.85±5.54, with 76% males. Functional impairment, cognitive impairment, frailty, urinary incontinence, and malnutrition were significantly higher in COPD patients. The independent variables which increased the odds of geriatric syndromes were dyspnoea (≥2 mMRC grade) (AOR:3.54,95% CI:1.06‐11.8) and low socioeconomic status (AOR: 4.14, 95% CI: 1.03‐16.54), while male gender showed inverse association (AOR: 0.08,95% CI: 0.01‐0.99).Conclusion: Geriatric syndromes are common in older COPD patients, and assessment for them should be done routinely in these patients.