Indian pediatrics
-
Adolescents among the urban and rural poor have a high incidence of chronic energy deficiency (CED) and anemia, more so in girls than in boys. Adolescent pregnancies (15-19 years) contribute to 19% of total fertility in India and record the highest maternal mortality rates. ⋯ Low birth weight is the major adverse outcome for the infant and an important determinant of increased child mortality. There is a lack of data for long term follow up of infants of adolescent mothers versus mothers 20 years and above, and more specifically, in the urban poor setting, an emerging concern.
-
This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of neonatal research published in major Indian journals. Four indexed Indian journals were scanned for topics pertaining to neonatology and the manuscripts were evaluated for the most important morbidity studied and its relevance to the national need. The analytical studies were evaluated for their quality of research methodology. ⋯ Although aims of the studies were clearly defined in 81%, sample size estimation was done in only 11%, blinding in 15% and one or more category of bias was seen in 84% of the studies. We conclude that there is an urgent need for interventional and community based studies in neonatology, on issues of national interest. A need was felt for improvement in the quality of research in neonatology with special emphasis on training in clinical epidemiology.