Rajat Das Gupta | James p Grant school of public Health (original) (raw)

Published Articles by Rajat Das Gupta

Like other developing countries, Nepal is currently going through epidemiological transition alon... more Like other developing countries, Nepal is currently going through epidemiological transition along with rising burden of Non-communicable Diseases. However, since 2013, no study investigated the prevalence and determinants of hypertension in Nepal involving nationally representative sample. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the current prevalence of hypertension in Nepal and its determinants using the latest nationally representative data obtained from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2016. The NDHS 2016 collected data on hypertension from 13,304 men and women aged 18 years and above from 5,520 urban and 5,970 rural households covering seven administrative provinces and three ecological zones. Participants were considered as hypertensive when their systolic blood pressure was !140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure was !90 mmHg and/or they reported taking antihypertensive medication. A total of 19.9% study participants were diagnosed as hypertensive of which majority were male (male-24.3%, female-16.9%), ever married (ever married-21.7%, unmarried-6.1%) and residents of urban area (urban-20.9%, rural-18.3%). Hypertension prevalence has shown growing trend with the increase of age. This prevalence was also higher among rich and overweight/obese individuals. In multivari-able logistic regression analysis, older age, male gender, better education, residence at urban area and province 4 and 5 and being overweight/obese were found positive association with having hypertension. When the determinants of hypertension were stratified by sex of the participants, difference was observed in case of age group, education and place of residence. As one out of every five individuals in Nepal are hypertensive, public health initiatives are immediately required for prevention and control of hypertension to reduce mortality and morbidity associated with this progressive disease.

This review aimed to compare Bangladesh's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) monitoring framework wi... more This review aimed to compare Bangladesh's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) monitoring framework with the global-level recommendations and to find out the existing gaps of Bangladesh's UHC monitoring framework compared to the global recommendations. In order to reach the aims of the review, we systematically searched two electronic databases-PubMed and Google Scholar-by using appropriate keywords to select articles that describe issues related to UHC and the monitoring framework of UHC applied globally and particularly in Bangladesh. Four relevant documents were found and synthesized. The review found that Bangladesh incorporated all of the recommendations suggested by the global monitoring framework regarding mentoring the financial risk protection and equity perspective. However, a significant gap in the monitoring framework related to service coverage was observed. Although Bangladesh has a significant burden of mental illnesses, cataract, and neglected tropical diseases, indicators related to these issues were absent in Bangladesh's UHC framework. Moreover, palliative-care-related indicators were completely missing in the framework. The results of this review suggest that Bangladesh should incorporate these indicators in their UHC monitoring framework in order to track the progress of the country toward UHC more efficiently and in a robust way.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between husband involvement and m... more Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between husband involvement and maternal awareness and knowledge of newborn danger signs. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three rural hospitals of Bangladesh among the recently delivered women (RDW). Results: RDW were interviewed to determine their knowledge and understanding of seven key neonatal danger signs. About 51.4% of the respondents were able to identify at least one danger sign. 'Fever' was the most correctly identified (43.7%), and hypothermia was the least (26.1%) identified danger sign. The factors associated with RDW possessing knowledge of at least one neonatal danger sign were: secondary education (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.6), increased ANC visits (COR: 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.3), previous history of facility delivery (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.4), and husband involvement in the mother's facility delivery (COR: 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.5). RDW were more likely to recall at least one newborn danger sign (AOR: 1.2, 95% CI 1.1–1.4) when the husband was actively involved in his wife's antenatal, delivery and postnatal care. In conclusion, this study found that husband involvement was significantly associated with the maternal knowledge related to identification of neonatal danger signs.

Introduction: The worldwide prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is increasing day b... more Introduction: The worldwide prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is increasing day by day. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding the effect of ethnic and geographical distribution on the risk of developing Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in women with history of GDM. This review was conducted to find out the role of ethnic and geographical distribution on the risk of developing DM is women with GDM. Areas covered: In this review we conducted a comprehensive search of published studies through different electronic databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL, CINAHL plus and EMBASE) published between 1990 and 2017. The studies which were published in English investigated the risk of development of DM in women with previous history of GDM, reported outcome according to ethnicity with specific criteria of reporting DM and GDM, reported development of diabetes after 6 month of delivery in women with GDM during pregnancy were included. Initially, 350 articles were identified, among which 16 articles were included in the final review. Expert commentary: Studies showed the increased risk of developing subsequent DM is associated with precedent GDM. Around 7-84% women developed diabetes after GDM in five years follow up, where some studies reported the risk continues to increase with increasing age. Risk of DM was found higher for some specific ethnicities, irrespective of the location of the study conducted. East Indian women showed the highest risk of postpartum DM after GDM and the crude prevalence remained almost similar in all form of study worldwide. Public health programme should focus more on women belonging to high-risk ethnicity of GDM for the prevention of postpartum DM.

Medical Thoughts Inside, Aug 28, 2014

Journal of Pioneering Medical Sciences Blog, Jun 11, 2014

Journal Papers by Rajat Das Gupta

Elderly people suffer from different morbidities as the increase in prevalence of disease is prop... more Elderly people suffer from different morbidities as the increase in prevalence of disease is proportionate to increasing age. In Bangladesh, the number of the elderly person is increasing with time. This study aims to determine the morbidity pattern and health seeking behavior among the urban senior citizens of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2014 to December 2014 in different areas of Dhaka City. Information was collected from 384 respondents, aged 60 years and above by purposive sampling technique. The mean age of the study population was 64.7 (SD±5.7) years and majority (74.74%) belonged to 60-69 years age group. More than half (52.6%) of the respondents were female. Most of the respondents (71.61%) received institutional education; 51.82% of the elderly were still working; 63% of the respondents were totally independent; 11.74% were totally dependent; and 53.65% respondents belonged to joint family. Most of the respondents (96.8%) were suffering from at least one medical problem; the commonest was musculoskeletal problems (84.11%) followed by eye problems (81.25%). Majority of male (78.8%) and females (89.60%) were suffering from eye problems and musculoskeletal problems respectively. All the respondents sought treatment for their health problems. Majority (33%) respondents went to government hospitals for medical help. Most of the male (68.70%) and female (71.26%) can do their daily physical activities without any problem. Approximately 30% respondents did health checkup once in one year. Majority respondents took prescribed medications (69.27%) and were satisfied with their treatment (56.77%). The study findings showed that urban geriatric population had one or more morbidities and their health seeking behavior was poor, more among females. The study concludes with further emphasis of primary health care for the urban elderly people of Bangladesh. The health care service should be accessible and affordable to the elderly people.

The progression of atopic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis and food... more The progression of atopic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis and food allergies are
generally seen during childhood and they are known as ‘the atopic march’. There are various risk factors for developing
atopic diseases including genetics, food allergens, late food introduction to the infant, life style and hygiene.
There are some immunologic contributors to this disease. Different therapeutic procedures and newer methods have
been introduced.
In this article, the author explains the definition of atopic march, pathophysiology, clinical features, epidemiology
and therapeutic approaches.
Keywords: Dermatitis, atopic, asthma, hypersensitivity

Papers by Rajat Das Gupta

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 2020

We investigated determinants of hypertension in Bangladesh using both Joint National Committee 7 ... more We investigated determinants of hypertension in Bangladesh using both Joint National Committee 7 (JNC7) and 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Hypertension Association (2017 ACC/AHA) guidelines.

After reporting background characteristics, odds ratios (ORs) were obtained by multilevel logistic regression.

Among 7,839 respondents aged ≥35 years, 25.7% (n=2016) and 48.0% (n=3,767) respondents had hypertension as per the JNC7 and 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines, respectively. The following factors were significant according to the 2017 ACC/AHA guideline: ≥65 (adjusted OR [AOR]: 2.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.2-3.0), 55-64 (AOR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.4-1.9) and 45-54 years (AOR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3-1.6) age groups, females (AOR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.7-2.2), overweight/obesity (AOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 2.0-2.8), diabetes (AOR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2-1.6), secondary (AOR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.4), or college education level (AOR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.4-2.3), middle (AOR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.6), richer (AOR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-1.8) or richest (AOR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.6-2.4) wealth quintiles, residence in Khulna (AOR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-1.9), and Rangpur (AOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.3-2.2) divisions. All factors were significant as per the JNC7 guideline too.

Both guidelines found similar determinants. Prevention and control programs should prioritize increasing awareness among people with higher likelihood of hypertension.

Medical Thoughts Inside, Aug 28, 2014

Journal of Pioneering Medical Sciences Blog, Jun 11, 2014

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 2020

After reporting background characteristics, odds ratios (ORs) were obtained by multilevel logistic regression.

Both guidelines found similar determinants. Prevention and control programs should prioritize increasing awareness among people with higher likelihood of hypertension.