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Lung function measurement is one of the ways of assessing respiratory health status. Stone mine workers are prone to lung problems due to stone dust, are a great concern from public health point of view. The aim of the study was to understand the nature of age related changes in lung function traits of the Santal stone mine workers of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Cross-sectional data on lung function traits including FVC, FEV1.0, FEV1.0/FVC and PEFR have been collected from 328 (149 males, 179 females) healthy adult Santal stone mine workers of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Statistical analysis including descriptive statistics, ANOVA and linear regression analysis were done separately for males and females for each lung function trait. The value of FVC and FEV1.0 reaches its peak within 25 years of age and then gradually decreases in both sexes. Similarly, the FEV1.0/ FVC ratio decrease with the increment of age in both sexes. The peak value of PEFR reaches between 25-34 years of age in male, but in case of female the peak value of PEFR reaches between 35-44 years of age. The ANOVA result showed that significant differences (P≤0.05) exists between/among age cohorts in terms of mean values of all the lung function traits for both males and females. The result of linear regression equation for lung function traits on age were as follows: FVCmale=3.168-0.015xage, FVCfemale=2.214-0.012xage, FEV1.0male=3.119- 0.021xage, FEV1.0female=2.111-0.013xage, FEV1.0/FVCmale=1.004-0.003xage, FEV1.0/FVCfemale=0.953+0.0006xage, PEFRmale=8.649-0.064xage, PEFRfemale=4.690- 0.014xage. Therefore, it seems that lung function traits gradually decline with progression of age and the pattern is similar in both sexes. However, generalization cannot be made out of this small-scale study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

\Objectives: Self-rated health (SRH) is considered as a subjective measure of health and widely used in population surveys. The present study aimed to see the socio-demographic characteristics and reported morbidity wise variation of self-rated health and to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and self-rated health of the rural Santals. Methods: Using a standard household census schedule socio-demographic data were collected from 425 adult Santals of both sexes of Bankura district, West Bengal. SRH data were collected asking people to choose their current health status within five possible options: 'very good,' 'good,' 'average,' 'bad,' and 'very bad.' Univariate and multivariate forward stepwise logistic regression analyses used to examine the association between SRH and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Majority of the study participant rated their health as 'average' followed by 'bad,' 'good,' and 'very bad' irrespective of sex. Results of univariate logistic regression analyses showed that SRH has significant association with age group, level of education, occupation types, marital status, house type, and sex. Elderly (OR= 6.78) and middle-aged (OR=2.52) individuals were more likely to report 'bad' health compared to young individuals. Participants with formal education i.e. from primary level (OR= 0.42) to higher secondary and above (OR= 0.04) were less likely to report 'bad' health compared to nonliterate participants. Unmarried people (OR= 0.36) were less likely to report 'bad' health, while widowed/ divorced/ separated individuals (OR = 2.87) were more likely to report 'bad' health compared to married individuals. Males (OR= 0.67) were less likely to report 'bad' SRH than females. Conclusion: SRH cannot be used as single item measure of health because such rating is always influenced by several socio-demographic factors especially among socioeconomically disadvantageous community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A barrier to meeting the goal of universal health coverage in India is the inequality in utilisation of health services between indigenous and non-indigenous people. This study aimed to explore the determinants of utilisation, or non-utilisation, of public healthcare services among the Santals, an indigenous community living in West Bengal, India. The study holistically explored the utilisation of public healthcare facilities using a framework that conceptualised service coverage to be dependent on a set of determinants – viz. the nature and severity of the ailment, availability, accessibility (geographical and financial), and acceptability of the healthcare options and decision-making around these further depends on background characteristics of the individual or their family/household. This cross-sectional study adopts ethnographic approach for detailed insight into the issue and interviewed 422 adult members of Santals living in both rural (Bankura) and urban (Howrah) areas of West Bengal for demographic, socio-economic characteristics and healthcare utilisation behaviour using pre-tested data collection schedule. The findings revealed that utilisation of the public healthcare facilities was low, especially in urban areas. Residence in urban areas, being female, having higher education, engaging in salaried occupation and having availability of private allopathic and homoeopathic doctors in the locality had higher odds of not utilising public healthcare services. Issues like misbehaviour from the health personnel, unavailability of medicine, poor quality of care, and high patient load were reported as the major reasons for non-utilisation of public health services. The finding highlights the importance of improving the availability and quality of care of healthcare services for marginalised populations because these communities live in geographically isolated places and have low affordability of private healthcare. The health programme needs to address these issues to improve the utilisation and reduce the inequality in healthcare utilisation, which would be beneficial for all segments of Indian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]