Journal Name | mHealth |
Publication Year | 2021 |
Volume | 7, 55–55 |
Authors | Joshi A., Kaur, M., Arora, S., Bhatt, A., Sharma, P., Kaur, H., Kumar, K., Arora, M., Malhotra, B., Anshuman, A. |
Abstract
The study described the usefulness of an interactive, touch screen computer-enabled SMAART informatics platform to screen individuals at risk of NCDs including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Sixty-Four police personnel were screened during this pilot initiative at the Police Sanchar Training Centre, Sahastradhara road, Dehradun on 6th January and 7th January 2020. Individuals were assessed for overweight/obesity, hypertension, and diabetes and made aware of how to self-manage their condition. Based on the individual risk findings, a tailored lifestyle health card was generated. Hypertension (31%) was found to be the most common family history. 36% of individuals were presently smokers or consumed alcohol. Sixty-two percent of them self-reported doing some form of exercise. About 87% of them were not receiving any treatment to self-manage hypertension. Using JNC 8 criteria, 37% of the individuals were hypertensive. Fifty of the 64 individuals expressed interest to receive an SMS message. 64% of them expressed keenness to receive weekly SMS messages. The Swasthya Pahal program using the SMAART informatics framework can be a useful tool to enhance screening and self-management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among police personnel.