Comparison of laboratory-based and non-laboratory-based cardiovascular risk prediction tools in rural India.

Background: Non-laboratory-based cardiovascular risk prediction tools are feasible alternatives to laboratory-based tools in low- and middle-income countries. However, their effectiveness compared to their laboratory-based counterparts has not been adequately tested.

Aim: We compared estimates from laboratory-based and non-laboratory-based risk prediction tools in a low- and middle-income country setting.

Childhood adversities characterize the heterogeneity in the brain pattern of individuals during neurodevelopment.

Background: Several factors shape the neurodevelopmental trajectory. A key area of focus in neurodevelopmental research is to estimate the factors that have maximal influence on the brain and can tip the balance from typical to atypical development.

Methods: Utilizing a dissimilarity maximization algorithm on the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) of the resting state functional MRI data, we classified subjects from the cVEDA neurodevelopmental cohort ( = 987, aged 6-23 years) into homogeneously patterned DMD (representing typical development in 809 subjects) and heterogeneously patterned DMD (indicative of atypical development in 178 subjects).

Risk factors for incident cardiovascular events and their population attributable fractions in rural India: The Rishi Valley Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: We prospectively determined incident cardiovascular events and their association with risk factors in rural India.

Methods: We followed up with 7935 adults from the Rishi Valley Prospective Cohort Study to identify incident cardiovascular events. Using Cox proportional hazards regression, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for associations between potential risk factors and cardiovascular events.

Comparison of the performance of cardiovascular risk prediction tools in rural India: the Rishi Valley Prospective Cohort Study.

Aims: We compared the performance of cardiovascular risk prediction tools in rural India.

Methods And Results: We applied the World Health Organization Risk Score (WHO-RS) tools, Australian Risk Score (ARS), and Global risk (Globorisk) prediction tools to participants aged 40-74 years, without prior cardiovascular disease, in the Rishi Valley Prospective Cohort Study, Andhra Pradesh, India. Cardiovascular events during the 5-year follow-up period were identified by verbal autopsy (fatal events) or self-report (non-fatal events).

Combining general and central measures of adiposity to identify risk of hypertension: a cross-sectional survey in rural India.

Aim: In three socioeconomically diverse regions of rural India, we determined the optimal cut-offs for definition of overweight, the prevalence of overweight, and the relationships between measures of overweight and risk of hypertension.

Subjects And Methods: Villages were randomly sampled within rural Trivandrum, West Godavari, and Rishi Valley. Sampling of individuals was stratified by age group and sex.

Morbidity and utilisation of healthcare services among people with cardiometabolic disease in three diverse regions of rural India.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and determinants of cardiometabolic disease (CMD), and the factors associated with healthcare utilisation, among people with CMD.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 11,657 participants were recruited from randomly selected villages in 3 regions located in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2016. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors independently associated with CMD and healthcare utilisation (public or private).

Growth trajectories for executive and social cognitive abilities in an Indian population sample: Impact of demographic and psychosocial determinants.

Cognitive abilities are markers of brain development and psychopathology. Abilities, across executive, and social domains need better characterization over development, including factors that influence developmental change. This study is based on the cVEDA [Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions] study, an Indian population based developmental cohort.

Federated Analysis in COINSTAC Reveals Functional Network Connectivity and Spectral Links to Smoking and Alcohol Consumption in Nearly 2,000 Adolescent Brains.

With the growth of decentralized/federated analysis approaches in neuroimaging, the opportunities to study brain disorders using data from multiple sites has grown multi-fold. One such initiative is the Neuromark, a fully automated spatially constrained independent component analysis (ICA) that is used to link brain network abnormalities among different datasets, studies, and disorders while leveraging subject-specific networks. In this study, we implement the neuromark pipeline in COINSTAC, an open-source neuroimaging framework for collaborative/decentralized analysis.

Absolute cardiovascular risk scores and medication use in rural India: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: We compared the performance of laboratory-based cardiovascular risk prediction tools in a low-income and middle-income country setting, and estimated the use of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering medications in those deemed at high risk of a cardiovascular event.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: The study population comprised adult residents (aged ≥18 years) of the Rishi Valley region located in Chittoor District, south-western Andhra Pradesh, India.

Risk clustering and psychopathology from a multi-center cohort of Indian children, adolescents, and young adults.

Developmental adversities early in life are associated with later psychopathology. Clustering may be a useful approach to group multiple diverse risks together and study their relation with psychopathology. To generate risk clusters of children, adolescents, and young adults, based on adverse environmental exposure and developmental characteristics, and to examine the association of risk clusters with manifest psychopathology.

ASHA-Led Community-Based Groups to Support Control of Hypertension in Rural India Are Feasible and Potentially Scalable.

To improve the control of hypertension in low- and middle-income countries, we trialed a community-based group program co-designed with local policy makers to fit within the framework of India's health system. Trained accredited social health activists (ASHAs), delivered the program, in three economically and developmentally diverse settings in rural India. We evaluated the program's implementation and scalability.

Association of hypertension with infection and inflammation in a setting of disadvantage in rural India.

We assessed the association of hypertension with markers of inflammation and infection in a rural and disadvantaged Indian population. In a case-control study, we age- and gender-matched 300 cases with hypertension to 300 controls without hypertension. Blood pressure was measured according to a strict protocol.

Renal and dietary factors associated with hypertension in a setting of disadvantage in rural India.

Using a case-control design, we determined risk factors associated with hypertension in a disadvantaged rural population in southern India. Three hundred adults with hypertension and 300 age- and sex-matched controls were extensively phenotyped. Underweight (29%, body mass index < 18.

Additive association of knowledge and awareness on control of hypertension: a cross-sectional survey in rural India.

Objective: To determine whether there is an interaction between knowledge about hypertension and awareness of hypertension on the treatment and control of hypertension in three regions of South India at different stages of epidemiological transition (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/HJH/B426).

Hypertension in Rural India: The Contribution of Socioeconomic Position.

Background Various indicators of socioeconomic position (SEP) may have opposing effects on the risk of hypertension in disadvantaged settings. For example, high income may reflect sedentary employment, whereas greater education may promote healthy lifestyle choices. We assessed whether education modifies the association between income and hypertension in 3 regions of South India at different stages of epidemiological transition.

The Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (c-VEDA): an accelerated longitudinal cohort of children and adolescents in India.

The global burden of disease attributable to externalizing disorders such as alcohol misuse calls urgently for effective prevention and intervention. As our current knowledge is mainly derived from high-income countries such in Europe and North-America, it is difficult to address the wider socio-cultural, psychosocial context, and genetic factors in which risk and resilience are embedded in low- and medium-income countries. c-VEDA was established as the first and largest India-based multi-site cohort investigating the vulnerabilities for the development of externalizing disorders, addictions, and other mental health problems.

Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA): A developmental cohort study protocol.

Background: Low and middle-income countries like India with a large youth population experience a different environment from that of high-income countries. The Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA), based in India, aims to examine environmental influences on genomic variations, neurodevelopmental trajectories and vulnerability to psychopathology, with a focus on externalizing disorders.

Methods: cVEDA is a longitudinal cohort study, with planned missingness design for yearly follow-up.

Effectiveness of a scalable group-based education and monitoring program, delivered by health workers, to improve control of hypertension in rural India: A cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: New methods are required to manage hypertension in resource-poor settings. We hypothesised that a community health worker (CHW)-led group-based education and monitoring intervention would improve control of blood pressure (BP).

Methods And Findings: We conducted a baseline community-based survey followed by a cluster randomised controlled trial of people with hypertension in 3 rural regions of South India, each at differing stages of epidemiological transition.

Knowledge of risk factors for hypertension in a rural Indian population.

Objective: To study knowledge of risk factors and consequences of hypertension in a rural population in South India.

Methods: This is a community-based study conducted among adults of a rural population in the Rishi Valley, India. Residents of randomised rural villages were invited to participate in a study of hypertension.

Evaluation of a training program of hypertension for accredited social health activists (ASHA) in rural India.

Background: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of premature death and disability in India. Since access to health services is poor in rural India and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) are available throughout India for maternal and child health, a potential solution for improving hypertension control is by utilising this available workforce. We aimed to develop and implement a training package for ASHAs to identify and control hypertension in the community, and evaluate the effectiveness of the training program using the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model.

Cluster randomised feasibility trial to improve the Control of Hypertension In Rural India (CHIRI): a study protocol.

Introduction: Hypertension is emerging in rural populations of India. Barriers to diagnosis and treatment of hypertension may differ regionally according to economic development. Our main objectives are to estimate the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in 3 diverse regions of rural India; identify barriers to diagnosis and treatment in each setting and evaluate the feasibility of a community-based intervention to improve control of hypertension.

Novel dietary intake assessment in populations with poor literacy.

Background And Objectives: Cultural and/or environmental barriers make the assessment of dietary intake in rural populations challenging. We aimed to assess the accuracy of a meal recall questionnaire, adapted for use with impoverished South Indian populations living in rural areas.

Methods And Study Design: Dietary data collected by recall versus weighed meals were compared.

Association between farming and chronic energy deficiency in rural South India.

Objective: To examine factors associated with chronic energy deficiency (CED) and anaemia in disadvantaged Indian adults who are mostly involved in subsistence farming.

Design: A cross-sectional study in which we collected information on socio-demographic factors, physical activity, anthropometry, blood haemoglobin concentration, and daily household food intake. These data were used to calculate body mass index (BMI), basal metabolic rate (BMR), daily energy expenditure, and energy and nutrient intake.

Gender-specific effects of caste and salt on hypertension in poverty: a population-based study.

Background: Little is known about the risk of developing hypertension in those living in poverty in rural India. We examined gender and caste influences on risk factors for hypertension in a disadvantaged rural community.

Methods: In 1479 adults living in 12 hamlets in rural Andhra Pradesh, we measured blood pressure, height, weight, waist and hip girth, and used point-of-care devices to measure blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and haemoglobin levels.