Morbidity profile of patients attended Siddha Regional Research Institute, Puducherry in 2017–A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: In India, understanding the patterns of utilization of AYUSH care has been considered vital for increased focus on its mainstreaming and integration with prevailing biomedical systems. This paper aims to evaluate the morbidity profiling of the patients attended Siddha Regional Research Institute (SRRI), Puducherry in 2017. Methods: A cross-sectional study in the patients conducted from January to December 2017. Data was collected for variables including age, gender, and clinical diagnosis from the records maintained in the unit. The data are presented as frequencies and proportions. Results: We have collected 48,204 patients' data from the out-patient facility of SRRI from January to December 2017. The important patient were women (51.3%), 13 - 59 years of age (adults 75.5 %), and re-visitation cases (83.5 %). Osteoarthritis (15 %), sinusitis (6 %), respiratory illness (6 %), psoriasis (5 %), and diabetes (5 %) were the top reported diseases. According to the Siddha, Vatha diseases are reported higher than Pitha and Kabha diseases. Conclusion: Overall, in the year 2017 the SRRI OPD has more revisited cases than new ones, and women were slightly higher in proportion compared to males. The most frequently treated disease in both adults and the geriatric population was the musculoskeletal diseases, precisely osteoarthritis. More respiratory diseases were treated in children. These data could be used to analyze the people's perspective in the effective management of certain diseases through Siddha. The establishment of an integrative health facility with a cross-referral system would fetch more credulous among the public.

Keywords

• Siddha system
• Morbidity
• Arthritis
• Traditional medicine
• Seasons
• Population