Conectar
Sleep, a fundamental element of health, accounts for about one-third of our lives, and is as crucial as nutrition and exercise. Among university students, medical students are one subset that seems particularly susceptible to sleep problems, perhaps due to the length and complexity of their studies and being under a high level of stress. Yoga Nidra has been studied as a therapeutic intervention for various medical conditions. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of short-duration Yoga Nidra for improving sleep quality in students at a tertiary healthcare centre in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
A two-group parallel randomised controlled trial will be conducted among undergraduate medical students with a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score >5. Efficacy of short-duration Yoga Nidra in comparison to sleep education will be evaluated for PSQI scores, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, pulse rate, body mass index, blood pressure, random blood sugar, lipid profile, interleukin 6, salivary cortisol, generalised anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. The intervention will be pre-recorded with the duration of 12 min. The intervention group participants will receive three sessions per week for 4 weeks. The sample size is 160 students. All analyses will follow the intention-to-treat approach using SPSS V.26. Descriptive statistics, test of associations, parametric and/or non-parametric methods (as appropriate) will be used to assess within and between group changes.
The Institutional Ethics Committee (All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh) has approved the study (#AIIMS/ie,C/22/231) and the trial has been prospectively registered in Clinical Trials Registry-India: CTRI/2022/07/044426. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
CTRI/2022/07/044426.
Poor oral health is a common but often overlooked concern in palliative care, negatively impacting patients' quality of life. There is limited understanding of how palliative care providers (PCPs) approach oral health promotion in this context. This review synthesises evidence on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of PCPs regarding oral health care and strategies to support them in this area.
Integrative review.
A systematic literature search was undertaken until January 2025 across multiple databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane, ProQuest, EMBASE and Scopus) and grey literature. Inclusion criteria focused on nurses, medical specialists and allied health professionals involved in palliative or end-of-life care, with no publication year restriction.
This review followed Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) framework for integrative reviews. Study quality was assessed using appropriate tools for qualitative and quantitative studies, clinical guidelines and screening tools. A hybrid thematic synthesis approach was used for analysis.
Twenty-five studies were included, mostly of moderate to high quality. Sample sizes ranged from 8 to 1339, with most participants being nurses and nursing assistants, followed by medical professionals. Findings revealed inconsistent knowledge, varied practices and limited prioritisation of oral health care. Barriers included system constraints, limited training and patient-related challenges. Supportive strategies such as guidelines, screening tools and educational interventions were identified.
A significant gap exists in PCP knowledge and practices regarding oral healthcare due to various barriers, with few supportive strategies documented in this field.
There is an urgent need for enhanced education, robust evidence-based guidelines and tailored training for providers to advance and integrate oral health care in palliative care settings.
PRISMA Checklist.
No patient or public contribution.
Suicide has a substantial economic burden, yet in low- or middle-income countries, the analysis is constrained by the absence of disaggregated economic data. Existing studies primarily rely on gross costing methods, overlooking sector-specific costs such as healthcare, law enforcement and productivity losses at the family and community levels. Furthermore, the societal perspective, essential for understanding the multifaceted economic impacts of suicide, remains insufficiently explored in the Indian context.
This study will quantify the economic burden of suicide and suicide attempts in India. The initial phase will involve developing a resource-use measure instrument to capture the societal costs associated with suicide. Subsequently, a retrospective, incidence-based study will be conducted in India using the developed instrument. This will also be complemented with the Health-Related Quality of Life Assessment using EuroQOL (EQ-5D-5L). Exploratory subgroup cost comparisons (eg, suicide methods, healthcare facility type) will use non-parametric tests, including the Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Generalised linear mixed models (gamma distribution and log link) will analyse longitudinal cost and HRQoL data, besides bootstrapping techniques and sensitivity analyses.
Ethics approval was obtained for the study from the institutional review board of the Indian Law Society (ILS/141/2024). All data collected during the study will adhere to ethical guidelines, taking informed consent. The findings of the study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals to aid data-driven decision-making.
Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2025/02/080380), date of registration: 12/02/2025.
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