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Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit with considerable psychosocial impact. Oral azithromycin or oral doxycycline can be used for the management of moderate and severe acne vulgaris. However, there is no consensus on which antibiotic is superior and the optimal dose for management.Methods: A prospective randomized interventional study was carried out among 120 patients of moderate to severe acne vulgaris. The patients were randomized into group A and B. While group A was prescribed oral azithromycin 500 mg three times a week, group B was given oral doxycycline 100 mg daily for 12 weeks. Topical clindamycin twice daily application was also given. Global Acne Grading Scale (GAGS) score was recorded at baseline and at 2nd, 4th, 8th and 12th weeks.Results: GAGS score at baseline in azithromycin (n = 53) and doxycycline (n = 55) group was 31.98±4.49 and 30.63±3.78 respectively (p value >0.05). 83.91±6.83% (p <0.001) and 81.87±6.75% (p <0.001) improvement was seen in azithromycin group and doxycycline group after 12 weeks of treatment. However, there was no difference in the GAGS score between the groups at any follow-up (p value >0.05). 15.09% patients in azithromycin group and 20% patients in doxycycline group reported adverse effects. The most commonly reported adverse effect was diarrhoea. All adverse effects were of ‘mild’ category and causality assessment was ‘possible’.Conclusions: Oral azithromycin is equally efficacious but safer alternative to oral doxycycline for the management of acne vulgaris.
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Background: Diclofenac and Tramadol are well established analgesics for post-operative pain management, yet some adverse effects are associated with their use which govern their tolerability. The objective of the study was to evaluate the comparative efficacy of the two drugs and to assess the causality and severity of documented Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs).Methods: An open labelled, prospective, interventional, simple randomized clinical study to compare efficacy and safety of diclofenac and tramadol was conducted by the Department of Pharmacology in collaboration with the Department of Surgery. Post-operative pain intensity was measured on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Causality and severity assessment of the recorded ADRs was done using WHO-UMC scale and modified Hartwig and Seigel Scale respectively.Results: A total of 211 patients underwent different surgeries. The most common surgery performed was mesh hernioplasty 78 (36.96%). VAS score was used as data to determine the analgesic efficacy of two drugs. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test showed significant reduction in pain on all days for each group individually while Mann Whitney U test compared both the groups and revealed that both the drugs i.e. diclofenac and tramadol were equally efficacious in reducing post-operative pain. Causality assessment showed that all the documented ADRs fall in POSSIBLE category while severity assessment revealed that all the ADRs were MILD in nature.Conclusions: Diclofenac and tramadol proved to be equi-effective in reducing post-operative pain . The study also emphasized that active surveillance of ADRs can lead to timely intervention and provide maximum benefit to the patient.
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Background: Utilization pattern of antipsychotics has undergone a major shift as the newly introduced atypical antipsychotics have heralded the market. Hence continuous studies on current prescribing trends are needed to provide most updated, effective and rational treatment of psychoses.Methods: This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted at Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. OPD tickets of the department of psychiatry for the year 2016-2017 were evaluated for a total of 310 cases. These prescriptions were used to determine the drug utilization of antipsychotics and for their appropriateness against the WHO recommended core prescribing indicators.Results: A total of 310 patients satisfied the inclusion criteria and a male predominance was seen (male:female= 1.3:1). The most common psychotic disorder diagnosed was schizophrenia (44%). Majority of the patients (76%) received monotherapy and the prescribing trend showed a higher use of atypical antipsychotics (89%) over typical ones (11%). The most commonly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs were olanzapine (31%), followed by risperidone (26%). On analysing prescriptions according to the WHO core prescribing indicators it was observed that average number of antipsychotics prescribed per prescription was 1.32. 24% of drugs were prescribed by generic name and 5.2% were administered via injectable route. Drugs prescribed from National list of Essential Medicine, 2015 constituted 46%.Conclusions: The high inclination towards the use of atypical antipsychotics observed in our study correlates with the global changing trends in the treatment of schizophrenia. WHO prescribing indicators should be adhered to, to impart rational prescribing.
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Background & Objective: As the technology used in sonography has become more advanced accurate estimation of gestational age (GA) has become more demanding to plan treatments in pregnancy. Fetal kidney length (FKL) alone or its combination with other biometric parameters can be used in GA calculation more precisely in IInd&IIIrd trimester. Methodology: Two hundred three healthy pregnant females of IInd&IIIrd trimester were analyzed for GA calculation via FKL, Bi parietal diameter (BPD) and femur length (FL) using various lenear regression models. Results: Fetal kidney could be seen easily sonographically at 16thwk of gestation. FL was the most accurate single parameter (SE + 7.95 days) followed by FKL + 9.56days; BPD was the least accurate + 9.86 days. GA can be calculated most accurately by combining FKL with FL and BPD with SE + 7.12 days. Conclusion: FKL is easy to measure in IInd and IIIrd trimester and more accurate than BPD for GA estimation. So FKL could be used alone or easily incorporated into the model for dating pregnancies after 16th wk of gestation, in particular when measurements of BPD and FL are difficult.
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Aims: Two prime leads that led to the present work are firstly, disturbances in Zinc metabolism are more pronounced in diabetics with complication and secondly, diabetic patient with increased C-peptide have an increased risk of coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular diseases. The aim of the study is to observe whether serum Zinc and /or C-peptide levels have any correlation in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) with or without complications. Material and Methods: This prospective study included all newly diagnosed cases of type 2 DM with or without complications, of either sex between 30 to 80 yrs. Patients were clinically assessed and investigated, and their serum Zn and C-peptide levels were determined. Statistical analysis was carried out using unpaired students t-test. Results: During two year study period, 96 newly diagnosed consecutive type 2 DM cases were enrolled and they were divided into two groups. Group I included cases of DM without complications (n=54) and Group II cases of DM with complications (n=42). Neuropathy was present in 34 cases, nephropathy in 26 cases and retinopathy in 20 cases and all three complications were present in 10 cases. Mean serum Zn levels although slightly lower 70.96+1.54 μg/dl in group II cases compared to group I 72.28 +4.06 μg/dl was found statistically insignificant. Similarly mean serum C-peptide levels in group II (13.91+5.60 ng/ml) and group I (12.80+3.61 ng/ml) did not show a statistically significant alterations. Conclusion: It is concluded that serum Zn level and C-peptide levels bear no correlation and are of no predictive value in cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus with or without complications.
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Birth weight is the most important factor that affects infant and child mortality. This one year study was conducted in a cohort of pregnant women to study the proportion of low birth weight babies and to find out the socio-economic and maternal risk factors affecting the birth weight of newborns and its medico-legal significance. Information regarding socio-economic status, obstetric history and present pregnancy was collected. These women were followed up till their delivery and birth weight was recorded with 24 hours of delivery. Birth weight was available for 256 births. The overall prevalence of low birth weight was 34.37%. Overall mean birth weight was found to be 2.64±0.444 with 95% confidence interval of 2.59-2.69. Primigravida mothers showed the highest prevalence of low birth weight (30.86%, p< 0.001). The main factors which were significantly associated with LBW were maternal education, stature, age at delivery; short inter pregnancy interval, inadequate antenatal care, and per capita income of family.