Frequency of anti Hepatitis C Virus antibodies amongst sanitary workers in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

To determine the frequency of anti Hepatitis C Virus antibodies in sanitary workers at Military Hospital Rawalpindi and to identify additional risk factors in them for hepatitis C infection. Cross sectional study. Department of medicine Military Hospital [M.H.], Rawalpindi Pakistan over six months. All sanitary workers working at Military Hospital Rawalpindi were tested for anti HCV antibodies by third generation ELISA six percent of the study population was found to be positive for anti HCV antibodies. The frequency of anti HCV antibodies is fairly high in sanitary workers working in this tertiary care hospital studied. HCV infection is more frequent in those sanitary workers who have longer duration of service

Comparison of inhalation technique of pressurized metered dose inhaler before and after a session of instructions in male patients of obstructive airway diseases

To assess the inhalation technique of pressurized metered dose inhalers [pMDI] in patients of obstructive air way diseases, to find out common errors and to determine improvement in their inhalation technique after a session of inhaler training. Quasi experimental study. The study was conducted at outdoor department of Military Hospital Rawalpindi from December 2005 to April 2006. A total of 100 male patients, using pMDI on regular basis for their obstructive respiratory symptoms, participated in the study. Patients' inhalation technique of pMDI was recorded against a standardized seven step checklist. Any technique having even a single erroneous step was marked as incorrect. Two weeks later, having given instructions on correct use of the device, the patient's inhalation technique was reassessed. Subsequently, results of both pre and post instruction assessment of inhalation techniques were compared and analyzed. During the 1st visit, only 21 patients [21%] demonstrated correct technique of inhalation. Upon 2nd visit, the number of patients having correct technique rose to 55 [55%] indicating significant improvement in the technique as demonstrated by applying McNemar's test. Erroneous inhalation technique is quite common among patients using pMDI. However, they can improve their technique significantly if they are taught the correct use of inhaler device

Cigarette smoking among Pakistan army soldiers

To evaluate frequency, intensity and other characteristics of cigarette smoking in army soldiers. Various army units stationed at Multan Garrison. This is descriptive cross sectional study, in which one thousands male soldiers from various army units [both fighting and supporting arms] were randomly selected to fill the questionnaire. Nine hundred and eighty six responses were included in study and rests were discarded in view of inappropriateness. Among responders, 470 [47.6%] were smokers. Frequencies of occasional, mild, moderate and heavy smoking were 11.9%, 14.8%, 10.7% and 10.2% respectively. Twenty one percent were smokers prior to joining army while 26.6% picked up this habit after induction. According to age 84.3% were less than 40 years of age while remaining 15.7% were above 40. The respective frequencies of smoking in these two age groups were 49.3% and 38.9% [p<0.05]. The 56.7% of under-metric soldiers were smokers in comparison with 35.8% of over-metric [p<0.05]. Frequency of smoking was 52.2% among unskilled soldiers while it was 33% in skilled soldiers [p<0.05]. It was slightly higher among fighting units [52.3% vs. 47.7%]. The job related stress and peer pressure were major risk factors for initiation of smoking. Almost all smokers wanted to quit and significant number of smokers reported that had tried to quit smoking at least once in the past. Smoking frequency is quite high among army soldiers particularly among unskilled and less educated and there is strong need to address this issue