Overall adequacy of antenatal care in Oman: secondary analysis of national reproductive health survey data, 2008

Despite the good health status of women and children in Oman, there are still some gaps to be filled. This study explored the adequacy of antenatal care [ANC] utilization of Omani ever-married women and the sociodemographic and health service determinants of adequate and sufficient ANC. In a secondary analysis of a national dataset [N=1852 women], the percentages of women who had 4+ ANC visits, attended ANC in the 1st trimester and received care by trained personnel were 96.8%, 74.9% and 99.1% respectively. Overall adequacy of ANC [use and sufficiency of recommended basic services] for the surveyed women was 53.8%. After adjustment of other covariates, being pregnant with the 1st baby was the only significant predictor of overall adequacy of ANC [OR 2.2; 95% Cl: 1.6-3.2]. Greater awareness of the need for adequate ANC is required for mothers with more than one baby

Spina bifida and birth outcome before and after fortification of flour with iron and folic acid in Oman

This paper presents the trend of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in Oman after the nationwide implementation of folate supplementation of pregnant women in 1990 and the fortification of wheat flour with iron and folate in 1996. The annual incidence of spina bifida fluctuated from 2.34 to 4.03 per 1000 deliveries between 1991 and 1996, but fell sharply to 2.11 per 1000 deliveries in 1997, after which the downward trend continued, reaching 0.29 per 1000 deliveries by 2006. The rate of other neural tube defects remained almost constant. The reduction in spina bifida rates in Oman could be linked to the start of flour fortification but not the supplementation programme

Prevalence of cytomegalovirus IGG antibody in blood donors

Transfusion transmitted human cytomegalovirus [TT-HCMV] infections has been documented in a wide variety of clinical circumstances and can be the cause of significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of cytomegalovirus IgG antibody in 80 blood donors [44 professionals and 36 volunteers]. The seroprevalence was 52.5% in all blood donors. The seroprevalence was insignificant as regards the type of blood donormage, residence history of blood transfusion, and history of surgical operation. Prevention of TT-HCMV infection through the manipulation of blood products either by serologic screening or leukocytes reduction is the preferred approach in the HCMV seronegative recipients

Minimum effective dose of praziquantel in the treatment of Hymenolepis nana

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of different doses of praziquantel in the treatment of Hymenolepis nana among primary school children to define the minimum effective therapeutic dose. Five dose levels were tried, namely 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 mg/kg body weight as a single oral dose. The results of this study indicated that 10 mg/kg body weight was the minimum accepted dose against H. nana