Prevalence of anaemia and its relation to duration of pregnancy in antenatal clinic in a teaching hospital

During pregnancy there is an immense burden on mother and hemoglobin level falls progressively as the pregnancy proceeds. Anemia itself may have ill effects on the outcome of pregnancy, and its early recognition forms an important aspect of antenatal care. To determine the prevalence of anemia and its relation to duration of pregnancy amongst pregnant females presenting at Social Security Hospital. A cross sectional study was conducted at Social Security Hospital Islamabad, from May-Oct 2011. All pregnant females presenting at antenatal clinic with haemoglobin <11g/dl were included in this study. In a total of 2,300 females included in the study, the majority belonged to age group of 19-37 years with mean age of 26 years +/- 1.30 SD. Mean level of haemoglobin was found to be 9 gm/dl +/- 1.19 SD. We observed mild anaemia [Hb 10-10.9 gm/dl] in 55%, moderate anaemia [Hb 8-9.9gm/dl] in 35% and severe anaemia [Hb<8gm/dl] in 10% of our cases. In first trimester majority had mild anemia [p <0.05] and in second and third trimester majority had moderate degree of anemia [p <0.05]. High prevalence [92%] of anemia was observed in females visiting social security hospital with statistically significant relationship between 3 trimesters of pregnancy and severity of anemia

Prevalence and severity of dysmenorrhoea among medical students: a cross sectional study

Dysmenorrhoea is recognized as the most common gynecoiogical complaint which affects most of the females and adolescents. Dysmenorrhoea not only affects the daily routine activities but it has profound effect on quality of life of students. To determine the prevalence of dysmenorrhoea, its severity among medical students and its effects on college/class absenteeism of students. Cross sectional study. This study was conducted on 100 female medical students. Young unmarried undergraduate female medical students between the ages of 18-22 years were included in this study. All participants were given a questionnaire to complete. Questions were related to age of the students, age of menarche, length of menstrual cycle, duration of menstrual flow, dysmenorrhoea and its severity and absenteeism from college and/or class due to dysmenorrhoea. To detect the severity of dysmenorrhea we used the verbal multi-dimensional scoring system. Participants were given 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Mean age of students was found to be 21 years with SD +/- 1.7. Mean age of menarche among the students was found to be 13 years with SD +/- 0.8. Mean length of menstrual cycle was found to be 29 days SD +/- 2.1. The average duration between two periods and the duration of menstrual flow were 28.34 days SD +/- 7.54 and 4.5 days SD +/- 2.45 respectively. Regarding dysmenorrhoea 78% of the students complained of dysmenorthoea while 22% did not have this complaint. Regarding severity 46% had mild dysmenorrhoea, 19% had moderate dysrnenorrhoea and 13% had severe dysmenorrhoea. Among female medical students who reported dysmenorrhe a 21% were frequently missing classes. Dysmenorrhea is highly prevalent among female medical students; it is related to college/class absenteeism, limitations on social, academic, sports and daily activities. A few of the students consult physician for the problem and many adopt self-medication with over the-counter medicines or home remedies.

Laparoscopy: an effective tool to find out the cause of primary and secondary infertility

Infertility is defined as inability to conceive after one year of regular unprotected intercourse, It is distressing and common condition affecting 1 in 6 couples about 80 million couples are affected worldwide. The main causes of infertility are abnormalities in semen, ovulatory disorder, tubal injury and blockage, para tubal adhesions and endometriosis. The objectives of this study were: 1. To find out the cause of infertility by laparoscopy in females such as adhesions, tubal blockage endometriosis. 2. To find out the incidence of various causes of primary and secondary infertility in females. This is a cross sectional study. This study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Jinnah post graduate Medical centre Karachi and Karachi National Hospital from Aug 2001 to 2002. A study of 80 sub-fertile woman attending infertility clinics was carried out at department of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre-JPMC and Karachi National Hospital-KNH. All the patients were fully informed about the procedure of laparoscopy and written consent was taken. The patients included had their detailed history regarding infertility taken and initial examination performed including general physical, systemic as well as bimanual examination was performed and positive findings were noted according to the performa, some investigations were performed like Blood complete examination, blood group and Rh factor, pelvic ultrasound scan, husband semen analysis, day 21 progesterone of female to check ovulation. The patients who met the selection criteria were offered laparoscopy, after data collection it was entered into SPSS Version 15. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Results were than compiled keeping various parameters in observation to draw the conclusion regarding the objective of the study. Out of 80 women who had undergone laparoscopy, 60 patients had primary and 16 patients had secondary infertility. All of the women were between 20 to 40 years of age. At laparoscopy tubal blockage was the Ieading cause [31.6%]. In both primary and secondary infertility and this was followed by pelvic inflammatory disease which was present in [31.5%] cases of primary and secondary infertility. Pelvic adhesions was the third important factor found in [15.6%] of primary and secondary infertility patient. Other laparoscopic findings were endometriosis and polycystic ovaries. Laparoscopy was established as invaluable diagnostic tool in infertility evaluation and recommended in the course of investigation to find out the cause of primary and secondary infertility.