Dyslipidemias in type II diabetes mellitus patients in a teaching hospital of Lahore, Pakistan

To know the pattern of dyslipidemias amongst type II diabetic patients. Design: Observational study. Setting: Hospital based study on type II diabetic patients, who were either admitted or reported to outpatient department/diabetic clinic on take days of Unit-I of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Subjects: One hundred consecutive type II diabetics between the age of 40-70 years. Those who had hyperlipidemia due to other causes e.g. nephrotic syndrome, hypothyroidism and type-I diabetes mellitus were excluded. Main Outcome Measures: Dyslipidemias One hundred patients suffering from type II diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Out of these 64% were females and 36% were males. The age range was 41-70 years with mean of 56.1 +/- 9.38. Out of these 100 patients, duration of diabetes mellitus of less than 10 years was noted in 43% of patients and more than 10 years in 57%. Random blood sugar was 229.34 +/- 6.23 and fasting blood sugar was 153.5 +/- 4.45 when it was seen in the total study subjects, random blood sugar 210.51 +/- 7.68 and fasting blood sugar 143.83 +/- 5.35 in sub group whose duration of illness was less than 10 years. In sub group whose DM was for more than 10 years random blood sugar was 257.91 +/- 12.81 and fasting blood sugar was 171.21 +/- 8.14. Serum cholesterol was 226.88 +/- 18.48 in the patients as one group, in illness of less than 10 years, it was 191.72 +/- 5.72 and in illness of more than 10 years duration it was 213.11 +/- 6.70. Serum triglyceride in illness of less than 10 years duration was 191.83 +/- 8.05 and where it was more than 10 years, it was 210.04 +/- 8.90. Serum HDL-C was 36.25 +/- 0.45 in patients illness of less than 10 years and 35.57 +/- 0.60 in more than 10 years. Serum LDL - C was 127.1 +/- 3.99 in patients with less than 10 years of diabetes mellitus and 147.5 +/- 5.20 in patients with more than 10 years of illness. Fifty-eight patients were hypertensive, 43% of the male patients were smokers. Conclusions: Diabetic dyslipidemia is an important cause of morbidity. Duration of diabetes is associated with higher incidence of dyslipidemia. Type II DM is associated with a marked increase in the risk of CHD. Dyslipidemia is believed to be a major cause of increased risk. In this study we found elevated total serum cholesterol, LDL-C but normal HDL-C. Patients should be educated to get checked regularly for lipid abnormalities and if found to be abnormal, should control blood sugar and lipids very effectively

Vaccination against hepatitis B among doctors at a teaching hospital in Lahore

Hepatitis B is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality, but the disease is preventable, specially through awareness of its spread, screening and vaccination. Setting: Study was done at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital/Fatima Jinnah Medical College to examine the vaccination status against Hepatitis B among the doctors from the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Gynae and Pathology. Material and In this descriptive study, a total of 110 doctors participated. It took into account different aspects like their vaccination status, status of the booster dose, whether they checked their immunologic status before or after vaccination and reason for not being vaccinated. A total of 71.8% of doctors working in the institution were vaccinated. The results showed that the status was better in the female doctors. A total of 81.5% consultants got themselves vaccinated followed by 74.3% house officers and only 63.6% medical officers who were probably most involved with the patients. Regarding the post-vaccination status 87.5% consultants, 7.1% medical officers and none i.e. 0% house officer had their post vaccine antibody titre checked. Among the house officers 66.6% received their booster dose [where applicable] followed by consultants and medical officers. Lack of awareness was mentioned as the biggest reason for not being vaccinated. Awareness through health education regarding Hepatitis B and bringing down the cost through other methods of vaccination is important in this country where the disease is very common