Study of the magnitude of premenstrual syndrome in a tertiary care institute in Pondicherry, India

Background: Premenstrual syndrome is cyclical physical and behavioural symptoms that appear in days preceding menstruation and interfere with work or life style followed by a symptom free interval. The common affective and somatic symptoms seen are mood swings, irritability, anxiety, breast tenderness, weight gain and abdominal bloating. The present study was done to detect premenstrual syndrome and encourage students to seek treatment which would improve quality of life both socially and academically.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of three months from November 2018 to January 2019 among medical students in a tertiary care institute in Pondicherry. A detailed questionnaire regarding premenstrual symptoms and screening for depression was obtained from all study subjects. Diagnosis of premenstrual syndrome was done if there were at least one affective symptom like mood swings, insomnia, anxiety and one somatic symptom like abdominal bloating, breast complaints and weight gain.Results: Total of 207 students were screened out of whom 155 (74.87%) students were found to have premenstrual syndrome. 41 students did not have the same, 11 students were excluded as they were having endocrine disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome and thyroid abnormalities. 60.6% had mild 38.4% moderate 4.5% had severe premenstrual syndrome. Commonest symptoms were mood swings 81.9% followed by anxiety 80% and fatigue 71.6% breast complaints and joint pains were seen in 71% equally so also abdominal bloating and weight gain which was seen in 67%. Depression was found in 52.9% of the students.Conclusions: Premenstrual syndrome is prevalent among medical students commonly and detecting it and encouraging students to seek treatment will help them perform better socially and academically.

Antiphospholipid antibodies--our experience.

Antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) have aroused multispeciality interests. In our study of 200 cases worked up for APA, we have used a few simple coagulation tests to detect lupus anticoagulant (LA) and ELISA to detect anticardiolipin antibodies. The positivity rate for LA among cases with recurrent pregnancy loss was 4.16% and for aCL 20.8%. The positivity rate for LA in patients with venous thrombosis was 6.2%, in arterial thrombosis was 7.14% and in SLE patients was 58.3%. In conclusion APAs are to be looked for in cases of recurrent pregnancy loss, thrombosis in people < 45 years of age without risk factors and SLE patients to assess the thrombotic risk and to decide on anti coagulant therapy for further management.

Changing trends in malaria--a decade's experience at a referral hospital.

A 10 year study of malaria during 1989-98 recorded an increase in the incidence of malaria from 0.22 in 1989 to 1.3 in 1996 following which it has reached a plateau. The cases were chiefly from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil nadu. The P. falciparum infection and mixed infections (P. falciparum and vivax) were found to be on the rise. Peak of malaria cases were recorded in the months of June-July and in Oct-Nov coinciding with the rains showing a seasonal pattern. The common haematological findings were anemia, thrombocytopenia, pancytopenia and leucopenia. Complications noted in our study were haemolysis, renal failure, hepatopathy and cerebral malaria. The unusual cases were congenital malaria, malaria with sickle cell anemia, AIHA and G-6PD deficiency. Mortality due to cerebral malaria was found to be 13.5%.