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Introduction: MCH services are not utilized due to unawareness, poverty and lack of scientific knowledge regarding care during the issue. Though all the details are given in the MCPC to follow positive practices, utilization of the card is being done only for recording of the information. Objective: To assess the knowledge about the contents of mother and child protection card (MCPC) among the pregnant and lactating women of a rural area Methodology: This was a cross sectional study conducted on pregnant women and lactating mothers with child less than a year. Knowledge about the contents of MCPC was collected by interview method. Results: In our study, majority of the mothers had good knowledge about tetanus injection (92.5%), consumption of IFA tablets (72.6%), breastfeeding within an hour (92.5%), exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months (95.6%), cereals to be included in the complementary food (90.6%) and good perception about complete immunization of the baby (100%). Knowledge was found to be poor with respect to ANC checkups and examination, tracking weight of the baby and growth chart; assessing danger signs in newborn and emergency preparation. Conclusion: The study showed good knowledge about TT, IFA, nutrition, danger signs and immunization. There was poor knowledge about ANC checkups, baby growth, danger sings in newborn and emergency preparation.
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Miliary tuberculosis (TB) is a lethal form of TB, if left untreated. Miliary TB accounts for <2% of all cases of TB in immunocompetentindividuals. Intracranial tuberculoma is a rare manifestation ofMycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB), seen in only 1% of TB patients. It can occur as single or multiple lesions, most commonly located in the frontal and parietal lobes. Clinical features mimicthat of any space-occupying lesion in the brain.In pregnant women, diagnosis of TBmay be delayed by the non-specific nature of early symptoms and because they are often attributed to pregnancy.Here we report one such case where the diagnosis of TBwas delayed due to the non-specific nature of her symptoms in ante-natal period.
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The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge regarding maternal & child health services available to antenatal mothers and to fi nd out association between knowledge score and selected socio demographic variables. A prospective, observational research design was used. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 120 subjects visiting antenatal OPD, Government Medical College & Hospital (GMCH), Chandigarh. Data was obtained from study subjects by proformas developed by the researchers consisting of Part A- having socio-demographic data and Part B- covering knowledge regarding maternal & child health services available. Approval was taken from research and ethical committee of the institution as well as from incharge of academics GMCH. Data analysis was done by calculating mean, standard deviation, percentage and correlation coeffi cient by using descriptive and inferential statistics; p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically signifi cance. Majority of the antenatal women had average knowledge regarding maternal & child health services available. There was no association between knowledge score and demographic variables. The fi ndings show that out of total subjects 24.2 percent had good knowledge, 62.5 percent had average knowledge and 13.3 percent had poor knowledge regarding maternal & child health services.
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Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is one of the major factors of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Aim was to study the maternal and fetal risk factors associated with non- detection of fetal growth restriction.Methods: A retrospective analysis was done at a tertiary care hospital. 280 term newborn cases weighing <2.5 kg were selected and they were divided into two groups, Group I- FGR detected cases by ultrasound, and group II- FGR non detected cases. Data was collected from the labour room registers.Results: Incidence of FGR found to be 6.8%.The maternal biological factors found to be significantly associated with fetal growth restriction were gestational hypertension, chronic hypertension and anemia. Fewer ANC visits was associated with non-detection of FGR cases. Detection of FGR cases were more if the birth weight found to be <2 kg when compared to non detection of FGR cases.Conclusions: Anaemia and fewer ante natal visits were associated with non detection of FGR at term when compared with antenatally detected FGR patients.
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Background: White coat hypertension (WCH) is a common and well recognized phenomenon with significant prevalence amongst all age groups. This is also quite prevalent in the pregnant women with an intermediate long term prognosis between hypertensive and normo-tensive individuals. It is important to assess the true prevalence WCH in pregnant women and to prevent unnecessary medications to them during pregnancy but at the same time to keep a timely follow up and a watchful eye on these patients to identify complications at the earliest. Study was conducted at a peripheral secondary level hospital with a small obstetrics and gynecology OPD and ward. 54 patients were diagnosed to be hypertensive in Antenatal Clinic.Methods: All pregnant women who presented to the ANC were screened for hypertension. Those who were diagnosed to be hypertensive in antenatal clinic and these patients were then admitted for Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) for 24 hours.Results: The ABPM tracings were checked and tabulated to arrive at the final diagnosis after 24 hrs. The prevalence of ‘WCH’ in this study was 48.15% as 26/54 patients were found to have their average BP < 140/90 mmHg after measurement by ABPM over 24 hours so they were diagnosed as ‘White Coat Hypertension’ patients.Conclusions: Many women who come to ANC in the early pregnancy are diagnosed to have hypertension. WCH is a well known phenomenon in pregnancy. WCH must be ruled out prior to starting these patients on anti-hypertensive medications.
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Background: There has been a lot of interest in knowing the effects of oral health on adverse pregnancy outcomes like preterm births and low birth weight. Studies have yielded contradicting results and there are lot of confounding issues that blur the picture. Aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of periodontitis is pregnant population and determine the effect of periodontitis on preterm births and low birth weight.Methods: This was a cross sectional study of singleton pregnant women attending ante-natal checkups with oral interview and clinical examination. Oral examination was done at the beginning of third trimester of pregnancy. They were followed up to delivery to note the duration of gestation, birth weight of babies.Results: The prevalence of periodontitis was 22% with 90.9% having mild and 9.1% having moderate periodontitis. Maternal education (high school and above) was associated with lower prevalence of periodontitis (p=0.042). There was no difference in the birth weights between the group with and without periodontitis (2.9±0.41kgs vs 2.74±0.36kgs, p=0.11). The incidence of low birth weights was also similar (p=0.22). The average gestational age was slightly less in the group with periodontitis (38 weeks 3 days vs 37 weeks 5 days) but the rates of preterm births were similar between the two groups (p=0.61).Conclusions: Mild/moderate periodontitis does not appear to have a significant effect on pre-term births and low birth weight. Maternal education and awareness seem to mitigate development of periodontitis and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
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Background: Maternal mortality remains a biggest setback in developing nations like India. Almost 90% of maternal deaths can be prevented by timely intervention, antenatal care acts as an effective tool to reduce both maternal and infant mortality. The objective of this study is to assess the utilization of antenatal care services in two divisions of Uttarakhand: Kumaun and Garhwal.Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using secondary data source i.e. NFHS-4 data of Uttarakhand which is divided into two regions, Garhwal and Kumaun. Statistical test i.e. Z-test is used for the comparison between two regions and within inter districts of Uttarakhand.Result: The results of this study indicates that between the two regions i.e Kumaun has better utilization of maternal health care facilities. Nainital district recorded best and Pithoragarh district recorded the least utilization of ANC services in Kumaun division. In Garhwal division, district Chamoli and Dehradun recorded highest utilization of maternal health care services whereas Rudraprayag and Tehri-Garhwal had discouraging statistics.Conclusion: Uttarakhand has immensely progressed in terms of maternal health in recent times; still there are some key areas that require immediate attention. Certain districts in both Garhwal and Kumaun division need assistance to improve maternal health care seeking behavior amongst the mother and the family. Dissemination of information and benefits regarding the utilization of ANC services should be encouraged to achieve a reduction in maternal mortality.
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Background: Infant feeding practices plays an important role in nutritional status of children. Aims & Objectives: To assess ante-natal care, delivery and infant feeding practices and their association with nutritional status. Material & Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was carried out in all the districts using systematic random sampling. Information was collected from the selected household on socio-demographic, delivery and feeding practices and anthropometric measurements were carried out. Nutritional status was assessed using WHO Child Growth Standard. Proportion test, bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was done. Results: The overall prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting was 26%, 21.5% and 16.5% respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of underweight and stunting was 1.4-1.5 times higher among infant whose mother had undergone ≤3 ANCs or not availed ANCs, 1.4 times higher among infants delivered at home, having morbidity during previous fortnight and 3.6 times higher among low birth weight children. The risk of underweight and wasting was 1.2 times higher among infants with birth interval less than 2 years and 1.3-1.5 times higher among children whose mothers were washing their hands only with water after defecation. Conclusion: The undernutrition is associated with ante-natal care, delivery practices, low birth weight and hygienic practices.
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Background: Antenatal and post natal care are important component of maternal mortality rate. Antenatal facilities provided to mothers form the base of their future outcome. The services provided to mothers are still poor in India. A proper and effective program implementation is depending on understanding of basic factors that affect maternal and child health services utilization. Considering all these facts, it is important to study the maternal health service utilization pattern among the beneficiaries living in urban area of Jabalpur and factors responsible for their under utilization. Material & Methods: A prospective study was carried out in urban area of Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Cluster sampling technique was used to select 396 Antenatal females in the 36 different clusters. Information about socio demographic factors and ANC services utilization was recorded. Results: This study showed that 50.50% of women were registered within 12 weeks of pregnancy, 58.80% women received four or more antenatal visits, 23.99% women consumed hundred and more Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets and 96.21% received 2 doses of Tetanus Toxoid (TT) injections. Only 22.72% women had complete ANC service utilization. Conclusion: Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) services was poor in the urban areas of Jabalpur district even though the physical accessibility was adequate. ANC services utilization is significantly associated with level of education of mother, education of husband, occupation of mother, type of family and time of registration of pregnancy.
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Background: Anaemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among pregnant women in developing countries including Nigeria, affecting about 33% - 75% of all pregnant women. The burden and predisposing factors varies even within countries. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive was conducted; participants were recruited using consecutive sampling technique. Data were obtained from study consented participants using pretested self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS for Windows Version 17.0. Significant level was set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 121 pregnant women with a mean age of 25.69±4.51 years participated in the study. Majority had post-primary education. The women exhibited good knowledge of anaemia in pregnancy. However, restriction of food including those rich in carbohydrates, proteins and alcoholic beverages (27.3%, 14.9%, and 56.8% respectively) was a common practice. Customs and religious beliefs were a major influence on food restrictions (50.8% and 28% respectively). Iron and folate supplementation, balanced diet, use of long lasting insecticide net, regular ante natal clinic visits among others were strategies respondents believes could help mitigate against this condition. Conclusions: The respondents had good knowledge of anaemia in pregnancy. However, restriction of nutritious food other than alcoholic beverages by significant proportion of the respondents is a cause for concern as this is a potential risk for anaemia in pregnancy. Nutrition education should be enhanced and sustained.
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The fetal stage is a critical period for brain development. Intrauterine growth restriction(IUGR)af-fects the growth of fetus and impairs the brain development severely,resulting in long - term neurological sequelae such as motor and behavioral disorders. Since their brain underdevelopment originated in the uterus,postnatal interventions usually fail to improve the brain function. Then antenatal interventions become urgent to protect the brain,taurine has appeared a high practical value in improving the brain development. The adverse effects of IUGR on fetal brain develop-ment and the possibilities of antenatal interventions were introduced in this paper in order to improve the prognosis of the nervous system.
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This study was carried out from January 2006 to December 2008 in the rural district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It included counselling and spreading of awareness encouraging voluntary Human Immunovirus testing in antenatal cases and starting prophylactic treatment of seropositive cases with nevirapine for safe deliveries and for preventing the mother to child transmission with distinct improvement effectively.
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Antenatal care (ANC) among pregnant women is one of the important factors in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, many women in developing countries do not receive such care. So, the present study was carried out to evaluate the knowledge and practice of ANC among married women in the age group of 15-49 years and also to assess the association of knowledge of ANC with some selected variables of interest. A crosssectional study was conducted between January 2012 to March 2012 among 429 married women who had a delivery in the last five years in an urban area in Imphal East. Women were interviewed using structured questionnaire regarding socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and practices on ANC. The mean score of the knowledge on ANC was 20.9+ 4.3 out of a total score of 36. However, only 42.6% women got full ANC, and the main reasons for not attending any antenatal check-up were thought of as not necessary and financial constraints. It was found that higher level of education, Hindu religion, age at marriage, and living in owned house were statistically associated with better knowledge (p<0.05). There is a need for enhancing awareness about the importance of ante-natal care and for motivating women to utilize maternal care services.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , India , Maternal Health Services , Pregnancy , Prenatal Care/education , Prenatal Care/methods , Urban Population/education , Young AdultABSTRACT
In a wide variety of circumstances of feticide, fetal age determination is important for identification. This is an important identification feature in postmortem cases. There are many different parameters to determine the age from fetus. But actual problem arises, when the body of fetus is either mutilated or decomposed. The data of femur length and other variables at various gestational ages can be used for age estimation of fetus at autopsy. But at time of autopsy each bone may or may not be present for autopsy. So, this study of ultrasonic fetal biparietal diameter was done to collect data, which can be utilized to ascertain the age of fetus in autopsy cases particularly in the Punjab region. This regional data can also be used to determine gestation age, if exact last menstrual period date is not known in antenatal cases of this region or to develop charts for ultrasound dating of pregnancy based on biparietal diameter and, second, to derive reference curves for normal fetal growth based on bi-parietal diameter.
Subject(s)
Autopsy , Cephalometry , Female , Gestational Age , Humans , Pregnancy , Prenatal Diagnosis , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Improvement of maternal health care services is regarded as an important component for achieving targets of MDGs by the year 2015. A cross-sectional community based study was carried out to find out the status and utilization of maternal health care services in Pangsa Upazilla of Rajbari District among 517 mothers who had at least one child up to 1 year of age. The study was conducted from June to August in the year 2008. Data were collected through face-to-face interview using purposive sampling technique. Most of the respondents were in the age group of 20-29 years (69.05%) and 35.01% of them had received primary education. Sixty seven percent of them had average monthly income of Taka 3001-5000. Eighty percent of the respondents were at the age group of 15-19 years when they got married. Most of the mothers (71.57%) got antenatal care during their last pregnancy and more than 80% of them had completed their TT vaccination schedule during pregnancy period. More than 80% of the deliveries were taken place at home. Eighty five percent of the deliveries were normal delivery and most of them (77.76%) were attended by the untrained traditional birth attendants (TBA). Hemorrhage was found to be the highest reported obstetric complication (37.50%). This study offered a picture of the maternal health care services in rural Bangladesh and detected the need for future work in this area.