Hormonal dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Systemic response to chronic disease in COPD patients might cause hormonal imbalance which in turn affects the severity of the disease. The severity of hypoxia in COPD patients causes alterations in thyroid function tests and IGF-1 levels. This work was carried on 50 COPD patients diagnosed and classified according to GOLD criteria and 20 healthy controlled subjects. All subjected to full clinical history, examination, chest X-ray and spirometry. Levels of TT3, TT4, FT3, FT4, IGF-1 and insulin were measured. TT4, FT3, FT4, TSH, and insulin levels were normal in all COPD. Despite the TT3 hormone level were normal in all stages of COPD, there is reduction in hormone levels in stage III and stage IV than control subjects. There is also reduction in TT3/TT4 ratio in severe COPD and there is correlation between TT3/TT4 ratio and PaO2 in stage III and stage IV but no correlation between TT3/TT4 ratio and PaO2 in stage I and stage II. IGF-1 hormone levels were variable among different stages of COPD. There is was no significant difference between some hormonal levels in COPD and in controls, accordingly hormonal replacement therapy in these patients is doubtful

Viral hepatitis B among pregnant women in Ketour village [Gharbia Governorate]

Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg] was found to be 18.18% among bilharzial pregnant women without splenectomy, 4.55% among bilharzial pregnant women with splenectomy and 3.03% among non bilharzial group of women. There was a tendency of HBsAg to decrease with the increase of age. Parenteral therapy [50.00%] and blood transfusion [29.41%] constituted the main routes for viral hepatitis transmission. Out of 34 HBsAg +ve pregnant women, one case died before delivery with a case fatality rate of 2.94%. Fetal complications included still births [5.88%], neonatal deaths [8.82%] low birth weight infants [17.65%] and congenital malformations [2.49%]. Recommendations included routine screening of all pregnant women for HBsAg and giving immunoprophylaxis to all infants borne to HBsAg positive mothers in rural areas