Evaluation of impact of dietary pattern on iodine and thyroid status of adolescent girls in Lahore

Study was designed to determine, inter alia, the impact of dietary pattern on the iodine status of adolescent girls' population in City District, Lahore. It was a community based study, conducted through cross - sectional approach. The study was conducted from 21[st] March to 2[nd] June, 2009 in 66 public and private girls secondary schools situated within urban and rural areas of Capital City District, Lahore. The study population comprised adolescent school girls of age group 11 - 16 years in 09 administrative towns of Lahore. Multistage sampling technique was used. In first stage, 75 schools in Lahore were selected by simple random sampling. In second stage, 10 girls students of 11 - 16 years from each school were selected by using the table of random number. 660 subjects were recruited for the study and urine samples were collected for urin analysis. In the third stage, 01 girl student out of 10 from each school was randomly selected and her venous blood taken for TSH estimation. Data was collected through interview on predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Chi-squared, Fisher's exact and ANOVA tests were employed to determine the association between different variables. P-value <0.05 was considered significant except in case of impact of food items and goiter, where P value

Evaluation of impact of dietary pattern on iodine and thyroid status of adolescent girls in Lahore

Study was designed to determine, inter alia, the impact of dietary pattern on the iodine status of adolescent girls' population in City District, Lahore. Cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Institute of Public Health, Lahore from 21[st] March to 02[nd] June, 2009. It was a community based study conducted in the 66 public and private girls secondary schools situated within urban and rural areas of Capital City District, Lahore. The study population comprised adolescent school girls of age group 11-16 years in 09 administrative towns of Lahore. Multistage sampling technique was used. In first stage, 75 schools in Lahore were selected by simple random sampling. In second stage, 10 girls students of 11-16 years age from each school were selected by using the table of random number. 660 subjects were recruited for the study and urine samples were collected for urinalysis. In third stage, 01 girl student out of 10 from each school was randomly selected and her venous blood taken for TSH estimation. Data was collected through interview on predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Chi-squared, Fisher's exact and ANOVA tests were employed to determine the association between different variables. P-value <0.05 was considered significant except in case of impact of food items and goiter, where P value

Impact of socioeconomic factors on nutritional status in primary school children

Child malnutrition is a major public health and development concern in most of the poor communities leading to high morbidity and mortality. Various studies have highlighted the factors involved. The present study focuses on socioeconomic inequality resulting in malnutrition. Objectives of the Study were to find the Impact of socio-economic factors on nutritional status in primary school children. It was a cross sectional survey conducted at Lahore from February to August 2005 among primary schools from public and private sectors to assess the nutritional status of primary school going children age 5-11 years belonging to different socio economic classes of the society. Systematic random sampling technique was applied to collect the sample. Body Mass Index in relation to NHANES reference population was used for assessing nutritional status. The nutritional status of children from lower socio economic class was poor as compared to their counter parts in upper socio economic class. Children with BMI <5[th] percentile were 41% in lower class while in upper class it was 19.28%. Prevalence of malnutrition was 42.3% among children of illiterate mothers as compare to 20% in those of literate mothers. Poverty, low literacy rate, large families, food insecurity, food safety, women's education appears to be the important underlying factors responsible for poor health status of children from low socioeconomic class. It requires economic, political and social changes as well as changes for personal advancement mainly through educational opportunities to improve the nutritional status of the children

Prevalence of HBV and HCV infection in Faisalabad

Blood-borne pathogens like hepatitis B virus [HBV] and hepatitis C virus [HCV] are considered major but preventable public health problems in the developing world. Routes of transmission include unsafe injections, blood, sex and transmission from infected mothers to their babies and many other unusual routes like through barbers, dentists and beauty parlors. In Pakistan, national efforts have been made to reduce potential transmission of HBV and HCV, e.g. HBV vaccination programmes, public health education programmes on safe sex, blood and injection practices and legislation to standardise and ensure safety in blood banks. A common element of these programmes and initiatives is a baseline situation analysis using routine surveillance data, or data from surveys or studies, typically followed by a repeat analysis to determine if any change has occurred as a result of an intervention. Given the paucity of surveillance data in Pakistan, high risk areas are an excellent sites for sentinel surveillance of blood-borne pathogens to determine trends in prevalence and disease distribution defined on social, demographical, geographical, and biological variables. We therefore conducted a baseline analysis of residents in Faisalabad city which is a high risk area as part of a pilot phase to develop a sentinel surveillance system for HBV and HCV infections. Similar analysis are expected to follow data in subsequent years to allow comparisons based on time, place and person to determine trends and evaluate interventions. A total of 193 blood samples were collected from Faisalabad. Blood samples safely reached Laboratory and were tested for HBV and HCV by ELISA technique. Results showed that 4.5% blood samples were reactive for HBV and 22% blood samples were reactive for HCV. In HBV reactive cases co-infection is 22% and in HCV reactive cases co-infection is 4.6%

Frequency of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy

Haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit and red cell indices were used to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in 103 pregnant women attending Lady Atchison Hospital, Lahore. Iron deficiency Anaemia was present in 41.75% women based on Hb less than 11 g/dl in addition to abnormal haematocrit and red cell indices. Lower mean values for Hb concentration were obtained in women in 2[nd] [10.1 gm/dl] and 3[rd] [9.6 gm/dl] trimester of pregnancy indicating decreasing iron stores. Anaemia prevalence was directly related to the number of previous pregnancies. It increased with parity being 92% in grand multigravidae and 25% in primigravidae indicating that grand multiparous women were particularly at risk. The prevalence of anaemia remained high [65.06%] in low-income women suggesting poor iron nutrition both before and during pregnancy in this group. The higher prevalence of anaemia among the pregnant women [41.75%] and among women during the third trimester [64%] suggests that these groups are at a greater health and nutrition risk. It is possible that early detection and enrolment in public health program may improve iron nutrition status during pregnancy and reduce poor pregnancy outcomes

Diagnosis of diabetic autonomic neuropathy - A multivariate approach

Seventy five [75] diabetic patients in the age range of 30 - 65 years were evaluated for autonomic nervous system affections, by using 3 bed side tests to detect cardiac neuropathy. Out of a total of 75 cases, 38 were symptomatic for diabetic autonomic neuropathy [DAN], while 37 were asymptomatic. 37 healthy age matched controls were also included in the study. Amongst the study population, the abnormality of the parasympathetic division i.e. valsalva response and heart variation during deep breathing were found to be greater than the sympathetic component i.e. blood pressure response to standing. Similarly the frequency of abnormality in the values of autonomic function tests were greater in the symptomatic diabetic group than the asymptomatic diabetic group. This study also proved that the frequency of DAN was directly proportional to the duration of disease

Microalbuminuria and early diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy in insulin dependent and non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Diabetic nephropathy is one of the microvascular complications of diabetes and accounts for almost a third of all causes of end stage renal disease. Microalbuminuria screening among diabetics can offer early detection of incipient nephropathy. The study was designed to explore if an elevated albumin excretion would predict the development of overt proteinuria and to describe risk factors associated with the development and progression of microalbuminuria. The study was conducted at Diabetic Research Clinic of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. The study subjects included 25 insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients, 25 non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus [NIDDM] patients between 18-60 years of age. 25 age matched normal subjects were taken as control group. Of the 25 patients with IDDM 4% had overt nephropathy. Microalbuminuria was present in 40% of patients, each in IDDM and NIDDM. 56% patients in IDDM and 60% patients in NIDDM had normal albumin excretion rate. Hypertension was present in 20% of IDDM patients and 28% of NIDDM patients. The microalbuminuric patients both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetics had longer duration of diabetes, higher diastolic, systolic blood pressure and glucose concentration than did the normoalbuminuric subjects. There was no difference between the normoalbuminuric and microalbuminuric subjects in terms of age and sex. A significant correlation was found between hypertension, duration of diabetes, metabolic control and development of diabetic nephropathy. In conclusion early detection of patients at high or low risk of developing persistent proteinuria is possible by using a sensitive method for urinary albumin excretion. Microalbuminuria above 20ug/min carries the conviction of its predictive value for clinical proteinuria, a known precursor of renal failure