Discriminatory value of blood urea:creatinine ratio in upper gastrointestinal bleeding with and without cirrhosis of liver.

AIM: To evaluate the discriminatory ability of blood urea:creatinine ratio in upper gastro-intestinal bleeding (UGIB) with and without cirrhosis of liver. METHODS: Blood urea:creatinine (BU/CR) ratio in 160 adult patients of UGIB were studied after excluding clinically overt cirrhosis of liver, renal failure and hematochezia. All were subjected to ultrasonography of abdomen. Only those showing cirrhosis and portal hypertension (n=76) were taken up for liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. BU/CR ratio was compared to UGIB cases without cirrhosis of liver (n=84). RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) blood urea creatinine ratio was significantly lower in the group with cirrhosis than without cirrhosis of liver (22.49 +/- 6.13 vs. 38.07 +/- 8.08, Z value 13.91). CONCLUSION: In absence of renal failure, the blood urea/creatinine ratio may differentiate UGIB with associated cirrhosis of liver from those without. Being simple, cheap and readily available, it can be of some value in those patients with cirrhosis of liver clinically not associated with gross findings of cirrhosis. In our study it was also noted that, an arbitrary cut-off value of 30 showed considerable overlap between the two groups; hence this ratio may not always differentiate between the cirrhotics and non-cirrhotics. Therefore, reproducibility of these results needs further studies, taking into account other factors which can modify the BU level in our population.

Variation in menarcheal age of Assamese girls.

The onset of menarche of 571 Assamese girls was investigated and the study sample included individuals from the population of various Assamese castes (brahmin, kalita, kaibarta), the Muslims and from the 2 Mongoloid populations, ie, the ahoms and the sonowals of Assam. Attempt was made to ascertain inter-group differences among themselves. The study revealed that there was insignificant statistical variation among the populations under consideration. Finally, the present findings were compared to that of the mean menarcheal age obtained on the same population by the earlier researchers which revealed good deal of variation among them. Secular trend in the age at menarche among these populations are discussed. Evidence of steady fall of menarcheal age in several populations has been noted in the present study.