Relationship of menstrual irregularities to BMI and nutritional status in adolescent girls

To evaluate the effect of Body Mass Index and nutritional status on the menstrual pattern in adolescent girls. Four hundred one adolescent girls who attained menarche were selected from five schools in Hyderabad. The data was collected by trained medical undergraduate and postgraduates by interviewing adolescent school girls using a pre-designed pre-tested questionnaire. BMI was calculated using the formula: BMI [kg/m[2]] = Weight [kg] / Height 2 [m[2]]. Hb was estimated by Sahlis method using a haemoglobinometer. Data was analyzed using SPSS 11.0. The mean age of the girls was 14.96 +/- 1.5 years. Three hundred and five [76%] of the girls had a normal menstrual cycle, twenty-eight [7%] had frequent periods, fifty-two [13%] had infrequent periods and sixteen [4%] of the girls had totally irregular cycles and a pattern could not be determined. Three hundred and five [76%] of girls had a normal menstrual flow, sixty-eight [17%] had heavy flow and twentyeight [7%] had scanty flow. One hundred fifty two [38%] of girls complained of premenstrual symptoms. Two hundred thirty one [60%] girls were clinically anemic. Two hundred and seventy seven [69%] had a BMI between 18.5 - 24.9 kg/m[2]. One hundred and eight [27%] were underweight with a BMI of 14 - 18.49kg/m[2], while sixteen [4%] were overweight with BMI 25 - 29.99 kg/m[2]. A statistically significant relationship was found between BMI and social class [P < 0.001] and BMI and menstrual pattern P < 0.001]. The study concludes that a majority of the girls had clinically obvious nutritional deficiency diseases. Out of the four hundred and one girls who were checked, two hundred thirty one were found to be anemic. Majority of the girls [84%] had a normal menstrual pattern, normal BMI and attained menarche before the age of 16. Overweight girls had infrequent periods

Abruptio placentae: risk factors and maternal outcomes at a tertiary care hospital

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine risk factors and maternal complications in cases of abruptio placentae

STUDY DESIGN: It was an observational and descriptive study

SETTING: This study was conducted in Obstetric and Gynaecology Unit-I of Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad from November 2011 to October 2012 [12-months]

METHODOLOGY: All the pregnant women with gestational age 24 weeks or greater on ultrasound having retroplacental clot on ultrasound and/or painful vaginal bleeding were included in this study by using non-probability purposive sampling technique whereas women presenting with vaginal bleeding due to causes other than abruptio placentae were excluded from the study

RESULTS: During the study period total 3329 women delivered among which 115 presented with abruptio placenta making the proportion of 3.46%. Among these 115 cases only 11 [9.57%] were booked. Women delivered vaginally were 74 [64.35%] whereas 41 [35.65%] underwent operative delivery. In this study the most frequent age group was >30 years [51, 44.35%] with mean+/-SD age of 30.02+/-7.648 years. Majority [62, 53.91%] were grandmultiparous with mean+/-SD parity of 4.98+/-3.068. Most of the women [76, 66.09%] presented with gestational age >37-weeks. Gestational age >37 weeks was most frequent risk factor followed by hypertension [59.13%], grandmultiparity [53.91%], anemia [38.26%], poverty [19.13%], smoking [12.17%] and trauma [2.61%]. Maternal outcomes were postpartum anemia [44.35%], shock [35.65%], PPH [28.70%], PROM [13.91%], postpartum infection [6.96%], DIC [4.35%], renal failure [4.35%] and maternal mortality [2.61%]

CONCLUSION: Abruptio placentae is still one of the major threat to the well being of pregnant women in our population with alarmingly high rate of 3.46% as compared to worldwide rate of 0.7-1%. Gestational age >37-weeks, hypertension, grandmultiparity and anemia are found to be major risk factors for abruptio placentae whereas maternal age does not seem to have any association

Seroprevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection in pregnant women attending public sector tertiary care hospital in Hyderabad Sindh

Background and Objectives: Pakistan is among the countries having high prevalence of HCV infection in the population but there is dearth of proper epidemiological data regarding acquisition of HCV infection in the pregnant population. Our objective was to determine the seroprevalence of HCV antibodies in healthy pregnant women and to assess the potential risk factors for HCV infection in HCV positive subjects and in the control group

Methodology: This cross sectional and comparative study was conducted from 1[st] January to 31[st] December 2010 in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynaecology Unit-I, Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad. Sera were collected from all admitted pregnant women and tested for HCV anti bodies using Elisa kits [Abbott, USA]. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 statistical package

Results: The seroprevalence of HCV among pregnant population was found to be 4.7%. HCV positive women were more likely to have a history of blood transfusion [OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.26- 3.12], History of therapeutic injection use [OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.43-4.26], history of surgery [OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.66] and history of sharing household products [OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.14-2.87]

Conclusion: HCV seropositive pregnant women were more likely to have a history of blood transfusion, therapeutic injection use, surgery and sharing household items