Pattern Of Presentation Among Adults Hospitalized With Dengue Disease.

BACKGROUND: Dengue is a mosquito born viral infection that has rapidly spread in the world particularly in Southeast Asia. The aim of this hospital based study was to see the demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics in adults with dengue infection in Hazara region of Northern Pakistan. METHODS: This is a descriptive study. Clinical, laboratory and demographic information were collected from adult patients with suspected dengue infection (n=100) and then managed in one of medical units of tertiary care hospital in Abbottabad from August to October 2015. RESULTS: Total number of patients was 100, 78 were male and 22 were female. 49 patients were in age group from 21 to 40 years. Most patients were from Mansehra district (69), followed by Haripur (11), Abbottabad (11), Battagram (06) and Kohistan (03). Common clinical features were fever (100%), body aches (95%), headache (94%), chills (87%), and anorexia (86%), haemorrhagic tendencies (12%), rash (05%), and sore throat (03%). Thrombocytopenia was observed in 98%, leucopoenia in 25%, high Aminotransferases (ALT) in 67%, Ns1 antigen positive 66%, negative 18% and unknown 16%. IgM Antibodies against Dengue Virus was positive 67%, negative 19% and were unknown in 14%, IgG antibodies positive in 54%, negative 32% and were unknown in 14%. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded in our study that presentation of dengue infection is same as in other Southeast Asian countries; however, the disease is more prevalent in cities located on plain than hilly areas.

Association Of Tricuspid Regurgitation And Severity Of Mitral Stenosis In Patients With Rheumatic Heart Disease.

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease is a common ailment in Pakistan and Mitral stenosis is its flag bearer Severity of mitral stenosis is the key factor in deciding for mitral valve surgery. METHODS: This case series study was conducted at Ayub Teaching Hospital .Cases of Rheumatic heart disease with mitral stenosis were diagnosed clinically. 2D echocardiography was used to find severity of mitral stenosis. Data was entered into SPSS-17.0 and results were recorded and analysed. Pearson's two tailed correlation was used to find the correlation between presence of tricuspid regurgitation in patients with severe mitral stenosis, p was <0.05. RESULTS: A total 35 patients with pure mitral stenosis were included in study, out of which 8 were male and 27 were females. Mean age in males was 34.5±15.85 years while in females it was 31±8 years. Twenty-two out of 35 (62.86%) patients had tricuspid regurgitation while 13 out 35 (37.14%) had no tricuspid regurgitation. Mean (MVA) mitral valve area in patients with tricuspid regurgitation was 0.84±0.3 cm2 while mean (MVA) mitral valve area in patients without tricuspid regurgitation was 1.83±0.7 cm2. Mean left atrial (L.A) size was 45.23±1.5 mm2 in patients with tricuspid regurgitation, while it was 44.13±6.14 mm2 in patients without tricuspid regurgitation. Mean RSVP was 57.5mmHg in patients with tricuspid regurgitation while RSVP could not be calculated in patients without tricuspid regurgitation. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that tricuspid regurgitation was strongly associated with severe mitral stenosis as almost all patients with severe mitral stenosis had tricuspid regurgitation and none of the patients with mild mitral stenosis had tricuspid regurgitation.

Correlation between glycated haemoglobin levels and random blood glucose.

BACKGROUND: Glycated haemoglobin or glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is a form of haemoglobin that is measured primarily to identify the average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time. Levels of HbA1c represent the average blood glucose levels of diabetic patients over the previous 120 days. The objective of this study was to see the correlation between HbA1c levels and random glucose levels. METHODS: This descriptive study included 106 randomly selected patients with known diabetes from the outpatients department. Random sugar levels were measured by using venous blood samples. HbA1c levels were measured in venous blood by BIO-RAD D-10 HPLC Method. Data were recorded on a proforma. Pearson's correlation was applied to find out any significant correlation between the glycated haemoglobin levels and the random blood glucose levels. Results were plotted onl simple scatter plot and p < 0.01 was considered significant. CONCLUSIONS: A significant linear positive correlation exists between levels of HbA1c and random blood sugar.

Frequencies of congenital anomalies among newborns admitted in nursery of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Congenital anomalies play a significant role in perinatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The frequency of these congenital anomalies varies in different populations. Objective of this study was to find out the frequencies of congenital anomalies admitted in nursery of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad. METHODS: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study all patients admitted in NICU from October 2009 to January 2010 were included. The patients were examined for major and minor congenital anomalies. The observations were recorded in tabulated form. RESULTS: A total of 2,360 patients were admitted in NICU during the study period. One hundred patients were noted to have congenital anomalies. The most frequent anomalies involved the central nervous system (31%). Meningomyelocele was the commonest defect (71%, 22 out of 31 cases of CNS defects), among these males were more (77%, 17 out of 22 of meningomyelocele cases) than females (14 out of 31). These were followed by patients born with congenital heart defects (16%). Patients with urogenital anomalies (6%) were all male except for one who had ambiguous genitalia. CONCLUSIONS: Cases of meningomyelocele were the commonest presenting congenital anomaly. More stress should be laid on the role of peri-conceptional vitamin supplementation like folic acid for the primary prevention of congenital defects.