Study on awareness of osteoporosis and its associated risk factors among housewives and working women in Karachi.

OBJECTIVE: To compare awareness of osteoporosis and its associated risks among working women and housewives. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Karachi University and Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, from January to April 2015, and comprised working women and housewives who were enrolled using convenience sampling. Data was collected on awareness, dairy, fruit, vegetable, poultry/fish consumption as well as exercise, diagnosis and treatment taken for deficiency of vitamin D. Weight, height and body mass index were noted. Analysis was done using SPSS 17. RESULTS: Of the 600 participants, 300(50%) were housewives and 300(50%) were working women. Significant differences were observed in marriage years, number of children and income (p <0.05). Body mass index of groups demonstrated that more working women were within normal range weight than housewives (p<0.05). Fewer housewives had awareness about osteoporosis and the majority of them had a sedentary lifestyle (p<0.001). More housewives were diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and were prescribed for treatment (p<0.001). Dairy and vegetable consumption was found comparable while fruits and poultry/ fish intake was better in working women (p<0.05). Since the subjects in both groups had no regular exercise programme, therefore the overall results were insignificant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Greater number of working women had awareness of osteoporosis.

Factors associated with mortality to drug-resistant tuberculosis and their programmatic management in treatment centres of Punjab, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics and assess the factors of mortality in drug-resistant tuberculosis patients. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at 11 programmatic management of drug-resistant tuberculosis centres located in different cities of the Punjab province of Pakistan, and comprised record of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis from January 2010 to September 2015. Data was retrieved from patient medical records using electronic nominal review system of the provincial tuberculosis control programme. Cox's proportional hazards model was performed to identify the factors for death. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 1,136 patients, 472(41.5%) died during treatment and 664(58.5%) were declared cured or their treatment was completed. Of those who expired, 97(20.6%) expired within 3 months of the start of the treatment. Men had higher rates of death which was not significantly associated with the drug-resistant tuberculosis mortality (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The number of patients who died from drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment was relatively high.