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Assessment of Pregnancy Intention and Its Related Factors among Females Attending the Antenatal Clinic
Full text linkBackground and Objective:
The intention of pregnancy is considered one of the major factors contributing to the foetal or maternal outcome. An exploration of the magnitude of this problem and its related factors can lead to improved foetal or maternal health. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess pregnancy intention and its related factors among females attending antenatal clinics of tertiary care hospitals.
Methods:
It is a Cross-sectional (analytical) study conducted at the Antenatal clinic, Jinnah Hospital Lahore, within the duration of January-April 2022. Two hundred and fifty(250) pregnant women aged 20 to 39 years were enrolled using non-probability convenience sampling. All the information was noted in a structured questionnaire based on study variables. The collected data was analysed using SPSS version 27.0 and frequency tables were generated. Appropriate test of significance was applied and p-value < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.
Results:
Among 250 pregnant females, about 195(78%) of the females reported the current pregnancy to be intentional while 55(22%) were unintentional. It was also seen that age and parity were significantly related to the intention of pregnancy p-value<0.05. The main reasons behind unintentional pregnancies were; 28(51%) unaware about contraception, and 20(36.4%) contraception methods had failed.
Conclusions:
Approximately one-fourth of all pregnancies were unintentional which raises a concern regarding contraceptive usage and its effectiveness. The prevalence is high compared to reported by the Pakistan demographic health survey. Health education, advocacy, and health protection measures taken on all levels of health care to increase the use and access to contraceptive services are need of hour to address this unwanted situation of unwanted pregnancies
Addressing Insulin Hesitancy in Primary Health Care
Full text linkThis editorial highlights the need to understand the reasons for insulin hesitancy and address them. It commends the research published in this issue of the journal, which explores the negative, as well as positive, perceptions of persons with type 2 diabetes towards insulin use
Frequency and Associated Factors of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 6 to 59 Months in District Qambar Shahdadkot, Sindh
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Sensitivity and Specificity of C-Reactive Protein Against Blood Culture in Patients with Neonatal Sepsis - A Hospital-Based Study
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Knowledge, Perception, and Practice of Generic Medicine and Associated Factors among Community Pharmacists in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Full text linkGood knowledge of Generic medicines (GM) among healthcare professionals including pharmacists improves the effective usage of generic medicine among patients and thus reduces their healthcare costs. The objective of this study is to assess knowledge of GM among community pharmacists in the Jaffna district of Sri Lanka. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among all community pharmacists in the Jaffna district using a self-administered questionnaire. SPSS 26 analyzed data. Independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to assess the relationship between sociodemographic and work-related factors and knowledge of GM among community pharmacists at the 95% confidence interval and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Sixty-two pharmacists (92.54%) responded to the study. The median age of pharmacists was 42.5 years (IQR=18.5) and 58.1% of them were males. The total score for knowledge of generic medicine was 55. The mean score of knowledge on generic medicine was 37.37±11.86. Age, professional qualification (p=0.044), and participation in the workshop (p=0.023) had significant differences with knowledge of GM. Pharmacists have a negatively inclined perception of generic substitutes. However, most of them (95.2%) were practicing generic medicine substitution. Most of the pharmacists selected generic substitutes based on the customer's request (94.9%), followed by the quality of the generic medicine (67.8%) and familiarity of generic brands (67.8%). Community pharmacists lack knowledge and negatively inclined perception of GM. However, most pharmacists practice generic substitutions during dispensing. Conducting continuous professional development programs and workshops regularly and upgrading their professional qualifications to diploma or degree from certificate level could improve not only their knowledge of generic medicines but also good dispensing practice
Frequency of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease among the Non-Obese Population Presenting to the Gastrointestinal Outpatient Clinic
Full text linkBackground: It has been reported that Asian males with BMI ≤ 23 kg/m2 have considerably higher content of fat and visceral adipose tissue as compared to their Western counterparts. Multiple studies have reported variable frequency of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in lean population. However, the data is scarce regarding the prevalence of NAFLD in the lean Asian population.
Objective: To determine the frequency of NAFLD among the non-obese population presenting to our clinic
Methods: This cross-sectional study included all the lean individuals with BMI< 23 kg/m2 presenting to the gastroenterology outpatient clinic from 1st November 2020 to 31st March 2022. Ultrasound abdomen was performed for the presence or absence of fatty liver which was diagnosed based on hyperechoic liver texture. The analysis of continuous variables was performed using the student t-test while the Chi-square test was applied for the analysis of categorical variables. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: Among the 283 individuals presenting to the gastrointestinal clinic with BMI < 23 kg/m2, the majority were females [150 (53%)]. Out of 283 patients, 118(41.7%) had hypertension, 114(40.3%) had hypertriglyceridemia while 86(29.7%) patients had diabetes. On ultrasound abdomen, fatty liver was observed in 92 (32.5%) patients including 59 (64.1%) females and 33 (35.9%) males. The statistical analysis documented a significant association of NAFLD with female gender (p=0.006), hypertension (p<0.001), hypertriglyceridemia (p=0.13), high total lipids (p<0.001), and serum cholesterol levels (p=0.005). However, no statistically significant association of fatty liver was observed with body mass index (p=0.823), age (p=0.169), and diabetes (p= 0.522).
Conclusion: The presence of hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, raised total lipids and serum cholesterol levels and female gender were the factors significantly associated with the presence of fatty liver in the lean population. However, to validate our results, multicentered studies on a larger scale are required
Case Report on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in a Child Presented with Migratory Polyarthritis with Normal Peripheral Blood Smear
Full text linkPatients with leukemia can present with polyarthritis and polyarthralgia mimicking juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, diagnosis and treatment of leukemia can be delayed with disastrous effects. A 14-year-old boy with a history of pre-B ALL, diagnosed in 2019, presented seventeen months after treatment completion due to symptoms of migratory polyarthritis lasting for one month, with raised ASO titer, but not fulfilling criteria for acute rheumatic fever. He presented to EAR multiple times, with a wide range of autoimmune-like phenomena, but his rheumatoid factors, ANA profile, and inflammatory markers like ESR and CRP were normal. Peripheral blood smears were repeatedly without pathological changes.
It is unusual for acute leukemia to present with normal CBC and peripheral blood smear, however, bone marrow should be advised if the clinical symptoms /signs are suggestive of acute leukemia after ruling out the other common differentials
CDK 4/6 Inhibitors in Metastatic Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer: An Outcome-Based Study from a Tertiary Care Center in Pakistan
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