Objective: To observe the role of Mentzer index for differentiating iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta thalassemia trait (β TT) in pregnant women. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Gynaecology & Obstetrics Department of Nishtar Medical University from October 2020 to March 2021. Non-consecutive sampling was applied. A total of 100 antenatal ladies with hemoglobin <11 gm/dl were included. Their complete blood counts were checked and Mentzer Index was calculated. Mentzer Index <13 points to diagnosis of β TT and >13 indicates IDA. The diagnoses were confirmed by serum iron studies and Hb electrophoresis. The sensitivity and specificity of Mentzer Index for both causes of microcytic hypochromic anemia was calculated. Results: Out of total 100 patients with microcytic hypochromic anemia, 87 had Mentzer Index >13 and IDA was confirmed in 86 out of 87 cases. Thirteen cases had Mentzer Index <13 and β TT was confirmed in eight of them. Thus, Mentzer Index has a sensitivity and specificity of 91% & 83% for IDA and 83% & 91% for β TT. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that Mentzer Index can be used as a discriminatory test to differentiate between iron deficiency anemia and beta thalassemia trait. The high risk group can then be subjected to definitive diagnostic tests. This can result in better patient compliance and cost effectiveness. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.4.4635 How to cite this:Tabassum S, Khakwani M, Fayyaz A, Taj N. Role of Mentzer index for differentiating iron deficiency anemia and beta thalassemia trait in pregnant women. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.4.4635 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Objective: To determine the frequency of barriers to contraception uptake in women visiting outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital of South Punjab, Pakistan. Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Nishtar Medical University Hospital, Multan Pakistan from September 2021 February 2022. Methodology: A total of 249 pregnant women between 18-35 years having parity >2 and willing to be part of this research were included. Basic demographic features like age, weight, parity, socioeconomic status, education status, rural/urban residential status, willingness or barriers about various contraceptive measures were recorded and analyzed by SPSS 23. Results: In a total of 249 women, mean age was 30.56±4.74 years. Residential status of 204 (81.9%) women was urban. Mean parity was 3.85±1.07. Educational level was illiterate in 125 (50.2%) women. There were 114 (45.8%) women who belonged to low socio-economic class. There were 36 (14.5%) women who were willing to use contraceptive measures while remaining 213 (85.5%) women had some sort of barriers about contraception uptake. Husband’s disapproval accounted for the most frequent barrier to contraception uptake noted in 73 (29.3%) women while ignorance, ‘against culture’, side effects and misinformation was reported by 54 (21.7%), 34 (13.7%), 34 (13.7%) and 18 (7.2%) women respectively. Educational level (p=0.008) and socio-economic class (p<0.001) were found to have significant association with barriers to contraception uptake. Conclusion: Very high proportion of women was unwilling to contraception. Husband’s disapproval for contraception was the biggest barrier behind unwillingness to contraception uptake while ignorance and ‘against culture’ were the other most frequent barriers behind unwillingness to contraception uptake. Illiteracy and low socio-economic status were found to have significant association with barriers to contraception uptake. Keywords: Culture, contraception, illiteracy, misinformation, side effects.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.