Background and Objectives: Pre-existing diabetes is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes, yet much is unknown about knowledge of preconception care among diabetic women. The objective of this study was to examine the knowledge and preconception care seeking practices of diabetic women in the reproductive age. Methods: A cross- sectional hospital based study of 114 diabetic women between 15-45 years old was conducted between March and May 2017. Data was collected using structured questionnaires in face to face interviews. Chi- square test was used to determine the association between knowledge levels and identified factors; these were further analyzed using binary logistic regression to determine the adjusted odds of poor knowledge. Results: The findings showed that 52.6% of diabetic women that participated in our study had poor knowledge of preconception care. Independent factors associated with poor knowledge on preconception care were up to primary level of education [AOR 4.54, 95% CI (2.23, 9.27)] and ?1 year duration of diabetes diagnosis [AOR 3.21 95% (1.35, 7.65)]. About 67% of the participants with a history of being pregnant after diagnosis of diabetes did not seek pre-conception care. Conclusions and Implications for Translation: The study indicated poor knowledge level as well as poor practice of seeking preconception care. There is need to explore the establishment of clinical guidelines and policies that will allow the dissemination of pregnancy related advise to diabetic women. Key words: • Diabetes Mellitus • Diabetic Women. • Preconception Care • Reproductive Age Group • Knowledge • Practice • Zambia   Copyright © 2017 Mutale et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Introduction: The emergence of SARS COV-2 and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) came without any known medication or treatment, thereby raising concerns for drug (therapeutics) research and development. Vitamin D is a potent immunomodulator with a proven protective effect against respiratory viral infections, and because of this, many studies have been carried out to evaluate the effects of vitamin D on COVID-19 infection, however, with varying conclusions. Objective: To assess serum vitamin D levels and their correlation with IL-6 and other clinical characteristics among COVID-19 patients attended to at Mary Begg Health Services (MBHS). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among COVID-19 patients at MBHS. The study included 33 confirmed severe patients admitted to the intensive care unit, 45 patients with mild symptoms, and 45 healthy controls. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare the median serum vitamin D levels among the three groups, and Spearman’s correlations were performed to assess the correlation between serum vitamin D, IL-6, and clinical characteristics of the patients. Results: The majority of COVID-19 patients in this study had optimal levels of vitamin D 44/78 (56.4%), with vitamin D deficiency being observed in only 6/78 (7.7%). Vitamin D levels in the control group were not significantly different when compared to levels measured in severe and mild COVID-19 patients, median [IQR], 31.33 ng/ml [25.9-39.56] compared to 29.97 ng/ml [26.19-37.45] and 31.9 ng/ml [26.12-38.34], p = 0.916, respectively. Severe COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit were older and had median higher IL-6 levels (43.67 ± 11.86 years vs. 33.89 ± 13.38 years; p = 0.001 and 27.56 pg/ml [13.13-47.81] vs. 8.34 pg/ml [5.1-21.63]; p = 0.0003, respectively) than patients with mild disease. A significant negative correlation between vitamin D and IL-6 (r = - 0.42; p = 0.016) was found in severe COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: A negative (inverse) correlation between serum vitamin D and IL-6 was found in this study. Therefore, patients with severe COVID-19 might benefit from vitamin D supplementation, which would help to downregulate the cytokine storm and hence reduced disease severity.

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