A comparative study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status, dietary practices and physical activities of school going adolescents in public and private schools (PPSs) of Karachi, Pakistan. A sample of 101 boys and 100 girls from PPSs was randomly selected for their weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, percent body fat and lean body mass measurements. Adolescent boys and girls were interviewed for their dietary practices, socio-economic status, frequency and type of physical activities and their responses were recorded. Results by gender and school type revealed that both the boys and girls of private schools had a significantly lower mean age but significantly higher mean height-for-age Z-score, waist and hip circumferences than the public school adolescents. Food frequency results revealed that the frequency and patterns of breakfast, break-time snack, lunch and dinner of private school going adolescents were more diverse and nutritiously rich. Skipping breakfast was more common among adolescents being higher in girls than boys. Parents of adolescents belonging to private schools had a higher education and socio-economic status. Private school adolescents were physically more active (p<0.05) in terms of frequency and type of physical activities. The study concludes that the adolescents of private schools had a better nutritional status, consumed food and beverages of better quality and were physically more active. However, boys and girls of both the public and private schools failed to meet the national and international dietary guidelines of recommended food servings.

Background/Objectives: A community-based study was conducted to compare the nutritional status between smokers and non-smokers in association with dietary, biochemical and socioeconomic characteristics. Methods: A convenient sampling method was used to enroll 100 smokers and 99 non-smokers aged between 46 and 78 years from the urban and semi-urban areas of district Peshawar, Pakistan. Weight, height, waist and hip circumferences of the subjects were taken while body composition was determined by employing a Bodystat Analyzer. A blood sample was taken from each subject for the determination of serum vitamin A and zinc levels. Subjects were interviewed for a 24-hr dietary recall and demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Student's t-test and bivariate analysis were conducted to compare the mean differences and examine the association between different variables of smoker and non-smoker groups. Results: The results revealed that there was no significant (p>0.05) difference between the mean age, weight, height and body mass index of smokers and non smokers. However, the mean body fat, waist and hip circumference of the smokers were significantly (p<0.05) lower than the non-smokers. Conversely, the mean serum vitamin A (32.30±15.99 µg/dl) of smokers was significantly (p<0.05) higher than non-smokers (26.50±20.44 µg/dl) but the mean serum zinc concentration of smokers (99.76±27.42 µg/dl) was significantly lower than the non-smokers (108.25±32.20 µg/dl). Conclusions: The study concludes that anthropometric (body mass index), biochemical (vitamin A and zinc status), dietary (energy intake) and socio-economic (income, profession) characteristics failed to establish an association with smoking as most of the indicators of smokers are comparable to non-smokers.

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Background The HIV epidemic in Pakistan is concentrated in key populations and is one of the fastest growing epidemics in South Asia. Over the years the number of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus initiated on antiretroviral therapy has gradually increased. The effectiveness of the treatment programmes depends on retention in care and treatment adherence. The aim of the study is to the explore the sociodemographic characteristics and magnitude of loss to follow-up in patients initiated on ART in three provinces of Pakistan.Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the National AIDS Control Programme. Case-based data (n=5,215) of 16 treatment centres for all patients initiated on anti-retroviral therapy from 1 st January 2017 to 31 st December 2018 was extracted from the national management information system. Loss to follow-up was defined as a patient who has not visited/attended the ART clinic for >180 days (6 months) and has not been reported dead or transferred out to another ART clinic. Descriptive statistics were applied to study the sociodemographic characteristics and level of lost to follow up in patients initiated on treatment.Results Of the 5,215 patients, 3,097 (59.4%) were aged between 15-49 years. About 4,069 (78%) were male. Around 1,686 (34.3%) of the patients on ART were defined as lost to follow up. Age, gender, and patients with undisclosed identity were identified as the key characteristics of patients lost to follow-up. A greater proportion of the patients were lost to follow-up within the first year of initiation of treatment.Conclusions The loss to follow in the study is high. Efforts need to be focussed on linking people infected with human immunodeficiency virus to treatment, retaining them in care, and increasing patient time on treatment. Patient tracing mechanisms should be strengthened.

ResearchPage 32 ABSTRACT Background: Cardiovascular diseases in women are increasing at an alarming rate but very little attention has been given due to economic and socio-cultural reasons. A study was undertaken to examine the relationship between cardiovascular diseases and nutritional status in Pakistani women. Methods: A case-control study was carried out in the Outpatients department (OPD) of the Cardiology Unit, Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The inclusion criteria for selection of cases were females having complaints of myocardial infarction and free from all other infectious and chronic diseases. Forty three cases and 43 controls were selected for the study. Subjects were interviewed for their medical history, dietary intake demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Weight, height measurements and blood samples from both the cases and controls were taken for assessing their nutritional status. Data were analyzed using Student's t-test, Chi-square test, univariate and multivariate unconditional logistic regression to study the relationship between different variables. Results: The results revealed that the cases had a significantly (p<0.05) higher median age than the controls but there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in the mean weight, height, BMI, serum ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations between the cases and controls. High prevalence of overweight and obesity was found in both cases (67.4%) and controls (81.4%). Cases had a significantly lower mean dietary energy, protein, carbohydrates, and fat intake than the controls but there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the mean iron intake between the cases and controls. Results of logistic regression showed no significant association between the dependent (CVD) and independent variables (age, diastolic blood pressure, BMI, exercise, family history, family type, family size, haemoglobin, ferritin, carbohydrates and protein). Conclusions: The study does not reveal significant relationship between the CVDs and nutritional status. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in women was found to be alarmingly high and needs to be addressed by appropriate interventions to prevent the incidence of metabolic syndromes and chronic diseases in population.