Setting. The study was undertaken at the Department of Pulmonology at a public, tertiary care centre in Karachi, Pakistan. Objectives. To evaluate factors concerned with in-hospital deaths in patients admitted with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Design. A retrospective case-control audit was performed for 120 patients hospitalised with pulmonary TB. Sixty of those discharged after treatment were compared to sixty who did not survive. Radiological findings, clinical indicators, and laboratory values were compared between the two groups to identify factors related to poor prognosis. Results. Factors concerned with in-hospital mortality listed late presentation of disease (P < 0.01), noncompliance to antituberculosis therapy (P < 0.01), smoking (P < 0.01), longer duration of illness prior to treatment (P < 0.01), and low body weight (P < 0.01). Most deaths occurred during the first week of admission (P < 0.01) indicating late referrals as significant. Immunocompromised status and multi-drug resistance were not implicated in higher mortality. Conclusions. Poor prognosis was associated with noncompliance to therapy resulting in longer duration of illness, late patient referrals to care centres, and development of complications. Early diagnosis, timely referrals, and monitored compliance may help reduce mortality. Adherence to a more radically effective treatment regimen is required to eliminate TB early during disease onset.
Aim: To ascertain the frequency of acceptance and rejection of covid-19 vaccination and the reasons behind their choices among pregnant and breast feeding women visiting outpatient department of a tertiary care setup. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Unit -1 for a period of one month. All women attending outpatient department during the study, fulfilling the inclusion criteria and willing to participate in the study were included after informed consent. A questionnaire designed to acquire general information about the study participant was filled by the researcher. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS vr 21.0. Results: Out of 500 enrolled women, 249(49.8%) women were pregnant and 251(51.2%) were breast feeding. 171(34.2%) were vaccinated and 329(65.8%) were unvaccinated. There is a significant association between the concept regarding unavailability of significant data regarding safety during pregnancy and breast feeding or vaccine being harmful during pregnancy and breast-feeding for mother & baby and acceptance of vaccine (p-value < 0.001) Conclusion: Safety concerns regarding the vaccine for pregnant and breast-feeding mothers still hold them from getting vaccinated. Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of the country need to play a vital role in building up the confidence of this population over vaccination and should strongly recommend pregnant and breast feeding women following up in clinics to get vaccinated. Keywords: Covid vaccination, pregnancy, breast-feeding and covid vaccine, Covid pandemic.
Background: It is well established that tobacco use in the form of shisha has adverse effects similar to cigarette smoking. Medical-practitioners can play an important role in spreading awareness regarding health hazards associated with shisha smoking. Misconception about shisha is an important factor responsible for its increasing use, the need to evaluate medical practitioner's knowledge about shisha is an important step in controlling the growing epidemic.Objectives: To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of shisha smoking among different designations of medical practitioners in Karachi.Methodology: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to interns, postgraduate-trainees, medical-officers and consultants in various teaching hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan.Results: A total of 343 medical practitioners participated in the study including 38.2% interns, 43.1% postgraduate trainees, 12% medical-officers and 6.7% consultants. Of the total study population 29.5% of the medical practitioners admitted using shisha at some point in their life. Significant results were obtained when knowledge of medical practioners regarding shisha containing tobacco and its harmful effects on health were judged with p-values of 0.001 and <0.003 respectively. Knowledge regarding hazards of passive shisha exposure was found to be varying with 25.2% interns, 40.5% postgraduates, 34.1% medical-officers and 69.6% consultants being aware of association of neonatal deaths with passive shisha exposure (p-value <0.001) while 51.9% house physicians, 64.2% postgraduates, 53.7% medical officers and 87% consultants believed that shisha exposure during pregnancy can lead to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (p value 0.001).Conclusions: There is a lack of knowledge among medical practitioners, especially house physicians, regarding contents used in shisha and its hazards.
Background and Objective: The current COVID-19 situation has restrained the movement of individuals along with instilling fear in them. COVIDThis study assesses the level of physical activity, screen time and emotional status of the individuals during the current COVID-19 situation in the population of Pakistan. Methods: The study was carried out in May 2020. The sample size was 385 and the snowball sampling technique was employed. The data was collected through a self-administered online questionnaire and included subjects from all provinces of Pakistan. The form comprised of four parts including socio-demographic details, self-reported screen time as well as SPANE and IPAQ-short form questionnaires. The data was analysed using SPSS version 25. Results: Out of 385 individuals, 89.6% reported inadequate physical activity. Among these, the majority comprised of females (92.3% vs. 80% in males). It was determined that there were higher positive affective scores in males (28.6 ± 8.1) compared to those in females (27.5 ± 7.7). The average sedentary screen time was 7.24 ± 3.76 hours that was maximally reported in the younger age group (19 years and lesser). Moreover, a downward trend of negative affective scores, from vigorous to light physical activity level, was noted.
Abstract Objective: To explore the association of handgrip strength and peak expiratory flow rate with site-specific bone mineral density T scores, and to study the correlation of body mass index and physical activity with the three parameters. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2018 at the Combined Military Hospital, Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised healthy young adults. Data was collected using the international physical activity questionnaire. The subjects were grouped into low, moderate and high categories. Handgrip strength, peak expiratory flow rate, bone mineral density T scores and body mass index were measured for each subject. Data was analysed using SPSS 24. Results: Of the 102 subjects, 52(50.9%) were males and 50(49%) were females. There was a significant difference between the median values for all parameters of males and females (p<0.05). Bone mineral density and physical activity were moderately associated with handgrip strength and peak expiratory flow rate (p<0.05). Body mass index showed a moderate association with bone mineral density (p<0.05). Conclusion: Healthy young adults with better respiratory function and handgrip strength were found to have higher values of site-specific calcaneal bone mineral density. Subjects with higher reported levels of physical activity and a higher body mass index within a healthy range presented with improved values of bone mineral density, handgrip strength and peak expiratory flow rate. Key Words: Bone mineral density, Handgrip strength, Peak expiratory flow rate, Body mass index, Physical activity. Continuous...
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