ObjectiveWhile studies evaluating the prevalence of depression and hypertension have been extensively carried out in high income countries, there is a paucity of information assessing the prevalence of depression within hypertensive patients in low income nations. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of undiagnosed depression in hypertensive patients within a tertiary care facility in Karachi, Pakistan. The secondary objective was to assess factors associated with undiagnosed depression in this group.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at the Civil Hospital Karachi Outpatient Department from January 2017 to April 2017. The sample population was composed of 411 hypertensive patients. Interviews were conducted after taking informed consent, with data concerning basic demographic details and lifestyle habits gathered. Blood pressure was recorded and its severity was classified as per the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-7) guidelines. Depression was evaluated and its severity classified as per the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale, with a score of 10 or above set as the cut-off point. Data were entered and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 23.0. (IBM, NY, USA)ResultsThe prevalence of depression within 411 hypertensive patients was 40.1% (n = 165). The mean age of the sample was 45.7 ± 11.2 years, and the majority were females (72%, n = 295), unemployed (72%, n = 296), had primary or no education (67%, n = 277), and were of low socioeconomic status (78%, n = 321). The average systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 143.8 ± 21.7 and 93.3 ± 15.5 mm Hg, respectively. Factors which had a significant association with depression were gender (p = 0.009), age class (p = 0.035), educational status (p = 0.000), employment status (p = 0.003), socioeconomic status (p = 0.008), physical activity (p = 0.025), smoking (p = 0.017), and family history of hypertension (p = 0.022).ConclusionWith such a high prevalence rate of undiagnosed depression within hypertensive patients, it is pertinent to establish screening programs for early detection and community programs to raise awareness regarding long-term complications of untreated depression.

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Background: Endoscopic procedures are frequently performed to rule out any disease process which eventuates with either a positive or negative outcome. Association of patient demographics, clinical features with endoscopic outcomes are of paramount importance for better understanding and practice of endoscopy. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the frequency of positive endoscopic findings in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms compared to those with negative findings. As a secondary objective, the association between relevant demographics, symptoms, laboratory investigations and procedural outcomes of the participants and positive endoscopic findings were also assessed. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all the patients who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy from January 2017 to December 2017 was conducted. A total of 1066 endoscopy records were retrieved and using a convenience sampling technique, relevant data were manually entered to the questionnaires. Records with incomplete or inconsistent data were disregarded as per the exclusion criteria, resulting in 1011 patient records ultimately utilized for the study. All data were entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS 23.0. Results: The study comprised a total of 1011 patients where 52.2% were females and 47.8% males while the mean age of patients was 42.16 ± 15.45. Positive endoscopic findings were observed in 88.1%, where the most common finding was gastritis (49.1%). Approximately 14.5% had positive investigation findings for HBsAg and 23.1% were seropositive for anti-HCV antibody.

A 1970 analysis of labour ward data to determine whether primiparas in the 30 to 34 year age group should be considered 'at risk' due to age was repeated in 1997. Control groups were primiparas aged 20 to 23 and multiparas 2 and 3. Incidence of operative delivery, several other obstetric outcomes and the condition of the infant at birth were compared in various age groups. Both studies showed that the 30 to 34 age group was at increased risk of operative delivery

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