Two-year Cross-sectional Study Research Articles

Urinary Stone Formation and Testosterone Supplementation: Insights from a Cross-sectional Study in Athletes

Introduction: The use of exogenous testosterone has become increasingly prevalent in sports fields, raising concerns about its potential risks and benefits. Methods & Materials: This study aimed to investigate the effects of testosterone supplementation on stone formation in the urinary tract and urine composition. A total of 1080 athletes participated in a two-year cross-sectional study, with 495 individuals receiving testosterone supplementation and 585 individuals serving as non-users. Blood and urine samples were collected, and CT scans were performed to assess stone presence. Results: The results revealed a significant increase in crystalluria among testosterone users compared to non-users (38.2% vs. 2.7%, p=0.004). Imaging findings also showed a higher incidence of abnormal results in testosterone users (25.2% vs. 4.3%, p=0.0017), with kidney calcification, pelvic and calyceal stones, ureteral stones, and bladder stones observed. Conclusion: However, further metabolic studies are required to establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship between testosterone use and stone formation. This study sheds light on the potential risks associated with exogenous testosterone use and highlights the need for evidence-based recommendations in sports and athletic performance.

Correlation between platelet metrics and cardiovascular risk in prediabetes with coronary artery disease: A two-year cross-sectional study

ObjectivesPrediabetes is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), as even a 1% increase in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) may increase CAD severity and associated mortality over ten years. A definite association exists between platelet indices, CAD, and diabetes mellitus. Although research has demonstrated an association between CAD and prediabetes as well as platelet indices, there have been no attempts to assess the association of platelet indices in prediabetic patients who are at risk of CAD. MethodsA cross-sectional study took place between 2019 and 2020 in the medical department of a rural medical college located in Central Maharashtra, India. A total of 180 patients with prediabetes and documented CAD on coronary angiography were enrolled in this study. For all participants, platelet indices, blood sugar levels, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, lipid profiles, and anthropometric measurements were recorded, and then statistical analysis was conducted. ResultsMean platelet volume had a substantial positive correlation with HbA1c, fasting blood sugar, postprandial blood sugar, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference, and waist/hip ratio, with correlation coefficients of 0.2, 0.173, 0.219, 0.218, 0.234, 0.165, 0.182, and 0.164, respectively. A significant negative correlation was found between platelet distribution width and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level, with a correlation coefficient of −0.373. ConclusionPlatelet indices, which are routinely available through standard clinical investigations, can effectively predict the risk of CAD in prediabetic patients. Their strong association with multiple risk factors allows for enhanced prognosis and facilitates early intervention planning for CAD in this high-risk group.

Patterns of neonatal admissions and mortality among neonates admitted to special neonatal care units: a two-year cross-sectional study at selected special neonatal care units in Odisha, India

Background: Odisha has built 44 special newborn care units to treat severely sick infants at various levels. This study aimed to determine morbidity and mortality profiles among neonates admitted to the SNCUs and extend efforts to improve outcomes by investigating crucial variables. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study on all neonates admitted to SNCUs of 4 districts (Balangir, Kalahandi, Koraput, and Rayagada) between two calendar years (January 2020 and December 2021). We collected data on epidemiology, clinical presentation, and neonatal and maternal characteristics. We used Microsoft Excel to analyze categorical and continuous variables, with the Chi2 test for proportion comparison. Results: 17615 neonates were admitted in 2020-2021, 58% below one day and 59% male. ST babies were predominant. Outborn unit had 52% admissions, with 67% full-term and 31% pre-term. 74% of outborns used government vehicles for transportation. Most diagnoses were birth asphyxia, HIE, neonatal jaundice, low birth weight, and neonatal sepsis. The study found that 43% of neonates died from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy /perinatal asphyxia, 22% from Sepsis, 12% from extremely low birth weight babies, and 9% from prematurity. The Chi2 test showed a statistically significant difference in survival rates between doctors and dai, with a 91% survival rate and a 71% survival rate. Conclusions: Birth asphyxia was found to be the most essential cause of morbidity and mortality. Regular training at district levels is crucial for ensuring proper newborn care, including warmth, feeding, cleanliness, and prevention of asphyxia, to reduce preterm birth and low birth weight.

Comparison of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and augmented Arogya Laxmi scheme (ALS) in improving maternal and child health outcomes in urban settlements of Hyderabad, South India

BackgroundIndia accounts for the largest number of global neonatal deaths with around 20 per 1000 live births. To improve the utilization of government services for institutional deliveries, Augmented Arogya Laxmi Scheme (ALS) was launched in Telangana state of southern India. This study assessed the effectiveness of the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which combines cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care, in comparison to ALS in improving the outcomes related to antenatal, natal, and postnatal care in urban settlements of Hyderabad, Telangana, southern India.MethodsThis was a two-year cross-sectional study conducted in 14 urban settlements of Hyderabad city from September 2017- August 2019. All mothers delivered during the 18 months preceding the survey were enrolled after a written informed consent. Field investigators collected data on variables related to socio-demographic characteristics, awareness, and utilization of JSY and ALS programs. Variables related to antenatal history, antenatal care, complications during birth, delivery outcomes, newborn care, and postnatal care till 28 days were assessed. We used multivariable logistic regression model to examine the association between the different maternal, child, and socio-demographic characteristics of the two study groups.ResultsA total of 926 mothers were beneficiaries of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) program while 933 mothers were beneficiaries of augmented Arogya Laxmi Scheme (ALS). Mothers in ALS group (AOR 1.71; 95% CI 1.21–2.43) were at increased odds of having more than eight antenatal care (ANC) visits compared to the mothers availing JSY. Mothers in ALS group were at decreased odds of having complications like severe pain in the abdomen (AOR 0.43; 95% CI 0.22–0.86), swelling of legs or feet (AOR 0.59; 95% CI 0.44–0.80) compared to mothers in JSY group. Children of mothers in the ALS group had increased odds of receiving breastfeeding within 30 minutes of birth (AOR 1.46; 95% CI 1.13–1.88) compared to children of mothers in JSY group.ConclusionsThe newly launched augmented ALS led to the increased utilization of the government health facilities and improved the maternal and child health outcomes.

Trauma Injuries Associated with Rope Bullfights in the Azores: A Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of the study was to describe trauma injuries associated with rope bullfights in the Azores, Portugal, regarding the cause of the incident, trauma mechanism, most affected anatomical areas, and injury severity. Two-year cross-sectional study in the local hospital with prospective data collection. Patients who were consecutively admitted to the local hospital's emergency department with trauma injuries from the bull's direct impact or from falls either during the bull's escape or when handling the rope, were included. Data on general demographics, lesion characteristics, treatments, need for hospitalization and mortality were collected. Fifty-six incidents and 80 trauma injuries were identified. The main cause of trauma was the bull's direct impact (37; 66.07%) and the mechanism of injury was blunt trauma in all patients (100%; 56). Head and neck injuries (27; 33.75%) were the most common. The median Injury Severity Score at the emergency department admission was 4. Major trauma was noted in five patients (8.92%). Ten patients (17.85%) needed hospitalization with a median hospital stay of seven days. Three of the 10 hospitalized patients (30%) were previously admitted to the intensive care unit. Surgery was performed in six patients (10.71%). The main cause of trauma was the bull's direct impact, and the mechanism of injury was blunt trauma. The most affected anatomical areas were the head and neck. These findings are a wake-up call to the impact of these events regarding the economic costs they entail, the costs for the health of the local population, the safety measures currently implemented and the availability of the necessary means to treat these patients.

Clinicopathological Study of Lesions of Upper Gastrointestinal Tract.

A two-year cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, from June 2018 to May 2020, which included surgical specimens of 140 cases from the upper gastrointestinal tract, of which 111 cases were biopsy, and 29 cases were resected surgical specimens. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. Furthermore, P values, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated. This study was a two-year cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Pathology during the period of June 2018-May 2020.

The Gamut of Renal Lesions on Autopsy: A Two-year Cross-sectional Study from North Eastern Odisha, India

Introduction: Kidney diseases have shown a rising upward trend in the last few decades due to the increase in incidence of associated chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension. However the frequency and spectrum of renal pathology in autopsy specimens is not well documented or overlooked by physicians as well as pathologists. Aim: To analyse the spectrum of various types of renal pathologies, based on the histopathological analysis of renal tissue where autopsies were performed routinely with no history of renal diseases. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of two years from June 2021 to June 2023 in the Department of Pathology of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, Odisha, India, and consisted of 84 cases of well-preserved renal autopsies. The autopsy samples were routinely processed and stained by Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and then reported. Special stain of Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) was done. Gross and microscopic findings were studied. The study was compared with other relevant studies. The data was analysed using Microsoft Excel 2019. Results: A total of 84 cases were included in the study. The male:female ratio was 1.27:1. The age group with the highest number of cases (35 cases) was 21-40 years. Among the 84 cases the commonest pathology was seen in tubules (40 cases, 47.62%) and glomeruli (7 cases, 8.33%), followed by vascular pathologies (5 cases, 5.95%) and interstitial lesions (4 cases, 4.76%). Renal cell carcinoma was incidentally detected in two cases and Wilms tumour in one case. Five cases had normal histology. Conclusion: The study illuminates the various renal lesions on autopsy and showed tubular lesions were more common than glomerular lesions in renal autopsy. Renal lesions are more common in males. The focus should be to develop more effective diagnostic methods for renal lesions so that intervention can be fast and sharp resulting in less mortality.

Is Serum Magnesium Associated with Prehypertension? Two-Year Cross-sectional Study at Rural Central India

Abstract Background: Prehypertension (HTN) raises the likelihood of developing HTN. Very few studies have been conducted on the serum magnesium responsible for causing pre-HTN. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 300 subjects (150 cases and 150 controls) were enrolled to investigate the association between serum magnesium levels and pre-HTN. One hundred and fifty individuals with pre-HTN were compared with 150 controls without pre-HTN. All subjects had undergone anthropometric measurements such as body mass index (BMI) and waist–hip ratio along with lipid profile. Results: Levels of serum magnesium were low among the study population with pre-HTN when compared to controls without pre-HTN. Prehypertensive individuals show high BMI (24.09 ± 2.10 vs. 21.54 ± 2.02), waist–hip ratio (0.86 ± 0.08 vs. 0.82 ± 0.07), fasting blood sugar levels (103.15 ± 7.47 vs. 94.41 ± 8.21), serum triglyceride (141.12 ± 41.41 vs. 128.37 ± 23.46), and total cholesterol (175.95 ± 28.12 vs. 159.59 ± 19.03) levels when compared to controls. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted which revealed a strong correlation between pre-HTN and hypomagnesemia. Conclusion: This study found a positive correlation between pre-HTN and low blood magnesium levels.

Histopathologic patterns and factors associated with cervical lesions at Jimma Medical Center, Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia: A two-year cross-sectional study.

The cervix is the lower portion of the uterus, which connects this organ to the vagina through the endocervical canal. This study aimed to determine the histopathologic patterns and factors associated with cervical lesions at Jimma Medical Center from September 12, 2017, to September 12, 2019. A 2-year facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 1 to June 30, 2020. In this study, cervical cancer was the most common (71%) cause of cervical lesions. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent cervical cancer diagnosed during the study, accounting for 96.4% of 331 cancerous cases, followed by adenocarcinoma (3.3%). High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions were the most frequently diagnosed precancerous lesions, accounting for 68.4% of cases. Endocervical polyps were the most commonly diagnosed benign lesions, accounting for 59.3% of cases. The maximum age distribution of cervical lesions was in the 41-50-year age range. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent type of cervical cancer. High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions were the most frequently diagnosed precancerous cervical lesions. The most common benign cervical lesions were endocervical polyps. We recommend educating the community to improve health-seeking behavior and on possible preventive strategies for cervical cancer.

Ankle brachial index and its correlation with cardiovascular risk factors in pre-diabetes: Two-year cross-sectional study.

A state of impaired glucose tolerance is called prediabetes. The diagnosis of prediabetes is controversial, yet it still puts a person at risk for developing diabetes. The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is useful for identifying persons at risk for peripheral artery disease and for diagnosing the condition in those who have symptoms in their lower extremities and subclinical atherosclerosis. This study highlights ABI and its correlation with cardiovascular risk factors like lipid profile and anthropometric measurement including neck circumference in prediabetes so that primary care physicians may be able to diagnose early before advancing to diabetes. This cross-sectional study of 2 years duration from December 2020 to September 2022 was conducted in the Department of Medicine, at a tertiary care teaching hospital situated in a rural area. Patients with pre-diabetes were enrolled and Ankle Brachial Index was calculated. The correlation of ABI with anthropometric measures and lipid profile was assessed. On calculating ABI by manual method 21% which is 42 out of 200 had low ABI (<0.9). On the other hand, on calculating ABI by probe method low range of ABI was found to be 37% which is 74 patients out of 200. There was a significant correlation between ABI and body mass index and lipid profile. The diagnostic performance of ABI < 0.9 had 56.8% sensitivity and 100.0% specificity. ABI can be used as a noninvasive and cost-effective modality for assessing subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with prediabetes and thus prevent its morbid complications even assessed at the primary care physician level.

Variation in vitamin D status in infants and children: a two-year cross-sectional study in Shanghai, China

BackgroundVitamin D deficiency (VDD) is a public health problem. The variation in vitamin D status across regions and populations remains unclear, and there is a lack of consensus regarding the screening for VDD in individuals.MethodsChildren who visited the hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were included in this study. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The cutoffs for serum 25(OH)D concentrations to define deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency were < 20 ng/mL, 20–30 ng/mL, and ≥ 30 ng/mL, respectively.ResultsA total of 7285 children aged 0–11 years were assessed; the mean 25(OH)D level was 31.4 ng/mL, and the median 25(OH)D level was 30.7 (interquartile range 24.4, 37.5) ng/mL. The 25(OH)D level declined with age in clinical visiting children aged 0–11 years, but maintained a consistently high level in health examination children aged 4–11 years. The percentages of 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL and 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL were 10.0% and 43.8%, respectively. Higher percentages of VDD were found in clinical visiting children than in health examination children within the 6–11-year group (53.3% vs. 14.7%) and winter (44.3% vs. 15.4%).ConclusionLow vitamin D status (deficiency and insufficiency) was more common in clinic-visiting children than in health examinations, especially in schoolchildren and in the winter. The study implies the positive effects of vitamin D assessments included in child health checkups to optimize vitamin D status.

The anti-Müllerian hormone: A useful tool for diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the most frequent endocrine disorder that affects reproductive-age women with important long-term health implications. As such, the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) was proposed as a helpful test to identify women with PCOS. The aim of this study was to determine an AMH cut-off value for the diagnosis of PCOS. This was a two-year cross-sectional study including women of reproductive age, diagnosed with PCOS according to Rotterdam criteria (2003). The control group of healthy women was age-matched. AMH was performed using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. AMH levels were compared and evaluated with the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. A total of 130 women were enrolled in this study. Of these, 65 were diagnosed with PCOS, and 65 were healthy. No significant difference was detected in body mass index between the two groups. AMH levels were significantly higher in women with PCOS (p =<0.001). No significant difference in AMH levels was detected between PCOS phenotypes. A cut-off of 25.1 pmol/L (3.5ng/mL) could discriminate women with PCOS from controls with a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 72.3%. The area under the curve was 0.811 (95% CI: 0.73-0.88). Our study suggests that AMH had good diagnostic potential as a complement to Rotterdam criteria for PCOS diagnosis in reproductive-age women of Tunisian origin.

Toxico-clinical study of patients poisoned with household products; a two-year cross-sectional study

BackgroundSeveral studies worldwide have investigated household product poisoning. We conducted a toxico-clinical study on the two-year prevalence of poisoning with household products.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed in Khorshid Hospital, the main referral center for poisoning cases in Isfahan, affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, central Iran. All patients with intentional or unintentional household substance poisoning, referring to the poisoning emergency center of the hospital, were evaluated with respect to epidemiological and toxico-clinical features and outcomes.ResultsDuring the study period, 5946 patients were hospitalized, of which 83 (1.39%) had been poisoned with household products including 48 (57.8%) men and 35 (42.2%) women with a mean ± SD age of 34.40 ± 17.71 years. Most patients (54.2%) were in the 20–40-year-old age group. Accidental poisoning (63.9%) was the most common type of exposure (P = 0.02) predominantly in men (57.8%, P = 0.51). The most common household products were sodium hypochlorite (32.53%) followed by petroleum hydrocarbon (21.68%). Most of the accidental poisonings (77.8%) were due to petroleum hydrocarbon. 59% of cases were poisoned at home (P < 0.0001). No patient died.ConclusionHousehold products were not common means of poisoning in our referral center. Sodium hypochlorite and petroleum hydrocarbon were the most common substances. Most of the patients were men with accidental exposure at home. Because of the availability of the household product, the frequency and outcomes may be varied in different societies.

A two-year cross-sectional study on the impact of serial serum Lactate in comparison with APACHE IV and SOFA Scores in predicting outcomes in patients of sepsis at limited resources rural setup

Objectives: Lactic acid is a metabolite that is physiologically produced and metabolized in a balanced state in the body from glucose. Critically ill patients with sepsis are found to have higher serum lactate levels. In this study, the established Intensive Care Unit (ICU) scores that are Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE IV) were compared to serial serum lactate measurements as a superior predictor of mortality in critically ill patients with sepsis admitted under Intensive Care Unit. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 280 patients who were admitted to ICU care and were diagnosed to have sepsis were enrolled from August 2019 to September 2021. The presentation of the categorical variables was done in the form of numbers and percentages (%). On the other hand, the quantitative data were presented as the means ± SD and as median with 25th and 75th percentiles (interquartile range). The data normality was checked by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. In the cases in which the data was not normal, nonparametric tests were used. Results: An ICU mortality rate of 43.21% was observed among the 280 adult patients diagnosed with sepsis admitted to ICU involved in this study. The interpretation of the area under the Receiver operating curve (ROC) showed that the performance of serum Lactate (mmol/L) on day 3 (Area under the curve [AUC] 0.909; 95% CI: 0.867 to 0.941) was very much comparable to APACHE IV score on day 3(AUC 0.931; 95% CI: 0.893 to 0.960). Serum lactate on day 3 was even better than the SOFA score on day 3(AUC 0.936; 95% CI: 0.898 to 0.963). Among all the parameters, the APACHE IV score on day 3 was the best predictor of mortality at the cut-off point of &gt;132 with a 91.0% chance of correctly predicting mortality. Conclusion: When compared with SOFA and APACHE IV scores, serial serum lactate was reliable and comparable as far as an outcome in terms of mortality is concerned in patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit. Thus, serum lactate can be considered a surrogate marker for predicting mortality in sepsis patients in low-resource rural setups.

Correlation of hearing outcome in otic capsule sparing temporal bone fractures using temporal bone sub-site classification: a cross-sectional descriptive study

BackgroundHead injury most commonly occur following road traffic accidents. Often hearing loss and other otological injuries are missed in view of serious head injury or other visible bodily injuries, leading to delayed recognition of problems. There is a need for early clinical and radiological indicators which can predict adverse outcome. Early diagnosis of otological injury during initial evaluation of the head injury has given some clues regarding the severity of hearing outcomes and such correlation has been attempted in this study. Two-year cross-sectional study involving head injury patients with radiological evidence of temporal bone fracture were assessed for hearing impairment.ResultsThirty-seven patients who satisfied the inclusion criteria were assessed. Fifty-one percent patients had conductive hearing loss. 35.14% of the patients had involvement of mastoid, external auditory canal, and middle ear involvement. A weakly positive correlation was noted between otic capsule sparing fracture and hearing loss. (R value + 0.2064).ConclusionWeak correlation was observed between temporal bone sub-site classification and severity of hearing loss in otic capsule sparing temporal bone fractures.

Comparison of PIRO, APACHE IV, and SOFA Scores in Predicting Outcome in Patients with Sepsis Admitted to Intensive Care Unit: A Two-year Cross-sectional Study at Rural Teaching Hospital.

Though many scoring systems for prognostication of sepsis are available in the intensive care set-up, predisposition, insult, response, and organ dysfunction (PIRO) score helps to assess each patient and evaluate response to therapy. There are few studies comparing the efficacy of PIRO score with other sepsis scores. Hence, our study was planned to compare PIRO score with acute physiology and chronic health evaluation IV (APACHE IV) score and sequential (sepsis-related) organ failure assessment (SOFA) score in predicting the mortality of intensive care patients with sepsis. This prospective cross-sectional study was done in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) from August 2019 to September 2021 among patients above 18 years of age with the diagnosis of sepsis. Predisposition, insult, response, and organ dysfunction score, SOFA score, and APACHE IV score on admission and at day 3 were calculated and statistically analyzed in the terms of outcome. A total of 280 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study, the mean age was 59.38 ± 15.9 years. There was a significant association of PIRO score, SOFA score, and APACHE IV score on admission and at day 3 with mortality (p-value <0.05). Among all three parameters, the PIRO score on admission and at day 3 was the best predictor of mortality at cut-off points of >14 and >16 with 92.50% and 96.50% chances of correctly predicting mortality, respectively. Predisposition, insult, response, and organ dysfunction score can be considered as a strong predictor of prognostication of patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and predict mortality. It should be routinely used as it is a simple and comprehensive score. Dronamraju S, Agrawal S, Kumar S, Acharya S, Gaidhane S, Wanjari A, et al. Comparison of PIRO, APACHE IV, and SOFA Scores in Predicting Outcome in Patients with Sepsis Admitted to Intensive Care Unit: A Two-year Cross-sectional Study at Rural Teaching Hospital. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(10):1099-1105.

Efficacy of Oral Versus Injectable Iron in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease: A Two-Year Cross-Sectional Study Conducted at a Rural Teaching Hospital.

AimAnaemia (particularly iron deficiency) is of important concern in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) as it reflects the outcome of the disease. Current recommendations for the use of intravenous iron (IV) therapy in the management of anaemia in such patients are limited. This study highlights the comparison of oral to intravenous iron in patients with chronic kidney disease.Materials and methodsThis is a prospective case-control study comparing intravenous iron to oral iron in chronic kidney disease patients admitted to the Medicine Department of Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital, in central India from October 2018 to October 2020. A total of 150 patients were divided into two groups of 75 each, one receiving oral iron (ferrous sulfate 325 mg tablets) and the other intravenous iron (IV iron sucrose).ResultsSerum iron, serum ferritin, and transferrin saturation (TS) showed increased levels in the IV iron group than in the oral iron group. In the IV group, a statistically significant increase was found in haemoglobin levels after therapy among all stages of kidney disease (p<0.05) while the same was not reported in the oral iron group.ConclusionIV iron sucrose therapy had been found to be effective, well-tolerated, and more successful than oral iron treatment in chronic kidney disease patients as far as the parameter of iron deficiency anaemia is concerned.

Eye Donation: Awareness, Knowledge, Willingness, and Barriers among Paramedical and Allied Health Science Students at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South India.

Background Visual impairments have physical, emotional, social, and economical consequences and are a crucial element influencing one's quality of life. A total of 1.285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide of which 39 million are categorised as blind. These figures are startling, given that 80 percent of known vision impairments are either treatable or preventable. Corneal transplants appear to be our best hope for resolving this problem; however, a global shortage of available donors continues to dampen efforts addressing this issue. Methods This two-year cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling technique and a standardised questionnaire to survey 150 paramedical and allied health science students at a tertiary care teaching hospital and assessed the awareness, knowledge, willingness and barriers regarding eye donation. Results The study revealed a 93.3% awareness rate of the donation procedure, of which 46% attributed their awareness to media sources. However, other aspects assessed had much lower awareness rates; when the eyes are donated (53.3%), optimal time period for retrieval of tissue/organ (54%), ideal part transplanted (54%), age limit not restricting donation (67%), donation by donors using spectacles (48%), confidentiality of the donor and recipient (54%), hospital having the facility of an eye bank (63%). 49 percent of the respondents were willing to pledge themselves as eye donors, and a majority of the unwilling respondents reported that familial opposition was the reason for their hesitation. Conclusion Knowledge levels appear to be below expectations, and more effort is required to ensure that knowledge is imparted to our healthcare practitioners, who will then transfer this knowledge to the population, resulting in an increase in donation rates.

Use of the modified early obstetric warning system chart as a predictor of peri-partum obstetric morbidity in a rural teaching institute: A two-year cross-sectional study.

The occurrence of obstetric morbidity is on the rise in developing countries. The peri-partum period is very crucial as most of the deaths occur during labour or in the first 24 hours of the post-partum period. Early recognition and treatment of disease entities leading to obstetric morbidity can be performed by the "track and trigger" system of parameters on a chart, thus preventing the obstetric morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the MEOWS chart (Modified Early Obstetric Warning System chart) was recommended by the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health report in order to evaluate the patient at an urgent basis with timely diagnosis and treatment. We conducted an observational study in a rural tertiary care centre based in central India over the span of 2 years from September 2017 till August 2019. Physiological parameters of 1000 patients which included pregnant women in labour >28 weeks of gestation were recorded on the MEOWS chart. Trigger was defined as either one red zone (any one parameter that was markedly abnormal, with values in the red zone) or two yellow zones (when simultaneously any two parameters were moderately de-ranged with values in yellow zones). Based on trigger, patients were categorised as triggered and non-triggered groups. Further based on the obstetric morbidity during hospital stay, triggered and non-triggered groups were divided into category 1 (patients who did not have any obstetric morbidity during hospital stay) and category 2 (patients who had any obstetric morbidity during hospital stay). Out of the total 1000 patients, 24.8% patients had an abnormal MEOWS chart and were categorised into the triggered group. Out of a total of 248 patients in the triggered group, 47.5% (118) patients had obstetric morbidity during hospital stay (category 2). The MEOWS chart was found to be 85.51% sensitive and 84.92% specific with a positive predictive value of 47.58% and a negative predictive value of 97.34%. The accuracy of the MEOWS chart was 85%. It was concluded that there was a significant difference between obstetric morbidity in normal (non-triggered) and abnormal (triggered) MEOWS chart findings. The sensitivity and specificity of the MEOWS chart were high. The negative predictive value of the chart was very high. Thus, the MEOWS chart can be used as a bedside screening tool for predicting obstetric morbidity.

Association of Serum High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein With Pre-diabetes in Rural Population: A Two-Year Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Pre-diabetes is a state of intermediate hyperglycemia. Although it looks benign, pre-diabetes is known to be associated with low-grade inflammation. High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a sensitive marker to detect low-grade inflammation. Here, we studied whether hsCRP can be used as a biomarker in the early diagnosis of pre-diabetes in a rural population.Methods: A total of 200 participants, including 100 cases and 100 controls who were age- and gender-matched, were enrolled according to the World Health Organisation criteria for pre-diabetes in this study. All the cases and controls underwent a detailed history, physical examination, anthropometric measurements, and biochemical analysis. The biochemical analysis included blood glucose levels, lipid profile, and hsCRPResults: The mean hsCRP in pre-diabetics 2.17 ± 0.72 mg/L was significantly higher than controls (0.66 ± 0.22 mg/L; p < 0.0001). High sensitivity CRP was significantly and positively correlated to age, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, cholesterol, and waist-hip ratio.Conclusion: Raised level of hsCRP was associated with pre-diabetes and also correlated with age, higher BMI, higher cholesterol, higher low-density lipoprotein, and higher waist-hip ratio.