Requesting patients to come with long fasting state (12 - 14 hours) for lipid profile measurements are a major inconvenience. However, most blood tests, even glycemic management, can be done in a non-fasting state, fo...Requesting patients to come with long fasting state (12 - 14 hours) for lipid profile measurements are a major inconvenience. However, most blood tests, even glycemic management, can be done in a non-fasting state, for example by requesting an HbA1C. It is understandable that when we order lipid profile test, laboratories are very rigid on fasting (12 - 14 h) or refuse to do the test if fasting is not enough. To answer these delusions, we conducted a cross-sectional study among the health care workers at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, SriLanka, after an overnight fast (12 - 14 hours) blood taken for lipid profile. Following weeks, we collected blood from the same healthcare workers, after breakfast (2 - 4 hours after meal). In this study, measurements of fasting lipid profile, including high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and non-HDL significantly (p < 0.05) differ from non-fasting lipid profile measurement. The mean difference in lipid profile in fasting versus non-fasting among healthcare workers was 34.13 mg/dl for TG, -5.65 mg/dl for total TC, -1.94 mg/dl for HDL-cholesterol, 3.71 mg/dl for non-HDL and 12.3 mg/dl for LDL-cholesterol. This momentous change of different meanings does not play any significant role in cardiovascular risk assessment. However, a patient with a family history of the premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), or familial hyperlipidemia, screening and follow-up should preferably be performed with fasting.展开更多
The aim of this study was to gain increased knowledge about nurses’ experiences of care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care, based on two research questions: How is nurses’ experience...The aim of this study was to gain increased knowledge about nurses’ experiences of care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care, based on two research questions: How is nurses’ experience continuity during care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care? How would nurses describe an optimal care transition? Nurses have a pivotal role during care transitions of older patients. More knowledge about their experiences is necessary to develop favorable improvements for this important period in the older patient’s treatment and care. The study has a qualitative explorative design with follow-up focus group interviews. Nurses (N = 30) working in hospital (n = 16) and municipal (n = 14) health care were organized in five mixed focus groups during the period October-January 2014/2015. The focus groups met twice, answering the research questions following a previously circulated semi-structured interview guide. The interview analysis was inspired by content analysis. The analysis resulted in the themes “Administrative demands challenge terms for collaboration” and “Essentials for nursing determine optimal care transitions for older patients”. Administrative demands may prevent nurses’ professional dialogue and collaboration across health care levels. Older patients’ best interests should be ensured through a collaborative relationship between hospital and municipal nurses, to form continuous care across health care levels. Clinical practice should be aware of essentials for nursing, which could influence and facilitate a more individualized and continuous transition for older patients.展开更多
Objectives: To determine the risk perceptions of a series of medical practices in non-expert (un-dergraduates) and expert (nurses) samples.Methods: Four hundred and forty-seven nurses and 246 undergraduate students pa...Objectives: To determine the risk perceptions of a series of medical practices in non-expert (un-dergraduates) and expert (nurses) samples.Methods: Four hundred and forty-seven nurses and 246 undergraduate students participated in this study. They all answered questionnaires about the risk dimensions and acceptance for medical practices. Results: An exploratory factor analysis on participants' answers to various dimensions of risk yielded a two-factor structure for risk perception in both samples: for nurses, the factors were"Unknown"and"Dread,"while for students, they were"Dread"and"Lack of Independence."For both nurses and stu-dents, the factor scores of Dread negatively related to individual risk acceptance of medical practices. Furthermore, nurses tended to be more accepting of practices that they knew well (i.e., low Unknown scale scores). For students, the subscale scores of the Lack of Independence factor negatively related to individual risk acceptance only for health examination practices. Nurses conceived risks more correctly and concretely compared to students. This was especially pronounced for practices related to medication use. Conclusions: Although both nurses and students conceived various risk contents from medical practices, their conceptions still differed. Knowledge of these differences in the structure of risk perception and conceived risk contents of various medical practices between nurses and students could be utilized to improve risk communication in clinical practice.展开更多
Stroke as a disease entity has significantly increased the morbidity, incapacity, and mortality in Sri Lanka. In the west, it is the 3rd most common cause of death. In addition to that, it is a disturbing and restrict...Stroke as a disease entity has significantly increased the morbidity, incapacity, and mortality in Sri Lanka. In the west, it is the 3rd most common cause of death. In addition to that, it is a disturbing and restricting cerebrovascular disease with a substantial amount of remaining shortage leading on to emotional and financial burden on the family and society. A hospital-based retrospective study was conducted at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, Sri Lanka from July 1, 2016, to October 31, 2016. During the study period, data were collected from the medical records. Out of 34 patients, 21 (61.8%) were males and 13 (38.2%) were females. The male to female ratio was 1.6:1. Out of 34 patients, 17 (50%) were affected in the left side and 17 (50%) were affected on the right side. The most common risk factor was hypertension with 79.4%, and next to that diabetes mellitus (41.2%), smoking (23.5%), alcohol (20.6%), past history of Stroke (17.6%) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) (14.7%). Stroke due to infarction is more common than haemorrhage. In this study, both right and left sides were affected equally. In order to prevent this devastating stroke, acknowledgment of risk factors for stroke is prime importance for the healthcare workers as well as public.展开更多
Introduction: Abnormal uterine bleeding, either due to organic or be dysfunctional cause, is a common gynaecological problems. Methods: A retrospective, cross sectional, hospital-based study was done for a period of f...Introduction: Abnormal uterine bleeding, either due to organic or be dysfunctional cause, is a common gynaecological problems. Methods: A retrospective, cross sectional, hospital-based study was done for a period of five and a half years included 1884 samples which were taken by endosampling as well as by curetting for the evaluation of several gynaecological symptoms. Results: The age distribution ranges from 16 to 83 years. 12.8% of (242/1884) samples were inadequate for a comprehensive diagnosis. The functional cause was the predominant in 1263 samples and organic causes were found in 379 sample. The menorrhagia is the commonest one and it is followed by post-menopausal bleeding and polymenorrhoea. Endometrial polyp was the predominant organic (46.9%) cause followed by (26.1%) simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia. Most of the simple hyperplasia without atypia (49/99) and complex hyperplasia (10/28) also occurred in the same age group. Total 29 (1.5%) cases of carcinoma of endometrium were found and it was common (13/29) in 50 - 59 years of age. It was noted that (5/29) carcinoma occurred in less than 39 years of age. Conclusion: This study shows that most of the patients fall in the age group of 40 - 49 years. As the organic causes mostly found in this age group, endometrial cavity evaluation should be done more than 40 years of age. Further endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma of the endometrium also occurs in less than 40 years of age. Therefore, clinical risk factors should be assessed and need of endometrial cavity should be individualised for better outcome.展开更多
The moxa therapy is a popular traditional hyperthermia therapy in East Asia. The moxa is made from dried mugwort (Artemisiaargyi). The moxa is usually put on a meridian point and then is burnt on to obtain a hyperther...The moxa therapy is a popular traditional hyperthermia therapy in East Asia. The moxa is made from dried mugwort (Artemisiaargyi). The moxa is usually put on a meridian point and then is burnt on to obtain a hyperthermic stimulation to the skin. However, very few researches have been studied in the effects and mechanism of the moxa therapy. Therefore, in this study, we gave the moxa stimulation to healthy subjects. In the moxa group, the moxa was lit on the ST36 (Zusanli: an acupuncture point in anterior tibialis of the leg) for 5 minutes. Their responses were traced with electrogastrogram (EGG) and assessed the change of gastric function. At the same time, their heart rate (HR) was recorded and observed to study the mechanism of moxa treatment. And then their results were compared with those of the control group. After the moxa stimulation, EGG showed significant increase and stayed 3.0 - 3.1 cpm while HR prominently decreased. On the other hand, the control group did not indicate such results. Those results are common to the re-sponse of acupuncture-like stimulation by the reflex arc which consists of receptor, sensory neuron, central nervous system, motor neuron and effector. It may be explained as below: the elements of the acupuncture-like stimulation and the moxa are pain and hyperthermia respectively and they both are received by polymodal receptors. Thus the moxa stimulation applied on ST36 may be ef-fective to enhance stomach function.展开更多
Background: The ability to climb stairs (ascending and descending stair without using a handrail) and rise from a chair (rising from chairs without using an elbow rest) are among the most important measures of physica...Background: The ability to climb stairs (ascending and descending stair without using a handrail) and rise from a chair (rising from chairs without using an elbow rest) are among the most important measures of physical function for ADL evaluation for the independent living, and assessed by the questioners on many epidemiological studies in elderly. But little is known about the relationship between the self-reported performance level of the tasks and lower leg strength and power in very elderly people. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between the self-reported performance level of two tasks and the lower leg function in community-dwelling 80-year-old population. Methods: Out of 994 persons who were 80 years old living in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, 607 individuals (236 men and 371 women) underwent a physical fitness test that included measurements of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength. The ability to climb up stair and to rise from a chair was assessed by self- reported questionnaire which was ranked in three levels. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the measurements. Results: The cut-off points for the leg extensor power of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 8.6 watt/kg body mass for men and 5.6 watt/kg body mass for women. In addition, the cut-off points for the knee extensor strength of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 0.97 kg/kg body mass for men and 0.84 kg/kg body mass for women. Conclusions: From a practical viewpoint, the present study suggested that the cut-off points of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength can be used as targets in simple self-reported questionnaires to help in screening for mobility in 80-year-old展开更多
Patients with serious mental illness have an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in comparison to the general population. Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors including diabe...Patients with serious mental illness have an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in comparison to the general population. Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia. It is potentially reversible and may explain the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in patients with serious mental illness. The aim of the study is to see the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among mentally ill patients and what might be the underlying the cause behind the scene A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted at mental health clinic, Batticaloa, Teaching Hospital (BTH), Sri Lanka. The data were collected over a period of two months from 15th of October to 15th of December 2017. Data were harvested from the medical records. Total 55 mentally ill patient’s medical records were analyzed for this study. Out of 55, females were 30 (54.5%) and males were 25 (45.5%). Furthermore, 30 (54.5%) patients had an evidence of metabolic syndrome. The association of metabolic syndrome among male and female was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In this study, metabolic syndrome is more prevalent among, patient with trifluoperazine (70%) drug group, risperidone (66.6%) and olanzapine (53.12%).展开更多
Women in developing countries are at more risk for pregnancy-related complications than their counterpart of developed countries. However, many of the complications are preventable with good quality antenatal care (AN...Women in developing countries are at more risk for pregnancy-related complications than their counterpart of developed countries. However, many of the complications are preventable with good quality antenatal care (ANC). This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all the pregnant mothers who attend to routine antenatal clinic for booking visit at Vaharai, Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka during the time periods of 2015-2016. This study included 695 pregnant mothers. Among them majority were (n = 661;95.1%) Tamil and belong to (n = 587;84.5%) average age of 19 to 35 years. Majority of pregnant mothers studied up to grade eleven (GCE O/L) (n = 484;69.6%). Among them 14.4% were identified as anaemic. Among anaemic mothers 8.4% were mild, 5.2% were moderate & 0.8% severe anaemic. There was no statistically significant difference between ethnicity, parity of pregnant mothers, & their respective haemoglobin levels. Most pregnant mothers belong to (n = 338;48.6%) blood group O and majority were Rh positive (n = 603;86.8%). 90.6% of pregnant mothers underwent VDRL test and none was positive. This study shows that about 15% of first trimester pregnant mothers were anemic. Nutritional interventions for pre-pregnant women and educating pregnant women on prevention of anaemia, are recommended. Measures must also be taken to decrease teen age marriages.展开更多
The outcomes of pregnancy differ significantly between developing and developed countries. The poor use of prenatal and maternal health services can contribute to this difference. Materials and Methods: This descripti...The outcomes of pregnancy differ significantly between developing and developed countries. The poor use of prenatal and maternal health services can contribute to this difference. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all the pregnant mothers who attend to routine antenatal clinic for booking visit in medical officer health (MOH) clinics at Vaharai MOH area for a period of one year. This study was aimed to identify the live birth rate and low birth weight incidence in the studied population and compare these figures with national figure. Results: This study included 695 pregnant mothers. 70.4% pregnant mothers attend their first antenatal booking visit before 8 weeks of gestational age. 611 pregnant mothers reached gestational age of more than 28 weeks. 13.7% pregnant mothers had 4 - 6 antenatal visits while 83.6% mothers had more than 7 visits. Among those who had body mass index (BMI) measurement, 39.6% mothers had normal BMI and 43.6% pregnant mothers had low BMI, 16.8% mothers had BMI above the normal range. Among those 611 mothers, 56.8% had adequate weight gain (>7.5 kg) during their antenatal period, 3 of them had weight reduction and 11 mothers had not gain weight during their antenatal period. Majority 85.6% were not anaemic and 14.4% were anaemic. Regarding the current pregnancy outcome, 86.9% had live birth, 12.1% mothers had miscarriage, 0.9% (6) had intra uterine death (IUD) and 0.1% (1) had Hydatidiform mole. This study further showed that 22% of the pregnant mothers had their new-borns birth weight less than 2.5 kg at birth irrespective of their gestational age (low-birth weight babies). Conclusion: The lower live-birth rate, more incidence of low birth weight than the national figure of Sri Lanka is seen in the studied population of Vaharai. More incidence of anaemia, more teen-age pregnancies, failure to achieve recommended gestational weight gain during pregnancies despite frequent antenatal care, could be attributed to this adverse outcome.展开更多
文摘Requesting patients to come with long fasting state (12 - 14 hours) for lipid profile measurements are a major inconvenience. However, most blood tests, even glycemic management, can be done in a non-fasting state, for example by requesting an HbA1C. It is understandable that when we order lipid profile test, laboratories are very rigid on fasting (12 - 14 h) or refuse to do the test if fasting is not enough. To answer these delusions, we conducted a cross-sectional study among the health care workers at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, SriLanka, after an overnight fast (12 - 14 hours) blood taken for lipid profile. Following weeks, we collected blood from the same healthcare workers, after breakfast (2 - 4 hours after meal). In this study, measurements of fasting lipid profile, including high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and non-HDL significantly (p < 0.05) differ from non-fasting lipid profile measurement. The mean difference in lipid profile in fasting versus non-fasting among healthcare workers was 34.13 mg/dl for TG, -5.65 mg/dl for total TC, -1.94 mg/dl for HDL-cholesterol, 3.71 mg/dl for non-HDL and 12.3 mg/dl for LDL-cholesterol. This momentous change of different meanings does not play any significant role in cardiovascular risk assessment. However, a patient with a family history of the premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), or familial hyperlipidemia, screening and follow-up should preferably be performed with fasting.
文摘The aim of this study was to gain increased knowledge about nurses’ experiences of care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care, based on two research questions: How is nurses’ experience continuity during care transition of older patients from hospital to municipal health care? How would nurses describe an optimal care transition? Nurses have a pivotal role during care transitions of older patients. More knowledge about their experiences is necessary to develop favorable improvements for this important period in the older patient’s treatment and care. The study has a qualitative explorative design with follow-up focus group interviews. Nurses (N = 30) working in hospital (n = 16) and municipal (n = 14) health care were organized in five mixed focus groups during the period October-January 2014/2015. The focus groups met twice, answering the research questions following a previously circulated semi-structured interview guide. The interview analysis was inspired by content analysis. The analysis resulted in the themes “Administrative demands challenge terms for collaboration” and “Essentials for nursing determine optimal care transitions for older patients”. Administrative demands may prevent nurses’ professional dialogue and collaboration across health care levels. Older patients’ best interests should be ensured through a collaborative relationship between hospital and municipal nurses, to form continuous care across health care levels. Clinical practice should be aware of essentials for nursing, which could influence and facilitate a more individualized and continuous transition for older patients.
基金This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grand No. 26870324)
文摘Objectives: To determine the risk perceptions of a series of medical practices in non-expert (un-dergraduates) and expert (nurses) samples.Methods: Four hundred and forty-seven nurses and 246 undergraduate students participated in this study. They all answered questionnaires about the risk dimensions and acceptance for medical practices. Results: An exploratory factor analysis on participants' answers to various dimensions of risk yielded a two-factor structure for risk perception in both samples: for nurses, the factors were"Unknown"and"Dread,"while for students, they were"Dread"and"Lack of Independence."For both nurses and stu-dents, the factor scores of Dread negatively related to individual risk acceptance of medical practices. Furthermore, nurses tended to be more accepting of practices that they knew well (i.e., low Unknown scale scores). For students, the subscale scores of the Lack of Independence factor negatively related to individual risk acceptance only for health examination practices. Nurses conceived risks more correctly and concretely compared to students. This was especially pronounced for practices related to medication use. Conclusions: Although both nurses and students conceived various risk contents from medical practices, their conceptions still differed. Knowledge of these differences in the structure of risk perception and conceived risk contents of various medical practices between nurses and students could be utilized to improve risk communication in clinical practice.
文摘Stroke as a disease entity has significantly increased the morbidity, incapacity, and mortality in Sri Lanka. In the west, it is the 3rd most common cause of death. In addition to that, it is a disturbing and restricting cerebrovascular disease with a substantial amount of remaining shortage leading on to emotional and financial burden on the family and society. A hospital-based retrospective study was conducted at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, Sri Lanka from July 1, 2016, to October 31, 2016. During the study period, data were collected from the medical records. Out of 34 patients, 21 (61.8%) were males and 13 (38.2%) were females. The male to female ratio was 1.6:1. Out of 34 patients, 17 (50%) were affected in the left side and 17 (50%) were affected on the right side. The most common risk factor was hypertension with 79.4%, and next to that diabetes mellitus (41.2%), smoking (23.5%), alcohol (20.6%), past history of Stroke (17.6%) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) (14.7%). Stroke due to infarction is more common than haemorrhage. In this study, both right and left sides were affected equally. In order to prevent this devastating stroke, acknowledgment of risk factors for stroke is prime importance for the healthcare workers as well as public.
文摘Introduction: Abnormal uterine bleeding, either due to organic or be dysfunctional cause, is a common gynaecological problems. Methods: A retrospective, cross sectional, hospital-based study was done for a period of five and a half years included 1884 samples which were taken by endosampling as well as by curetting for the evaluation of several gynaecological symptoms. Results: The age distribution ranges from 16 to 83 years. 12.8% of (242/1884) samples were inadequate for a comprehensive diagnosis. The functional cause was the predominant in 1263 samples and organic causes were found in 379 sample. The menorrhagia is the commonest one and it is followed by post-menopausal bleeding and polymenorrhoea. Endometrial polyp was the predominant organic (46.9%) cause followed by (26.1%) simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia. Most of the simple hyperplasia without atypia (49/99) and complex hyperplasia (10/28) also occurred in the same age group. Total 29 (1.5%) cases of carcinoma of endometrium were found and it was common (13/29) in 50 - 59 years of age. It was noted that (5/29) carcinoma occurred in less than 39 years of age. Conclusion: This study shows that most of the patients fall in the age group of 40 - 49 years. As the organic causes mostly found in this age group, endometrial cavity evaluation should be done more than 40 years of age. Further endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma of the endometrium also occurs in less than 40 years of age. Therefore, clinical risk factors should be assessed and need of endometrial cavity should be individualised for better outcome.
文摘The moxa therapy is a popular traditional hyperthermia therapy in East Asia. The moxa is made from dried mugwort (Artemisiaargyi). The moxa is usually put on a meridian point and then is burnt on to obtain a hyperthermic stimulation to the skin. However, very few researches have been studied in the effects and mechanism of the moxa therapy. Therefore, in this study, we gave the moxa stimulation to healthy subjects. In the moxa group, the moxa was lit on the ST36 (Zusanli: an acupuncture point in anterior tibialis of the leg) for 5 minutes. Their responses were traced with electrogastrogram (EGG) and assessed the change of gastric function. At the same time, their heart rate (HR) was recorded and observed to study the mechanism of moxa treatment. And then their results were compared with those of the control group. After the moxa stimulation, EGG showed significant increase and stayed 3.0 - 3.1 cpm while HR prominently decreased. On the other hand, the control group did not indicate such results. Those results are common to the re-sponse of acupuncture-like stimulation by the reflex arc which consists of receptor, sensory neuron, central nervous system, motor neuron and effector. It may be explained as below: the elements of the acupuncture-like stimulation and the moxa are pain and hyperthermia respectively and they both are received by polymodal receptors. Thus the moxa stimulation applied on ST36 may be ef-fective to enhance stomach function.
文摘Background: The ability to climb stairs (ascending and descending stair without using a handrail) and rise from a chair (rising from chairs without using an elbow rest) are among the most important measures of physical function for ADL evaluation for the independent living, and assessed by the questioners on many epidemiological studies in elderly. But little is known about the relationship between the self-reported performance level of the tasks and lower leg strength and power in very elderly people. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between the self-reported performance level of two tasks and the lower leg function in community-dwelling 80-year-old population. Methods: Out of 994 persons who were 80 years old living in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, 607 individuals (236 men and 371 women) underwent a physical fitness test that included measurements of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength. The ability to climb up stair and to rise from a chair was assessed by self- reported questionnaire which was ranked in three levels. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the measurements. Results: The cut-off points for the leg extensor power of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 8.6 watt/kg body mass for men and 5.6 watt/kg body mass for women. In addition, the cut-off points for the knee extensor strength of subjects who could completely perform the stair-climbing and chair-rising functions were determined to be approximately 0.97 kg/kg body mass for men and 0.84 kg/kg body mass for women. Conclusions: From a practical viewpoint, the present study suggested that the cut-off points of leg extensor power and knee extensor strength can be used as targets in simple self-reported questionnaires to help in screening for mobility in 80-year-old
文摘Patients with serious mental illness have an increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in comparison to the general population. Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia. It is potentially reversible and may explain the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease in patients with serious mental illness. The aim of the study is to see the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among mentally ill patients and what might be the underlying the cause behind the scene A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted at mental health clinic, Batticaloa, Teaching Hospital (BTH), Sri Lanka. The data were collected over a period of two months from 15th of October to 15th of December 2017. Data were harvested from the medical records. Total 55 mentally ill patient’s medical records were analyzed for this study. Out of 55, females were 30 (54.5%) and males were 25 (45.5%). Furthermore, 30 (54.5%) patients had an evidence of metabolic syndrome. The association of metabolic syndrome among male and female was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In this study, metabolic syndrome is more prevalent among, patient with trifluoperazine (70%) drug group, risperidone (66.6%) and olanzapine (53.12%).
文摘Women in developing countries are at more risk for pregnancy-related complications than their counterpart of developed countries. However, many of the complications are preventable with good quality antenatal care (ANC). This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all the pregnant mothers who attend to routine antenatal clinic for booking visit at Vaharai, Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka during the time periods of 2015-2016. This study included 695 pregnant mothers. Among them majority were (n = 661;95.1%) Tamil and belong to (n = 587;84.5%) average age of 19 to 35 years. Majority of pregnant mothers studied up to grade eleven (GCE O/L) (n = 484;69.6%). Among them 14.4% were identified as anaemic. Among anaemic mothers 8.4% were mild, 5.2% were moderate & 0.8% severe anaemic. There was no statistically significant difference between ethnicity, parity of pregnant mothers, & their respective haemoglobin levels. Most pregnant mothers belong to (n = 338;48.6%) blood group O and majority were Rh positive (n = 603;86.8%). 90.6% of pregnant mothers underwent VDRL test and none was positive. This study shows that about 15% of first trimester pregnant mothers were anemic. Nutritional interventions for pre-pregnant women and educating pregnant women on prevention of anaemia, are recommended. Measures must also be taken to decrease teen age marriages.
文摘The outcomes of pregnancy differ significantly between developing and developed countries. The poor use of prenatal and maternal health services can contribute to this difference. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among all the pregnant mothers who attend to routine antenatal clinic for booking visit in medical officer health (MOH) clinics at Vaharai MOH area for a period of one year. This study was aimed to identify the live birth rate and low birth weight incidence in the studied population and compare these figures with national figure. Results: This study included 695 pregnant mothers. 70.4% pregnant mothers attend their first antenatal booking visit before 8 weeks of gestational age. 611 pregnant mothers reached gestational age of more than 28 weeks. 13.7% pregnant mothers had 4 - 6 antenatal visits while 83.6% mothers had more than 7 visits. Among those who had body mass index (BMI) measurement, 39.6% mothers had normal BMI and 43.6% pregnant mothers had low BMI, 16.8% mothers had BMI above the normal range. Among those 611 mothers, 56.8% had adequate weight gain (>7.5 kg) during their antenatal period, 3 of them had weight reduction and 11 mothers had not gain weight during their antenatal period. Majority 85.6% were not anaemic and 14.4% were anaemic. Regarding the current pregnancy outcome, 86.9% had live birth, 12.1% mothers had miscarriage, 0.9% (6) had intra uterine death (IUD) and 0.1% (1) had Hydatidiform mole. This study further showed that 22% of the pregnant mothers had their new-borns birth weight less than 2.5 kg at birth irrespective of their gestational age (low-birth weight babies). Conclusion: The lower live-birth rate, more incidence of low birth weight than the national figure of Sri Lanka is seen in the studied population of Vaharai. More incidence of anaemia, more teen-age pregnancies, failure to achieve recommended gestational weight gain during pregnancies despite frequent antenatal care, could be attributed to this adverse outcome.
