scholarly journals Prospective Risk Factors of Toxoplasmosis Seropositivity in Pregnant Women: The Fundamental Role of Community Healthcare Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-563
Author(s):  
Lienda Eltayeb ◽  
Nasir Hamad ◽  
Abeer Babiker

Background: The present study conducted a survey on awareness of toxoplasmosis infection, with an emphasis on risk factors, and an assessment of toxoplasmosis prevalence in pregnant women in Al-Kharj province of KSA. Methods and Results: A cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach was carried out from August 2018 to February 2019. The study recruited all pregnant women who attended maternity and children’s outpatient clinics. The non-probability sampling approach was used to select 345 blood samples from study subjects. T. gondii-specific IgG and IgM antibodies were identified using ELISA. Each participant enrolled in the study was provided with a validated questionnaire to fill out by an assistant of the laboratory technician or an antenatal care nurse. In addition to socio-demographic data, simple closed-ended questions about established risk factors for T. gondii exposure were included in the questionnaire items, and answers were listed in a three-point Likert scale (agree, disagree, I am not sure). The overall prevalence of T. gondii-specific antibodies among study subjects was 12.75%; 29(8.40%) women were positive for IgG only, 9(2.6%) - for IgM, and 6(1.7%) - for both IgG and IgM antibodies. About 41.4% of participants were in the first trimester of pregnancy; among them 31(9%) were positive for T. gondii antibodies. 82.8% of pregnant women had chronic infection in the first trimester, while 44.4% of those women also had an acute infection. The number of respondents to the questionnaire was 345 participants with a response rate of about 100%. It is important to note that 81.5% of women were unaware that toxoplasmosis is dangerous, and two-thirds of them didn't know the dangerous complications for the fetus and newborn. Conclusion: The current study concludes that there is a low prevalence of toxoplasmosis among Saudi pregnant women in Al-Kharj province. A general program must be implemented to increase population awareness, especially among the at-risk populations.

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e033995
Author(s):  
Ada-Agustina Sandoval-Carrillo ◽  
Angel Antonio Vértiz-Hernández ◽  
Jose-Manuel Salas-Pacheco ◽  
Olga Edith González-Lugo ◽  
Elizabeth-Irasema Antuna-Salcido ◽  
...  

ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in pregnant women in Matehuala City, Mexico; and the associated risk factors.DesignA cross-sectional study.SettingMatehuala City, Mexico.Participants311 pregnant women.Primary and secondary outcome measuresSera of women were analysed for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies by commercially available immunoassays. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess the association between T. gondii seroprevalence and the characteristics of the pregnant women.ResultsThirteen (4.2%) of the 311 pregnant women studied were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. No anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies were found in anti-T. gondii IgG seropositive women. No association between seropositivity and history of blood transfusion, transplantation, caesarean sections, deliveries, miscarriages or number of pregnancies was found. Logistic regression analysis of sociodemographic, behavioural and housing variables showed that availability of potable water at street represented a risk factor for T. gondii infection (age-adjusted OR=2.18; 95% CI: 1.05 to 4.53; p=0.03), whereas being born in Mexico was a protective factor for infection (age-adjusted OR=0.01; 95% CI: 0.001 to 0.35; p=0.008).ConclusionsIn this first study on the seroepidemiology of T. gondii infection in pregnant women in Matehuala, we conclude that the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection is low and similar to those reported in pregnant women in other Mexican cities. However, the seroprevalence found is lower than those reported in pregnant women in other countries in the Americas and Europe. Two risk factors associated with T. gondii infection were identified. Results of the present study may help for the optimal planning of preventive measures against toxoplasmosis in pregnant women.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huailiang Wu ◽  
Weiwei Sun ◽  
Hanqing Chen ◽  
Yanxin Wu ◽  
Wenjing Ding ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Pregnant women experience physical, physiological, and mental changes. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a relevant indicator of psychological and physical behaviours, changing over the course of pregnancy. This study aims to assess HRQoL of pregnant women during different stages of pregnancy. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed using the The EuroQoL Group’s five-dimension five-level questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) to assess the HRQoL of pregnant women, and demographic data were collected. This study was conducted in a regional university hospital in Guangzhou, China. Results A total of 908 pregnant women were included in this study. Pregnant women in the early 2nd trimester had the highest HRQoL. The HRQoL of pregnant women rose from the 1st trimester to the early 2nd trimester, and dropped to the bottom at the late 3rd trimester due to some physical and mental changes. Reports of pain/discomfort problem were the most common (46.0%) while self-care were the least concern. More than 10% of pregnant women in the 1st trimester had health-related problems in at least one dimension of whole five dimensions. In the whole sample, the EuroQoL Group’s visual analog scale (EQ-VAS) was 87.86 ± 9.16. Across the gestational stages, the HRQoL remained stable during the pregnancy but the highest value was observed in the 1st trimester (89.65 ± 10.13) while the lowest was in the late 3rd trimester (87.28 ± 9.13). Conclusions During pregnancy, HRQoL were associated with gestational trimesters in a certain degree. HRQoL was the highest in the early 2nd trimester and then decreased to the lowest in the late 3rd trimester due to a series of physical and psychological changes. Therefore, obstetric doctors and medical institutions should give more attention and care to pregnant women in the late 3rd trimester.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
Houyu Zhao ◽  
Mei Zhang ◽  
Jiaming Bian ◽  
Siyan Zhan

Background: Antibiotic use in pregnant women at the national level has rarely been reported in China. Objectives: We aimed to investigate antibiotic prescriptions during pregnancy in ambulatory care settings in China. Methods: Data of 4,574,961 ambulatory care visits of pregnant women from October 2014 to April 2018 were analyzed. Percentages of Antibiotic prescriptions by different subgroups and various diagnosis categories and proportions of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for different subgroups were estimated. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pregnancy categories were used to describe the antibiotic prescription patterns. The 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using the Clopper––Pearson method or Goodman method. Results: Among the 4,574,961 outpatient visits during pregnancy, 2.0% (92,514 visits; 95% CI, 2.0–2.0%) were prescribed at least one antibiotic. The percentage of antibiotic prescriptions for pregnant women aged >40 years was 4.9% (95% CI, 4.7–5.0%), whereas that for pregnant women aged 26–30 years was 1.5% (95% CI, 1.4–1.5%). In addition, percentages of antibiotic prescriptions varied among different trimesters of pregnancy, which were 5.4% (95% CI, 5.3–5.4%) for the visits in the first trimester of pregnancy and 0.5% (95% CI, 0.4–0.5%) in the third trimester of pregnancy. Furthermore, the percentages of antibiotic prescriptions substantially varied among different diagnosis categories and nearly three-quarters of antibiotic prescriptions had no clear indications and thus might be inappropriate. In total, 130,308 individual antibiotics were prescribed; among these, 60.4% (95% CI, 60.0–60.8%) belonged to FDA category B, 2.7% (95% CI, 2.1–3.5%) were classified as FDA category D and 16.8% (95% CI, 16.2–17.4%) were not assigned any FDA pregnancy category. Conclusions: Antibiotic prescriptions in ambulatory care during pregnancy were not highly prevalent in mainland China. However, a substantial proportion of antibiotics might have been prescribed without adequate indications. Antibiotics whose fetal safety has not been sufficiently illustrated were widely used in pregnant women.


Background: Exodontia is one of the most frequently carried out procedures by a dental surgeon, mostly on an outpatient department basis. The reasons for performing exodontia include non-restorable teeth, periodontal disease, dental trauma, impacted tooth, orthodontic treatment and toothache. Complications in dental extraction are a commonly encountered problem in dental clinics. This knowledge can help dental surgeons make extractions less invasive, traumatic and complicated, enabling quicker recovery of the socket. The aim of this study was to recognize types, frequency and risk factors for complications after exodontia. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled patients who had exodontia done from July- September 2019, visiting OPD of the Oral surgery department of Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi. Risk factors included demographic data, general health, past medical and dental history. Spearman’s correlation test was used to establish any relationship of variables with complications. Results: The study patients (126) included 72 females (mean age 39.1±13.39) and 54 males (mean age 41.1±14.93). The overall complications rate was found to be 7.1%, mainly arising from maxillary and mandibular third molars. The most common complications encountered were Hemorrhage, Pain, and Trismus. Increasing age and specific teeth extracted were associated with an increased risk for complications. However, post-operative complications which were encountered most of them were minor and handled on an outpatient department basis. Conclusion: Frequency and risk factors for complications after exodontia were found low3 (37.5%). While age and teeth extracted cannot be directly altered, these factors maybe indirectly modified, resulting in a potential decrease of postoperative complications.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 223
Author(s):  
Gayani Amarasinghe ◽  
Vasana Mendis ◽  
Thilini Agampodi

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy, which can lead to adverse maternal and fetal outcomes, is a significant global health problem. Despite Sri Lanka’s strong public health system and commitment towards prevention, maternal anaemia remains a major problem in the country. While prevention is focused on iron deficiency, detailed etiological studies on this topic are scarce. Moreover, estimates of socio demographic and economic factors associated with anaemia in pregnancy, which can provide important clues for anaemia control, are also lacking. This study aims to evaluate the hemoglobin distribution, spatial distribution, etiology and associated factors for anaemia in pregnant women in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Methods: This is a cross sectional study of pregnant women in their first trimester registered for antenatal care from July to September 2019 in the Anuradhapura district. The minimal sample size was calculated to be 1866. Initial data collection has already been carried out in special field clinics for pregnant women between June to October 2019. An interviewer-administered questionnaire, a self-completed dietary questionnaire and an examination checklist were used for data collection. In addition, all participants underwent complete blood count testing. Further investigations are being conducted for predicting the etiology of anaemia based on a developed algorithm (such as high-performance liquid chromatography [HPLC] and peripheral blood film analysis). Discussion: Being the largest study on anaemia during pregnancy in a single geographical area in Sri Lanka, this study will provide important clues about geographical clustering of anaemia cases with similar etiology, associated factors and etiologies which would help to develop interventions to improve the health of pregnant women in the area. The possibility of selection bias is a potential limitation associated with the study design.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidra Hameed ◽  
Faisal Faiyaz Zuberi ◽  
Sagheer Hussain ◽  
Syed Khalid Ali

Objective: To evaluate risk factors having significant effect on mortality of smear positive Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) inpatients. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Dow University Hospital Ojha Campus, Karachi. One hundred and seventy (170) inpatients of smear positive PTB confirmed by Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) smear, aged between 13-80 years were enrolled by using consecutive sampling technique while patients with drug resistant Tuberculosis (TB) and extra pulmonary TB were excluded from the study. Selected patients were interviewed for collecting demographic data and risk factor data by using a standard questionnaire. Results: Out of 170 PTB inpatients, mortality was observed in 23 (13.5%) patients among which male patients were 12 (52.2%), and female were 11 (47.8%). Mortality was significantly associated with increasing age (p=0.003), socioeconomic status (p=0.019), anemia (p=0.03), Chronic Liver Disease (CLD) (p=0.005), Diabetes Mellitus (DM) (p=0.001), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (p=0.007), Hypertension (HTN) (p=0.006), recurrent TB (p=0.001), and smoking (p=0.001). Conclusion: Increasing age, poverty, smoking history, and presence of comorbidities like DM, CLD, HIV, hypertension, and anemia are associated with higher mortality in smear positive PTB cases. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.5.919 How to cite this:Hameed S, Zuberi FF, Hussain S, Ali SK. Risk factors for mortality among inpatients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.5.919 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-240
Author(s):  
Ruţa Florina ◽  
Avram Călin ◽  
Voidăzan Septimiu ◽  
Rus Victoria ◽  
Georgescu Mihai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background. It is well-known that the exposure during pregnancy to lifestyle risk factors can affect thehealth both for the mother and the fetus. There are many risk factors for pregnancy, including: smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary pattern, irregular daily meal serving plan, lack of knowledge regarding health prevention. The main objective of our study was to assess the practices, knowledge and attitudes towards lifestyle risk behaviors during pregnancy in a group of women from Tirgu-Mures area. Materials and methods. We used a cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire, assessingsmoking behavior and lifestyle patterns during pregnancy, on a group of 481 women from the urban area (58.84%), as well as from the rural area (41.16%) from Mures county. Results. In the study group, 190 women (39.5%) used to smoke before pregnancy; among which 37.36% continued to smoke even after they found out they are pregnant. In the group of pregnant women that continued to smoke during pregnancy, we have studied other behavioral factors related to lifestyle, identifying the following: 5,73% have been consuming alcohol weekly, 56.33% reduced greatly their physical activity level, 3.63% have been consuming at least 3 cups of coffee a day. During pregnancy, 12.72% did not have a regular, daily meal serving plan, and 67.26% was a little or not at all concerned about their eating habits. Only 30.9% from the smoking pregnant women group have received information from the family doctor (GP) regarding the risk factors of smoking habits, while 38.18% did not receive any information. Conclusions. Behavioral risk factors in pregnancy have to be followed closely by the HealthCare System in order to avoid complications for the mother and the child. The best way of accomplishing that is through an efficient community intervention.


Author(s):  
P. Kalpana ◽  
A. Kavitha

Background: The objective was to study the determinants of anemia among pregnant women. There is a negative effect on the health of the mother and as well as that of the child due to anemia in women with pregnancy. Death rate is more in women who are pregnant and having anemia. The objective of this study was to study the determinants of anemia among pregnant women.Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was carried out among 40 pregnant women over a period of six months. Demographic data like age, residence, occupation etc was recorded. Obstetric data like gravida, parity, previous LSCS was also recorded. The data was presented as means and student’s t test was applied.Results: The mean age was 23.43±3.4 years. Majority were young between the ages of 19-22 years. Majority belonged to urban residents i.e. 57.5%. 20% of the subjects were found to be illiterate. Majority of the mothers were housewives i.e. 82.5%. Majority were multi-gravida i.e. 60%. Majority had no history of abortions in the past i.e. 75%. Out of total 19 repeat pregnancies, majority i.e. 84.2% had lower segment cesarean section. Majority reported that they had normal menstrual history. The mean hemoglobin level was found out to be 7.94 gm/dl. It was found that the mean hemoglobin level did not differ significantly across age, residence, education, occupation, gravidity, history of abortions, type of delivery but differed significantly by abnormal menstrual cycle.Conclusions: Mean hemoglobin level was more in women with normal menstrual history compared to those women with abnormal menstrual history and this difference was found out to be statistically significant. Hence abnormal menses should be promptly treated, hemoglobin assessed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 602-05
Author(s):  
Umair Ali ◽  
Muhammad Wajid Munir ◽  
Jahanzeb Maqsood ◽  
Mahwash Jamil ◽  
Syed Saif Ur Rehman ◽  
...  

Objective: To evaluate factors resulting in reluctance of initiation of insulin therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Medical OPD of a private tertiary care multi-specialty hospital in Islamabad, from Apr to Jul 2019. Methodology: Patients with diabetes mellitus between age of 30-70 years, who had poor glycaemic control on two oral antidiabetic drugs having HbA1c>9% and were insulin naïve, were included in this study. A validated questionnaire was developed which had two sections; first including the demographic data of the study populations and second having closedended dichotomous questions which were asked from patients by the treating physicians Results: A total of 180 patients with diabetes mellitus eligible for insulin therapy were included in the study, among them 52 (28.9%) were agreed to initiate the insulin. Negative attitude and beliefs include painful way of administration 85 (66.4%), difficult insulin storage 98 (76.6%), risk of hypoglycemia 82 (64.1%).The mean negative perception Score was 7.35 (SD 0.98). Conclusion: Psychological insulin resistance is present in significant diabetic population, and it is a big obstacle in insulin therapy initiation and compliance.


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