International Journal of Advances in Medicine 

About: International Journal of Advances in Medicine is an academic journal published by Medip Academy. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Internal medicine. It has an ISSN identifier of 2349-3933. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 2121 publications have been published receiving 3291 citations.

Prevalence and risk factors of low back pain

Abstract: Background: Low back pain is one of the most common health problems among all the population of the world. Men and women are equally reported to be affected by this condition. Of late, there has been rising incidence of LBP among many young adults and children, which is of concern. There have been a few studies regarding LBP but very few in this part of the world. This study was hence conducted to assess the prevalence of lower back pain among the young adults in our area. Methods: Detailed demographic picture was taken from all the patients which included the age, gender, smoking and alcoholic status, socio economic status, travelling, type of work, hours at work. Type and duration of sport, history of previous LBP, the intensity of pain, way it is relieved, duration of pain, i.e. the frequency of pain in a day are also taken into account. Results: The most common age group to be affected among the males was 31-40 years of age, where 38.6% were affected, while amongst the female the most common age group to be affected was 41-50 years with 38.1%. Most of the patients has strenuous physical exercise on daily basis for long period of time (70.9%). 58.3% patients were under stress and anxiety, while 56.3% lifted heavy weights regularly. 44.7% persons were either overweight or obese and had LBP due to the excess weight, while 28.6% had LBP due to sitting for long periods. Conclusions: This study shows that lower back pain is prevalent among all the age groups, especially among the younger adults. Identification of predisposing factors among the individuals which cause LBP can lead to diagnosing the condition at the earliest and preventing chronic pain, thereby improving the quality of life.

Hematological profile and pregnancy: a review

Abstract: Many physiological hematological changes occur during pregnancy to accommodate the demands of the developing foetus. Infect, these changes may appear to be pathological in the non-pregnant state. Although physiological in nature, but abnormal hematological profile does affect pregnancy and its outcome. One of the most important underlying cause of maternal mortality is due to underlying hematological complications. This review deals with thorough understanding of range of these haematological parameters during pregnancy.

Study of clinical profile of stroke patients in rural tertiary health care centre

Abstract: Background: There are 15 million people worldwide who suffer a stroke each year. According to the World Health Organization, stroke is the second leading cause of death for people above the age of 60 years, and the fifth leading cause in people aged 15 to 59 years old. Each year, nearly six million people worldwide die from stroke. One in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime. Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out from July 2014 to April 2016 of all new patients admitted with stroke in Indian institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Badnapur, Jalna, Maharashtra. India. Results: The cerebrovascular strokes were more common in males (58.53%) than females (41.46%). Most common age group was 61-70 years (34.95%). The Most common clinical feature was Hemiplegia (55.28%). most common risk factor was hypertension (48.78%), tobacco chewing (26.01%), smoking (19.51%), followed by past h/o of cerebrovascular stroke (12.19%), Dyslipidemia (8.94%). Most common type of stroke was ischemic (68.28%) and hemorrhagic (31.69%) was second most common in ischemic strokes most common involved areas were parietal (30.08%), basal ganglia (9.75%), frontal lobe (7.31%). In hemorrhagic stroke most common site was thalamus (10.56%) followed by ventricular (5.69%) and basal ganglia (4.06%). Conclusions: Young patients (age ≤45 years) were 16.26% which is more dangerous in view of productive year lost. Stroke having male predominance with hypertension was the most common risk factor smoking tobacco chewing and dyslipidemia were other risk factors for stroke and most common type of stroke was ischemic. Developing countries like India are facing a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in India.

Echocardiographic findings in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and correlation of right ventricular dysfunction with disease severity

Abstract: Background: COPD is a powerful and independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality which includes right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and cor pulmonale secondary to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), left ventricular dysfunction. Echocardiography provides a rapid, noninvasive, portable, and accurate method to evaluate cardiac functions. Early diagnoses and intervention for cardiac comorbidities would reduce mortalities in COPD patients. The aim of this study is to find echocardiographic changes in COPD patients and to assess RV dysfunction by echocardiography and correlate with the disease severity. Methods: 100 patients of COPD fulfilling the inclusion criteria coming to OPD/wards of NMCH, Kota were recruited. They were staged by pulmonary function test (PFT) and evaluated by echocardiography. Statistical analysis of correlation was done with chi square test and statistical significance was taken p<0.05. Results: Most common echocardiographic finding was cor pulmonale, which was present in 62% of cases, other echocardiographic findings were PAH in 44% cases, RA/RV dilatation (43%), RVH (42%), LVDD (46%), RVSD (14%) and LVH in 11% of cases. Echocardiographic signs of RV dysfunction observed are PAH, cor pulmonale and RVSD which are correlated with the severity of the disease (p<0.05). Conclusions: Echocardiographic examination is reliable in following COPD patients with PAH instead of repeated cardiac catheterization. The incidence of RV dysfunction is more common as the severity of COPD increases and there is a significant correlation between the degree of air flow limitation (FEV1) and RV dysfunction.

Bacteriological profile and antibiogram of blood culture isolates done by automated culture and sensitivity method in a neonatal intensive care unit in a tertiary care hospital in Odisha, India -

Abstract: Background: Sepsis is one of the commonest cause of neonatal mortality. The aetiology of neonatal sepsis has variations according to the various customs and practices in the perinatal and neonatal period and geographical area. This study was designed to analyse the magnitude and aetiological characteristics of neonatal sepsis & also the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology including 250 neonates with suspected neonatal sepsis admitted to Dept. of Paediatrics & NICU, of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Bhubaneswar, during the period from Nov. 2012 - April 2014. Two ml of venous blood was taken from each neonate & cultured by automated BacT/Alert & VITEK2 method for rapid isolation & sensitivity test. A structured proforma was used to collect the information for the baseline characteristics like age, gender, birth weight, gestational age, mode of delivery of the neonate and age of onset of illness. Results: Amongst the total samples processed, 82(32.8%) became culture positive among which gram positive bacteria were the most predominant (65.8%). Out of all the gram positive pathogens, CoNS were the most common isolates (88.5%). Among the total culture positive pathogenic isolates (n=82), S. haemolyticus was the predominant bacteria 28 (34.1%) followed by S. epidermidis 12 (14.6%) and Esch coli . 8 (9.8%). Staph. aureus was isolated from 6 (7.3%) cases whereas candida spp. were isolated from only 8 cases (9.6%). Conclusions: Present study revealed that both gram positive and gram negative bacteria were responsible for blood stream infections and most of the strains were multidrug resistant. Among gram positive bacterial pathogens, most common were Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) (88.5%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (7.3%).