Study of plasma fibrinogen level and its relation to glycemic control in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients attending diabetes clinic at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Madhya Pradesh, India

Background: Diabetes mellitus comprises a group of common metabolic disorders where increased fibrinogen levels can act as a thrombogenic factor. Diabetic patients have higher cardiovascular morbidity than non-diabetic subjects. Several studies have shown that haemostatic factor especially hyperfibrinogenemia is implicated as a source of atherosclerosis and its complications.Methods: A comparative observational study was conducted to compare fibrinogen levels between type 2 diabetes patients and healthy controls. Their fibrinogen levels were compared and co-related with glycemic status and other risk factors and parameters like glycosylated haemoglobin, age, sex, smoking, body mass index (kg/m2), hypertension and ischemic heart disease.Results: It was seen that in the diabetic subset, the plasma fibrinogen levels are significantly higher than the non-diabetic subset (386.04±132.87 vs. 314.38±97.42; p<0.001). Our study re-established correlation between HbA1c and fibrinogen levels of the diabetic patient is positive i.e., poorer the glycemic status, higher the fibrinogen levels (r=0.24).Conclusions: It can be concluded from the study that fibrinogen levels are in­creased in type 2 diabetic subjects with and without CHD. Plasma fibrinogen levels usually increased in type 2 diabetes, thus suggesting that hyperfibrinogenemia could contribute to the excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this disease

Spectrum of ovarian tumours- a five year study

Background: Ovarian tumor is the seventh most common cause of cancer related deaths in female. The aim of this study is to find the, morphological and clinicopathological correlation, gross, histological pattern, and incidence of age distribution of ovarian tumors.Materials and Methods: This retrospective and prospective study was carried out from January 2011 to December 2015. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological examination using hematoxylin and eosin stain. Special stains and immunohistochemistry were carried out whenever needed.Results: Out of total 158 cases, 62.65% were benign, 3.79% were borderline, and 33.55% were malignant. Histologically, surface epithelial tumors were the most common (74.06%) followed by germ cell tumours(15.82%) and sex cord–stromal tumors (10.12%).Benign tumors were mostly seen in age group of 20–40 years, borderline 21–40 years, and malignant 50–80 years.Conclusion: Tumors originating from surface epithelium are the most common and their malignant counterparts are more frequent in the elderly age group.</p

Cost of care of atopic dermatitis in India

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common dermatologic condition with a prevalence varying from 5% to 15%, and it has been rising over time. Several studies from developed countries have revealed the substantial economic burden of AD on health care budgets. There has been no research however on the cost of care of AD from India a country where health care is self-funded with no health insurance or social security provided by the government. Aim: The aim of our study was to assess prospectively the cost of care of AD in children in an outpatient hospital setting in India. Methods: A total of 40 children with AD, <10 years of age, registered in the pediatric dermatology clinic at our institute were enrolled for the study. All patients were followed-up for 6 months. Demographic information, clinical profile, severity, and the extent of AD were recorded in predesigned performa. Caregivers were asked to fill up a cost assessment questionnaire specially designed for the study. It had a provision for measuring direct, indirect, and provider costs. Results: Of the 40 patients, 37 completed the study. Mean total cost for AD was Rs. 6235.00 ± 3514.00. Direct caregiver cost was Rs. 3022.00 ± 1620.00 of which treatment cost constituted 77.2 ± 11.1%. The total provider cost (cost of consultation, nursing/paramedical staff and infrastructure was Rs. 948.00, which was 15.2% of the total cost of care and the mean indirect cost calculated by adding loss of earnings of parents due to hospital visits was Rs. 2264.00 ± 2392.00 (range: 0-13,332). The mean total cost depending on the severity of AD was Rs. 3579.00 ± 948.00, Rs. 6806.00 ± 3676.00 and Rs. 8991.00 ± 3129.00 for mild, moderate and severe disease, respectively. Conclusions: AD causes a considerable drain on the financial resources of families in India since the treatment is mostly self-funded. Cost of care of AD is high and comparable to those of chronic physical illness, such as diabetes mellitus, and this cost is higher in severely ill-patients. This study is an attempt to highlight the cost of care of AD and the need for conducting more studies to sensitize the government and insurance agencies to economic aspects of AD

Study of plasma fibrinogen level and its relation to glycemic control in type-2 diabetes mellitus patients attending diabetes clinic at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Madhya Pradesh, India

Background: Diabetes mellitus comprises a group of common metabolic disorders where increased fibrinogen levels can act as a thrombogenic factor. Diabetic patients have higher cardiovascular morbidity than non-diabetic subjects. Several studies have shown that haemostatic factor especially hyperfibrinogenemia is implicated as a source of atherosclerosis and its complications.Methods: A comparative observational study was conducted to compare fibrinogen levels between type 2 diabetes patients and healthy controls. Their fibrinogen levels were compared and co-related with glycemic status and other risk factors and parameters like glycosylated haemoglobin, age, sex, smoking, body mass index (kg/m2), hypertension and ischemic heart disease.Results: It was seen that in the diabetic subset, the plasma fibrinogen levels are significantly higher than the non-diabetic subset (386.04±132.87 vs. 314.38±97.42; p&lt;0.001). Our study re-established correlation between HbA1c and fibrinogen levels of the diabetic patient is positive i.e., poorer the glycemic status, higher the fibrinogen levels (r=0.24).Conclusions: It can be concluded from the study that fibrinogen levels are in­creased in type 2 diabetic subjects with and without CHD. Plasma fibrinogen levels usually increased in type 2 diabetes, thus suggesting that hyperfibrinogenemia could contribute to the excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this disease

Study of altered platelet morphology with changes in glycaemic status

Background: Diabetes is a pandemic causing very high morbidity and mortality due to its complications which are a result of micro and macro angiopathy. Platelets play a key role in the vascular complications. These complications are attributed to platelet activation which can be recognised by an increase in platelet volume indices (PVI) including mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW). Platelet indices can be potentially useful surrogate markers for the early diagnosis of thromboembolic and cardiovascular complications in diabetes.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted for 2 years with total 930 subjects. The patients were segregated in 03 groups on basis of HbA1C as (a) Diabetic, (b) Non-Diabetic and (c) FG. Samples for HbA1C and platelet indices were collected using EDTA (ethylene diamine tetracetic acid) as anticoagulant and were processed on autoanalysers.Results: The study revealed a stepwise increase in the PVI from non-diabetics to IFG to diabetics. MPV and PDW were increased in the IFG cases as compared to the non-diabetic and were markedly increased in the diabetic patients. MPV and PDW of diabetics, IFG and non-diabetics were 17.60±2.04, 11.76±0.73, 9.93±0.64 and 19.17±1.48, 15.49±0.67, 10.59±0.67 respectively with a significant p value 0.00. Significant positive correlation between PVI with glycaemic levels and duration of diabetes across the groups (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). However, the total platelet count was found to decrease with the increasing glycaemic levels with a p value &lt;0.001. A significant negative correlation was found between glycaemic levels and total platelet count (PC- HbA1c r = -0.164).Conclusions: This study showed that platelet morphology is altered with increasing glycaemic levels. These changes can be known by measurements of PVI which is an important simple and effortless tool can be used more extensively to predict the acute vascular events and thereby help curb morbidity and mortality.