Awareness, knowledge about breast feeding practices among urban mothers

Background: The knowledge and awareness about breast feeding practices is influenced by educational qualification, type of family and support from the family. Till date in India under- 5 mortality rate is mostly due to improper nutrition to the children since birth and infectious diseases among children. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and awareness about breast feeding practices among urban women attending a tertiary care hospital Chennai, India. Methods: This hospital based; prospective, cross-sectional study was carried out among 200 antenatal women who visited a tertiary care hospital in Chennai. The data regarding the knowledge and awareness about breast feeding practices was collected. Results: Knowledge about breast feeding practices like time of initiation, food that facilitate the secretion of breast milk is more among educated mothers. The type of family also showed a significant effect on the awareness about breast feeding. Proper posture of breast feeding was also not known to most of the antenatal mothers. Conclusions: Antenatal women had poor knowledge about the posture of breast feeding, but awareness about the initiation of breast feeding, period of breast feeding and weaning period was satisfactory. Awareness about breast milk banking and storage of breast milk was also poor

Role of pipelle versus dilatation and curettage in tissue diagnosis abnormal uterine bleeding

Background: Menstrual irregularities and abnormal heavy menstruation account for up to 26-35% of women attending Gynecological outpatient Department. Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB), it is more common at extremes of age endometrial hyperplasia occurs in 5-10% of patients with post-menopausal bleeding out of which atypical hyperplasia has 26-32 % risk of having malignancy in future. Therefore, endometrial sampling for histopathology is important in the assessment of abnormal uterine bleeding is mandatory. Our study was conductive to know the effectiveness of pipelle type devices, versus Dilatation and curettage in obtaining quality endometrial tissue for histopathological examination.Methods: The study was undertaken in Department of obstetrics and gynaecology along with department of Pathology at Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, government medical college, Kolhapur after getting approval from the Hospital Committee on Clinical Research and Ethical Committee of the institution, during the period from October 2016 to March 2017 (six months). Total number of subjects included in study is Hundred after taking into consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: The ease of doing procedure was much easier as compared to D&C and the Tissue sample obtained for histopathological examination were as par D&C. It was concluded that histopathology report was available in 92 of the 100 pipelle samples and 93 of 100 D&C samples. It was also, observed that increased endometrial thickness was not always associated with adequate tissue diagnosis.Conclusions: Pipelle is simple, affordable, patient friendly can be easily performed with minimal training, which can be performed in Outpatient Gynaecological Department. The diagnostic value and positive predictive value of Pipelle is at par with conventional D&C. So, pipelle can be recommended for all perimenopausal patients with AUB to rule out various, premalignant and malignant conditions of the endometrium

Severity of Menopausal Symptoms in Women Posthysterectomy at a Tertiary Care Hospital,Tamil Nadu, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Menopause, a natural occurrence in women’s lives, is characterised by a drop in ovarian hormones, oestrogen, and progesterone levels. Sudden hypoestrogenic state, that is caused by hysterectomy leads to the development of menopausal symptoms. Aim: To assess the occurrence and severity of menopausal symptoms in women who underwent hysterectomy for benign gynaecologic conditions. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Kelambakkam, Tamil Nadu, India, over a period of three months. The study included 100 women in the age group of 35-55 years who had undergone hysterectomy for benign conditions were invited to participate in the study. Those who agreed to the study and completed the questionnaire after six weeks and three months postoperatively were included in this study. Menopausal symptoms and severity were assessed using modified Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) scale. Posthysterectomy menopausal symptoms at six weeks and three months were compared using Chi-square test. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 45.85±6.24 years. Most of them, 52 (52%) had heavy menstrual bleeding, 28 (28%) of the study participants had no associated co-morbidities. A total of 54 (54%) of the women of this study was diagnosed as Abnormal Uterine Bleeding-Leiomyomas (AUB-L). Majority 76 (76%) of them had undergone total abdominal hysterectomy with or without bilateral salphingoopherectomy. Mean duration of hospital stay 7.48±2.02 days. Postoperative diet of these women included calcium containing foods 57 (57%), iron containing foods 68 (68%). There was a statistically significant difference in majority of menopausal symptoms like hot flushes, palpitations, night sweats, reduced duration of sleep, anxiety, lack of interest in sex, forgetfulness and joint and muscle pains between six weeks and three months postoperatively. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the symptoms of hot flushes, difficulty in urinating, anxiety, joint and muscle pain was significantly higher at six weeks when compared to three months