Background: Infertility, a common, non-fatal ailment, is sometimes associated with substantial comorbidity that can add adverse outcomes during treatment or pregnancy and increase costs of care. This study aims to assess the magnitude and pattern of comorbidities in infertile Nigerian women.Method: This descriptive retrospective study was undertaken at NKST Hospital Mkar-Gboko, Nigeria, from 1st January 2005 to 31st July 2013. Clinic records of patients who attended the gynaecological outreach clinic were retrieved and analyzed using descriptive statistics and test of associations with Microsoft Excel 2013. Jos University Teaching Hospital gave ethical clearance.Results: 1,926 women seen during the study period, 1030 (53.5%) presented for infertility care. 941 (91.4%) women had complete records, among them, 476 (50.5%) met the inclusion criteria, and their records were analyzed. The mean age of the women was 32.6±6.0 years with a range of 20 to 53 years, see Table1. There were 52 comorbid conditions among the 476 women. The comorbidities included uterine myoma, previous appendectomy/pelvic surgeries, genital tract infections/retroviral disease, hypertension, obesity and diabetes, among others, see Table 4. Table 2 and 3 shows there is a significant statistical association between comorbidity type, age, parity, duration of infertility and symptoms complex between infertile women and comorbidities (p<0.05).Conclusion: Comorbidities that can influence treatment and pregnancy outcomes are common among infertile women in central Nigeria. This finding strongly supports the routine assessment of women for comorbidities during infertility care for appropriate multidisciplinary management and counselling.
Background: Self-Harm (SH) is a major global public health problem which is under-researched in Pakistan. A prior act of self-harm is one of the strongest predictors of future suicide.Method: This retrospective descriptive study describes the characteristics of SH cases (n=350) that presented to a tertiary care teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2013 to December 2017. Details related to demography, history, associated factors, access to methods used, and intent to die were collected on a structured proforma and analysed using STATA version 14. Results: It was found that self-harm acts were twice as more common in females than in males. More than half of the reported cases were in the age group 20-39 years. Drug overdose and use of insecticides were the two most common methods used in both genders. Depression was identified in nearly half of the reported SH cases. Intention to die was found to be 3 times greater among patients with psychiatric illness as compared to those with no history of psychiatric illness. Conclusion: This study suggests that limiting access to lethal means, regulating over-the-counter sale of medications, and safe storage of pesticides can possibly serve as effective measures to minimize self-harm incidences. Moreover, integration of suicide assessment and prevention programmes for the general population is also suggested.
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