Background: Organophosphorus (OP) poisoning is a common mode of suicidal poisoning in our country and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Serum amylase has shown a promising role in the assessment of the severity of OP poisoning. We conducted this study to see the association of serum amylase level with acute OP poisoning severity.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 patients admitted with acute OP poisoning to the inpatient department of medicine of a tertiary hospital in Bangladesh from July 2016 to June 2018. Peradeniya organophosphorus poisoning scale was used to detect clinical severity. Serum amylase was measured on the day of admission.Results: The patients' mean age was 23.68±6.80 years, and 65.3% were male. As assessed by the POP scale, 56.7%, 34.7%, and 8.7% of patients had mild, moderate, and severe grades of OP poisoning, respectively. The median serum amylase level was 103.50 (IQR 73.75-156.0) IU/l; 44.7% of the subjects had normal, and 53.3% had an elevated serum amylase. A progressive increase in serum amylase level was observed with the increasing severity of OP poisoning; 77.0 IU/l (IQR 58.0-97.0) in mild grade, 154.0 IU/l (IQR 125.25-162.5) in moderate grade, and 298.0 IU/l (IQR 289.5-305.0) in severe grade and the differences in the median amylase across the three groups were statistically significant (p<0.001). A significant positive correlation between serum amylase level and POP scale score (r=0.970; p<0.001) was also observed.Conclusions: Serum amylase level may be used as a readily available marker of the severity of acute OP poising in resource-poor settings.

Background: The association of hyperuricemia with various cardiovascular risk factors has often led to the debate of whether hyperuricemia is an independent risk factor for essential hypertension (HTN).  The current study was conducted to see the relationship between serum uric acid and essential HTN in Bangladeshi adults.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, conducted in a tertiary hospital of Bangladesh, 155 patients with essential hypertension (newly detected or on treatment) aged ≥18 years and 100 age-sex matched normotensive subjects were investigated. Serum uric acid, plasma glucose, serum creatinine, and lipid profile were measured in all in fasting samples.Results: The frequency of hyperuricemia was higher in the hypertensive group in comparison to the normotensive control group (29.7% vs. 6.0%, p<0.001). Serum uric acid level was higher in the hypertensive subjects than the controls (6.10±0.88 vs. 5.38±0.54 mg/dL, mean±SD, p<0.001). In the hypertensive group, subjects with stage II HTN had higher serum uric acid than those with stage I HTN (6.46±0.83 vs. 5.72±0.78 mg/dL, mean±SD, p<0.001). In the hypertensive group, uric acid level showed significant positive correlations with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure though in the control group uric acid showed such correlation with systolic BP only.Conclusion: Patients with essential hypertension had higher serum uric acid compared to normotensive controls; uric acid level showed positive correlations with systolic and diastolic BP in the hypertensive subjects.