A prospective study to evaluate oral iron preparations in antenatal women at a tertiary care hospital Satyanarayana V.*, Shabeer D., Suma Jayaram, Basavaraj Bhandare INTRODUCTIONIron deficiency anaemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world. Anaemia is defined by World Health Organization as a state where haemoglobin (Hb) is less than 11gm/dl and haematocrit less than 33%. 1Estimates from the WHO report that 35-75% (average 56%) of pregnant women in developing countries and 18% of women from industrialized countries are anaemic.The most common cause of anaemia is iron and folate deficiency. Iron deficiency anaemia accounts for 75-95% cases of anaemia in pregnancy. It can occur because of poor nutrition, malaria, hookworm infestation and closely spaced pregnancies.The net Iron requirements for pregnancy is 840 mg approximately.2 Per WHO Daily oral iron and folic acid supplementation with 30 mg to 60 mg of elemental iron is recommended for pregnant women to prevent maternal anaemia, puerperal sepsis, low birth weight, and preterm birth. Pregnant women commonly develop iron deficiency anaemia because of increasing iron demand of the developing foetus and placenta and the increased blood circulating volume in the body during pregnancy. 4 In pregnancy, the total volume of plasma is dramatically increased (50%) along with increase in red cell mass (18-25%), because of this disproportionate increase in plasma ABSTRACT Background: Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia in pregnancy worldwide. It can be mild, moderate or severe. Severe anemia can have very serious consequences for mothers and babies. Pregnant women requiring medication represent a challenge to healthcare providers to avoid any teratogenic risk to foetus. The purpose of this study was to provide information about the most effective iron preparations prescribed to pregnant women and to evaluate the haemoglobin status before and after oral iron therapy. Methods: This was a Prospective observational study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Rajarajeswari Medical College and Hospital, between October 2013 and March 2014.This study was conducted by reviewing the antenatal care Outpatient department case papers of 200 pregnant women who were anaemic. Results: Demographic profile, detailed medical history and drug intake in current pregnancy was noted. The prescription pattern was assessed. Of the three common iron preparations prescribed, Ferrous sulphate was the most common preparation. Findings of our study showed that all pregnant anaemic women included in the study were provided with iron and folic acid therapy and the most effective oral iron preparation was Ferrous sulphate. Conclusions: Present study shows that ferrous sulphate is the most common iron preparation prescribed. Ferrous sulphate and ferrous fumarate preparations showed better improvement in Hb levels. Anaemia is common among all pregnant women and therefore it raises the concern about high morbidity and mortality associated with pregnancy ou...

Background: Inflammation is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli. Though there are standard anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin, diclofenac, etc., these are not free of side effects. This has led to an increase in demand for natural products with anti-inflammatory activity having less side effects. Hence the study was conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of ethanolic extract of Ficus racemose (EEFR) in albino rats.Methods: Healthy albino rats of either sex were divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each. Group1-control, group 2-diclofenac sodium 2 mg/kg and group 3 and 4 EEFR (200 and 400 mg/kg respectively), anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by Carrageenan induced paw oedema: formalin induced-peritonitis and cotton pellet induced granuloma model for in vivo activity and protein denaturation test for in vitro activity.Results: EEFR exhibited significant in vitro (p<0.001) anti-inflammatory effect at the dose of 200 and 400 mg/kg. EEFR produced 61.37% inhibition at the dose of 400 mg/kg and diclofenac (standard drug) produced 62.95% of inhibition after 3 hours of drug treatment in carrageenan induced paw oedema. The exudate volume was decreased in formalin induced peritonitis by EEFR and diclofenac significantly (p<0.001). In cotton pellet induced granuloma EEFR (400 mg/kg) and diclofenac showed decreased formation of granuloma by 28.36% and 28.00% (p<0.001) respectively.Conclusions: EEFR has significant anti-inflammatory activity in both acute and chronic model in a dose dependant manner in comparison with standard drug.

Background: India stands at 3rd position with large elderly population in the world. Elderly population has special problems related to health, social support, and economic security. Comorbidities in elderly people are frequent, which require use of multiple medications which increases the number of inappropriate medications    noncompliance, economic burden, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and drug interactions. The overall incidence of ADR is two to three times higher due to physiological and pharmacological variations. Currently used screening tools for inappropriate prescription in old age are: Beers criteria and inappropriate prescribing in the elderly tool (IPET).Methods: A prospective observational study of elderly patients of either sex admitted in the medicine ward, conducted from May 2019-November 2019. A total of 102 prescriptions were collected and analysed. Data was analysed using Microsoft excel.Results: In this study most of the patients (67 out of 102) were in the age group 65-70 years with male population (73%) dominance. Most of the patient were admitted due to cardiovascular (35.84%) and respiratory system (14.15%) disorder. Anti-diabetics (17.64%) followed by anti-microbials (14.24%) were the most commonly prescribed medicines in this study. Our study revealed poly pharmacy in geriatric patients with an average number of drugs per prescription being 6.07. According to BEER’s criteria 3.47% of total drugs prescribed were inappropriateConclusions:  In this study most of the patients had co morbid conditions, cardiovascular disease and diabetes being the common cause led to polypharmacy. A high number of potential prescription errors were found.