Background: Adequate antenatal Vitamin D intake is essential for maternal and fetal health during pregnancy and avoidance of adverse outcomes. The normal and abnormal concentrations are not well established in the different parts of the world with varying customs in life. We intended to estimate the normal random serum Vitamin D levels among antenatal mothers in the first trimester and whether factors such as age, weight, and religion have any influence on the same. Materials and Methods: In this epidemiological study of 644 parturients, we collected the blood samples from asymptomatic antenatal mothers in the first trimester. A simple convenient sample of mothers on no other supplements except folate was selected. The present study was done from April 2019 to March 2020 after individual informed consent and ethical clearance. The factors such as age, weight, type of diet, occupation, and religion were noted. The estimation of Vitamin D3 levels was done by the well described chemiluminescent technique. A value of <20 ng/ml was defined as deficient. Student t-tests, analysis of variance, and correlation tests were done accordingly to find out the influence of the above factors on the level. Results: 83.7% of all women were deficient in Vitamin D3, if the level of 20 ng/ml was taken as cutoff. The mean Vitamin D3 level was 14.57 ± 6.73 ng/ml. Religion wise, the mean Vitamin D3 was 16.63 ng/ml in Hindus (sample – 402/644), 10.55 ng/ml in Muslims (sample – 207/644), 14.27 ng/ml in Christians (sample – 16/644), and 15.08 ng/ml in others (sample – 19/644). There was a significant reduction in the levels of Vitamin D in Muslim women. There is no influence of age, weight, or dietary pattern. Conclusion: A majority of Indian pregnant women were deficient in Vitamin D3, worse among Muslims. We conclude that lifestyle changes with more exposure to sunlight should be suggested to all women in the reproductive age group to circumvent the problem. Health education on these lines should be imparted to them.

Thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy, especially hidden, may lead on to increased morbidities both in mothers and the foetuses. With this in mind, we conducted a study of estimating Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels in the first trimester of asymptomatic antenatal mothers. In this 680-sample sized study, we measured TSH values after noting down, age, weight, religion, occupation and type of diet. The mean TSH value is 2.36 (0.02 to 31.67) mIU/ml. the incidence of subclinical hypothyroidism was 9.1 % whereas it was 2.9% in hyperthyroidism. All parturients with subclinical thyroid dysfunction were given appropriate treatment. The Hindus and Muslims constituted the majority. There was no difference between TSH values among both religions. Around 95 % were vegetarians, and the value of TSH was similar in parturients with either type of eating habits. A significantly higher level of thyroid dysfunction is noted in working women even though the sample is less. These values correspond to an affording community above the poverty line. We suggest more vigilant screening at the village antenatal care level to decrease thyroid-associated fetal and maternal morbidities. We also suggest that routine TSH screening rather than targeted testing of thyroid disorders should be made mandatory even in Government institutions.

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Introduction: Postdural Puncture Headache (PDPH), even though becoming uncommon, is still one of the distressing postoperative complications after spinal anaesthesia. The reports on the incidence of PDPH are inconsistent, being 2-40% with different sizes of needles. A previous study conducted by us in the winter months in non obstetric cases, found a low incidence of PDPH and authors had suggested that there is a need to examine the association between PDPH and different seasons. Aim: To find out the incidence of PDPH in obstetric population and any finding to differential incidence with different seasons. Materials and Methods: This study was a single centre clinical audit of lower segment caesarean cases under spinal anaesthesia with 25-gauge Quincke needle. The records of summer and winter months were separated as two groups for each year of 2019 and 2020. The cases done in the months of March, April and May formed the summer group, while the October, November and December patients formed the winter group. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups with regard to age (p-value=0.5). The incidence of PDPH was significantly higher in summer months than winter months in two consecutive years (p-value=0.0068). Fourteen out of 390 patients in the summer group and one out of 392 patients of the winter group suffered from PDPH overall. Conclusion: There should be an urgent need to control ambient temperature in patients at risk of PDPH. The optimisation of coincident dehydration is essential.