Objective: Pregnancy and depression affect each other. The main objective of our study was to find out frequency of antenatal depression during last trimester and associated risk factors among pregnant female visiting a tertiary care private institution of Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: This study was conducted at Shalamar Hospital a private tertiary care institution of Lahore during May 2017 to June 2018. Assuming 18% prevalence with design effect 1.5 and 97% confidence interval the calculated sample size was 417. To avoid dropouts the questionnaire was administered to 450 pregnant females in their last trimester that is with gestational age above 28 weeks. In this study we used a modified version of Goldberg’s depression scale in Urdu language for data collection. Wherever needed the data collection team read out aloud the questionnaire to the participants who did not know how to read and write. Informed consent in a written form (in Urdu language) was taken from every study participant after explaining the participants about the research. If the participant did not know how to read and write, the interviewers narrated out aloud the script of informed consent for them and got it signed later by the participants. The confidentiality, anonymity and privacy of the study participants were preserved. Ethical approval of this study was obtained from Institutional Review Board of Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences. Data entry and analysis was finalized by using SPSS version 20. Results: The prevalence of depression among women seeking antenatal care during their last trimester according to Goldberg Depression Scale was 40.89% (n=184).Whereas, 30.4% (n=137), 8.67% (n=39) and 1.78% (n=8) suffered from mild, moderate and severe depression respectively. The associations between passive smoking (p < 0.01), family history of preeclampsia (p < 0.05) and depression among family members (p < 0.05) with antenatal depression during last trimester were significant. Conclusion: According to Goldberg Depression Scale, 40.89% (n=184) of pregnant women seeking antenatal care in private tertiary care institution of Lahore suffered from depression. How to cite this:Sabir M, Nagi MLF, Kazmi TH. Prevalence of antenatal depression among women receiving antenatal care during last trimester of pregnancy in a tertiary care private institute of Lahore. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(2):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.2.649 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Background: Noncommunicable diseases are increasing in Pakistan and are responsible for 58% of all deaths. Information is lacking for the risks factors of these diseases in Pakistan. Aims: To determine the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and abnormal heart rate and their risk factors in a multiethnic, low-income area of Lahore. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in an urban settlement of Lahore in September 2018–2019. Eligible participants were aged ≥ 30 years and resident in the settlements selected. We used a modified World Health Organization STEPS questionnaire to collect data from a random sample of 906 residents. The modified questionnaire had a Cronbach alpha of 80.0%. Participants were interviewed in their homes and their height, weight, heart rate and hip circumference were measured. Results: Most of the respondents were women (64.5%). The greatest proportion of the participants were aged 30–39 years (42.4%). Of all the respondents, 40.1% had hypertension, 15.8% had diabetes and 17.0% had ischaemic heart disease. Of the risk factors examined, 68.8% of the respondents were overweight or obese, 37.0% had pre-hypertension, 13.6% used tobacco and 1.8% used alcohol. Age was the most significant risk factor for noncommunicable diseases. Body mass index was significantly associated with diabetes in women, while family history of diabetes was significantly associated with diabetes in men. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes was higher in our sample in Lahore compared with the national statistics. Significant proportions of our respondents had pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes making them vulnerable to serious complications of hypertension and diabetes.

Introduction There are several factors such as physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle, and diet that can be responsible for weight gain or obesity. Regular physical activity is important for better physical and emotional well-being. The objective of the study is to observe the prevalence of obesity or over-weight and how lack of physical activity contributes to weight gain and other health issues. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in Shalamar Town, Lahore on 646 participants. Data was collected using the WHO STEPS instrument. The inclusion criteria were a minimum age of 30 years and residents of Shalimar Town, Lahore for more than five years. The exclusion criteria were participants with comorbid conditions like HIV, TB, and terminal stage of cancer. Test of association and binary logistic regression analysis was performed to observe a significant association between demographic variables and non-communicable diseases among the participants involved in performing physical exercise. Results About 22.1% of the participants had normal BMI, 5.3% were underweight whereas 34.2% of the participants were overweight and 32.4% obese. Male participants were found to be more physically active compared to females. Hypertension and diabetes were statistically significantly associated with physical activity. BMI and waist-hip ratio were found to be associated with moderate physical exercise. Conclusion Most of the participants were not involved in moderate physical activity. Overall, an alarming 66.6% of the participants were either overweight or obese. In general, males were found to participate more in intense physical activity.

Introduction: Dyslipidemia refers to the presence of abnormalities in lipid parameters. It has become a global issue with a high risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The aim of the investigation was to find out the pattern and prevalence of dyslipidemia among patients with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected using convenient sampling from 101 patients presenting with ACS, admitted at the critical care unit (CCU) / Rasheeda Begum Cardiac Centre (RBCC) of Shalamar Hospital, during a 12-month period from January 2020 to December 2021. Dyslipidemia is diagnosed by testing the lipid profile when there are one or more abnormal readings of the lipid profile.Results: Nearly 43 (42.6%) had ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 27 (26.7%) had non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and 31 (30.7%) were categorized as unstable angina (USA). Overall dyslipidemia was present in 84 (83.2%) patients. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 55 (65%) in male patients and 29 (34.5%) in female patients. Dyslipidemia was present in 39 (90.7%) patients with STEMI, 25 (80.6%) in the USA, and 20 (74.1%) with NSTEMI. Conclusion:The prevalence of dyslipidemia was quite high among ACS patients. The proportion of obese patients was also high in our study. However, dyslipidemia was more frequent in overweight patients.

Introduction: Breast feeding provides complete and balanced nutrition to the baby. The survey done in 1995 by health ministry, Pakistan reported that although 94 % of the children were ever breastfed, only less than 16 % of the children were exclusively breastfed. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding breastfeeding among undergraduate students of medical colleges of Karachi. Materials and Methods: Data Source: Female medical students from Clinical and preclinical years. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Liaquat National Medical College (LNMC) and Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences (SSCMS), Karachi. Period of study: 3 months. Material and Methods: Total 222 female students filled a multiple choice semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Out of total 222 female students 32.9% were in pre-clinical group while 67.1% were in clinical group. It was observed that educational level of the student was strongly associated with the knowledge regarding initiation of breastfeeding and age till which exclusive breastfeeding should be continued (p=0.000). Clinical group had more knowledge regarding colostrums as compare to the pre-clinical group (p=0.000). Conclusions: A significant difference was found between preclinical and clinical students regarding the knowledge of breastfeeding. In this study most students were from clinical level of undergraduate medical education which made them more aware regarding the significance of breastfeeding.