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Introduction: A significant proportion of patients are being treated at hospitals in the government sector in Sri Lanka. Informal caregivers play a major role in taking care of hospitalized surgical patients while facing physical, social, and psychological challenges., Objective: To describe the socio-economic effects on informal caregivers of long-term hospitalized adult patients., Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 202 informal caregivers of long-term hospitalized patients in a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka, using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Sociodemographic assessment of both caregiver and care recipient, the health status of the care recipient, effects on social life, and economic aspect of informal caregiver were assessed., Results: Most of the caregivers were married (n=164, 81.2%), first degree relative of the care receiver (n=139, 68.8%), employed (n=115, 56.9%) and sole caregivers (n=130, 64.4%). Four out of 5 caregivers (n=181, 89.6%) showed moderate to severe socio-economic maladaptation. Increasing age (p=0.00), marital status (p=0.00) and sole caregiving (p=0.01) are significantly associated with the level of maladaptation., Conclusion: Moderate to severe levels of maladaptation is present among a substantial number of informal caregivers of long-term hospitalized patients. Sole caregiving is one of the contributing factors and can be addressed by adequate formal caregivers appointed by health care authorities or from voluntary services to minimize informal caregiver burnout.

Introduction: Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne disease in Sri Lanka, leading to more than 340 deaths during the last outbreak (˜35,000 reported cases) starting in mid April 2009. The predominant dengue virus serotypes during the last few years have been DENV-2 and DENV-3. Dengue infection in pregnancy carries the risk of hemorrhage for both the mother and the newborn. Other risks include premature birth, fetal death, and vertical transmission. We report clinical and laboratory findings and outcomes in pregnant women hospitalized with dengue infection during pregnancy., Methodology: Clinical, laboratory, maternal/fetal outcomes and demographic data were collected from patients with confirmed dengue infections during pregnancy treated at De Soysa Maternity Hospital, Sri Lanka from 1 May 2009 to 31 December 2009., Results:  Fifteen seropositive dengue infected pregnant women were diagnosed in the period. Multiorgan failure leading to intrauterine fetal and maternal death occurred in one case of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) IV. One patient with DHF III had a miscarriage at the 24th week of gestation. Perinatal outcomes of the other cases were satisfactory. One woman developed dengue myocarditis but recovered with supportive treatments. No cases of perinatal transmission to the neonate occurred., Conclusion: Dengue in pregnancy requires early diagnosis and treatment. A high index of clinical suspicion is essential in any pregnant woman with fever during epidemic. Further studies are mandatory as evidence-based data in the management of dengue specific for pregnancy are sparse.

Female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone have effects on seizure activity. Patterns of seizure exacerbations associated with the menstrual cycle have been described as catamenial epilepsy. This study was done to investigate the menstrual cycle related seizure occurrence among female epileptics using seizure-menstrual calendars and sex hormonal assays. Frequency and the patterns of seizure occurrence within the menstrual cycles were determined analyzing seizure-menstrual calendars. Luteal phase serum estradiol and progesterone were determined in those with menstrual cycle related seizure patterns to be compared with that of healthy women. Out of 349 epileptics, 6% showed occurrence of perimenstrual, periovulatory or perimenstrual+periovulatory seizure patterns on analysis of seizure-menstrual calendars. These women showed significantly higher luteal serum estradiol concentrations in comparison to age-matched healthy volunteers. There was no significant difference in the luteal serum progesterone concentrations. This study showed menstrual cycle related patterns of seizure occurrence in a minority of Sri Lankan epileptic women, similar to catamenial epilepsy patterns described by previous studies. These seizure patterns may be due to altered hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis function playing a role in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. We suggest the importance of maintaining seizure-menstrual calendars and hormonal studies in all epileptic women to establish the role of hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis in epilepsy and to achieve efficient control of epilepsy in women of childbearing age.

The goal of antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy is to achieve a seizure-free state and eliminate the medical and psychosocial risks of recurrent seizures. Burden of epilepsy on the economy of a country may be largely due to the expenditure on AEDs. The adverse effects may influence the compliance to AEDs and effective control of epilepsy. We determined the pattern of AED use, the degree of epileptic control achieved and the adverse effects experienced by the epileptics in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Sri Lanka. Carbamazepine was found to be the most frequently used AED. Monotherapy was used on 70.8% of subjects. 86.27% of the study sample had achieved effective control of epilepsy with a 50% or more reduction in seizure frequency. Of them 72.64% were on monotherapy and they were either on carbamazepine, sodium valproate, phenytoin sodium or phenobarbitone. None of the new AEDs were prescribed to these patients. 50.9% on monotherapy and 51.5% on polytherapy reported adverse effects. Somnolence followed by headache was found to be the most frequently reported adverse effects by those on monotherapy and polytherapy both. This study shows that most epileptics can be effectively managed with the conventional AEDs with clinical monitoring.