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The purpose of the present research was to understand whether child marriage is a determinant of depression in women. In order to measure the level of depression the Siddiqui-Shah Depression Scale (1992) was administered on a sample of 60 married women out of which 30 were married before the age of 18, and the remaining 30 were married after 18 years of age. All these women belonged to the middle socio-economic class of Karachi. The age range of the participants was between 18 to 40 years with a minimum of one year of marriage to a maximum of 20 years. The average age of the participants at the time of marriage was calculated to be 18.8 years and each participant had an average of 2 kids. For statistical analysis of the data the t-test was calculated and the results obtained were found to be non-significant which explained that child marriage is not a determinant of depression in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many scoring systems have been developed for the purpose of estimating of mortality and outcomes in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the utility of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Society (WFNS) classification, which is routinely used in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage, has never been specifically assessed in ICH., Methods: A retrospective review of the records of consecutive ICH patients admitted over a 2-year period was carried out. Collected data included ICH size, location, intraventricular hemorrhage, age, admission Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and outcomes on discharge. Linear regression was performed to confirm correlations of the WFNS scale and the ICH score separately with good outcome, poor outcome, and in-hospital mortality. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to plot WFNS and ICH scores each in relation to in-hospital mortality and poor outcome. Accuracy was estimated by calculating the area under the curves (AUC)., Results: In this study, 128 patients were included. The overall mortality rate was 34.4%. Linear regression showed appropriate fit for both the ICH Score and the WFNS in relation to poor outcome and mortality. The ROC curves for the scales in relation to in-hospital death produced an AUC estimate 0.93 for WFNS and 0.92 for the ICH Score (p = 0.81). For poor outcome, the AUC values were 0.91 and 0.90 for the WFNS and the ICH Score, respectively (p = 0.9). For good outcome, the AUC for WFNS was 0.86 and for the ICH score, 0.85 (p = 0.74)., Conclusion: The WFNS classification is as accurate as the ICH score in predicting discharge outcomes and in-hospital mortality. It is a simple clinical scale that can be used to predict outcomes in both ICH and subarachnoid hemorrhage patients.

Objective: To investigate the effect of malarial infection during pregnancy on the newborn., Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi, using in-patient hospital records over an 11-year period from 1988 to 1999. The incidence of preterm delivery, low birth weight (LBW) and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in 29 pregnant women with malaria, was compared with that in 66 selected pregnant women without malaria, who delivered at the AKUH during the same time period., Results: Pregnant women with malaria had a 3.1 times greater risk of preterm labor (p=0.14). They were more likely to be anaemic compared to women without malaria (RR=2.9, 95% CI=1.6-5.4) and had a significantly lower mean haemoglobin level (p=0.0001). Maternal malaria was significantly associated with LBW babies (p=0.001). The mean birth weight of infants born to pregnant women with malaria was 461 g less (p=0.0005). No significant association was, however, found between malarial infection during pregnancy and IUGR (p=0.33)., Conclusion: Malarial infection during pregnancy is associated with poor maternal and fetal outcome. It is significantly associated with maternal anaemia and LBW infants. Appropriate measures must, therefore, be taken to prevent malaria during pregnancy, especially in endemic areas.