Damitha Asanga Gunawardane

BACKGROUND: Aerophagia is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder among children. The disease leads to symptoms related to air in the intestine leading to burping, abdominal distension, and excessive flatus. We aimed to perform a systematic review and a meta-analysis to assess the epidemiology of aerophagia in children. METHODS: We conducted a thorough electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Web of Science) search for all epidemiological surveys conducted in children on aerophagia. All selected studies were assessed for their scientific quality and the extracted data were pooled to create a pooled prevalence of aerophagia. RESULTS: The initial search identified 76 titles. After screening and in depth reviewing, 19 studies representing data from 21 countries with 40129 children and adolescents were included in the meta-analysis. All studies have used standard Rome definitions to diagnose aerophagia. The pooled prevalence of aerophagia was 3.66% (95% Confidence interval 2.44-5.12). There was significant heterogeneity between studies [I2 98.06% with 95% Confidence interval 97.70-98.37). There was no gender difference in prevalence of aerophagia in children. The pooled prevalence of aerophagia was highest in Asia (5.13%) compared to other geographical regions. CONCLUSION: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we found aerophagia has a significant prevalence across the world.

Heavy vehicle crash rates are high in Sri Lanka. International studies showed that fatigue and day time sleepiness are linked to heavy vehicle crashes. The aim of this study is to examine the level of fatigue, day time sleepiness and their associated factors among heavy vehicle drivers in Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in 403 heavy vehicle drivers through an interviewer administered structured questionnaire consisting of the ‘Fatigue Severity Scale’ (FFS) and the ‘Epworth Sleepiness Scale’ (ESS). The mean age of the study sample was 36.5±8.6 years and all were males. They drive an average of 129.03±87.24 km/day. It was found that the mean FFS score in the study participants was 2.43±0.99 and the mean ESS score was 6.57±4.07. Prevalence of fatigue (FSS score ?4) was 8.7% (n=35) and the prevalence of excessive day time sleepiness (EDS) (ESS score ?10) was 14.4% (n=58). Working for non-fixed schedule, married marital status, and working more than 11 hours/day are found to be significant risk factors for being fatigue. Drivers who were having night sleep of less than 6 hours were found to have a higher risk of EDS. A high prevalence of fatigue (8.7%) and EDS (14.4%) among heavy vehicle drivers was found which may link to heavy vehicle crashes. The occupational health service providers should be aware of the possibility of fatigue and daytime sleepiness in heavy vehicle drivers and its overall risk on the roads to take neces-sary actions.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v4i1.21832 South East Asia Journal of Public Health Vol.4(1) 2014: 9-16

Objectives: The main aim of this study was to describe the neonatal outcomes of term neonates following initial hospital discharge.Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study done among term neonates discharged from Teaching Hospital (TH) Kandy from 27th of March to 14th of May 2015. All the term neonates who delivered at term in the TH Kandy during the study period were included in the study. Study was conducted as a telephone survey.Results: Nearly half (46.79%) of the mothers sought medical advice for their neonates following hospital discharge during the neonatal period. Majority of the mothers who sought medical advice (71.06%) went to ordinary doctors while 28.43% consulted specialist doctors. All most all women (98.10%) exclusively breast fed their newborn baby. Four percent of the term neonates were hospitalized during the neonatal period and most common reasons for admission was breathing difficulty followed by yellow discoloration of the body. Considerable proportion (29.66%) of mothers stated that postnatal visits were not helpful for any of the six aspects of postnatal care questioned in the telephone interview. Postpartum visits had its highest impact on breastfeeding followed by maternal competence on recognizing danger signs. But post-partum visit had its least impact on keeping baby warm and dressing up of baby.Conclusion: Nearly half of the mothers seek medical advice for their neonates following hospital discharge during the neonatal period. One third of the mother stated that postnatal visits were not helpful for any of the six aspects of postnatal care studied. Postpartum visits had its highest impact on breastfeeding followed by maternal competence on recognizing danger signs while had its least impact on keeping baby warm and dressing up of baby.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.17(2) 2018 p.194-199

Sri Lanka Journal of Medicine is the official journal of the Kandy Society of Medicine. It is a peer-reviewed journal currently published biannually. Original articles, reviews, brief reports, case reports, points of view, and letters to the editor, in all fields of medical science and practice are accepted for publication.The Sri Lanka Journal of Medicine is now indexed in DOAJ

Background: Role (Work) stress impact not only on doctor’s health but also their ability to cope with their job demands or patient care. Organizational Role Stress (ORS), is the stress explained by the persons because of their role (job) in the organization. It has 10 dimension scores.Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the level organizational role stress, its associated factors and underline role stressors among all non-specialist medical officers working in the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya (THP).Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The data was collected by using self-administered ques­tionnaire, which includes Organizational Role Stress (ORS) Scale. All non-specialist medical officers (n=138) working in THP were considered as potential study participants.Results: The study includes 76 respondents (out of 138 doctors) from the different wards and units at THP. The majority were male (n-41, 53.9%) and married (n-59,77.6%). Mean ORS score was 65.5 (SD-32.04). The majority (n-39, 51.3%) of the doctors were having low-medium role stress (ORS score 51-100) and 35.5% had low role stress (ORS score 0-50). But 11.8% (n-9) and 1.3% (n-1) had high medium role stress (ORS score 101-150) and very high role stress level (ORS score 151-200). ORS levels were found to have, statistically significant relation­ships with marital statuses, age, years of experience and management level but not with the sex.Conclusions: Findings of this study revealed that doctors working at THP were suffering from medium to high levels of ORS and Inter Role Distance (IRD), Role Stagnation (RS), Role Overload (RO) and Personal Inadequacy (PI) were reported as the major role related problems among them. Role Ambiguity (RA) is found to be the least problematic role stressor among doctors. The finding of this study demands the attention of administrators and policymakers, to provide an attractive working climate in order to decrease the side effects and consequences of role stress and increase the productivity of the doctors.