Journal/Magazine Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/13
This collection contains original research articles, review articles and case reports published in local and international peer reviewed journals by the staff members of the Faculty of Medicine
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Item Sri Lankan medical officers’ attitudes towards the elderly: a pilot study(Postgraduate Institute of Medicine University of Colombo, 2022) Fernando, R.; Ratnayake, G.; Liyanage, N.; Fonseka, M.; Perera, I.; Kuruppuarachchi, K.A.L.A.; Hapangama, A.Ageism among doctors influences treatment options and care of the elderly. Attitudes of Sri Lankan doctors towards the elderly have not been studied previously. This descriptive cross-sectional study using Fraboni’s scale of ageism explored doctors' attitudes towards older people in three selected hospitals in Sri Lanka and the relationship of such attitudes with demographic, employment, education and training-related factors. No association between the attitude of doctors toward the elderly and the factors studied in this pilot study were found.Item A Community based intervention for managing hypertension in rural South Asia(Massachusetts Medical Society., 2020) Jafar, T. H.; Gandhi, M.; de Silva, H.A.; Jehan, I.; Naheed, A.; Finkelstein, E.A.; Turner, E.L.; Morisky, D.; Kasturiratne, A.; Khan, A.H.; Clemens, J.D.; Ebrahim, S.; Assam, P.N.; Feng, L.; COBRA-BPS Study Group.(Luke, N., de Silva, .C, Perera, M., Ranasinha, C.,Ediriweera, D)BACKGROUND: The burden of hypertension is escalating, and control rates are poor in low- and middle-income countries. Cardiovascular mortality is high in rural areas. METHODS: We conducted a cluster-randomized, controlled trial in rural districts in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. A total of 30 communities were randomly assigned to either a multicomponent intervention (intervention group) or usual care (control group). The intervention involved home visits by trained government community health workers for blood-pressure monitoring and counseling, training of physicians, and care coordination in the public sector. A total of 2645 adults with hypertension were enrolled. The primary outcome was reduction in systolic blood pressure at 24 months. Follow-up at 24 months was completed for more than 90% of the participants. RESULTS: At baseline, the mean systolic blood pressure was 146.7 mm Hg in the intervention group and 144.7 mm Hg in the control group. At 24 months, the mean systolic blood pressure fell by 9.0 mm Hg in the intervention group and by 3.9 mm Hg in the control group; the mean reduction was 5.2 mm Hg greater with the intervention (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2 to 7.1; P<0.001). The mean reduction in diastolic blood pressure was 2.8 mm Hg greater in the intervention group than in the control group (95% CI, 1.7 to 3.9). Blood-pressure control (<140/90 mm Hg) was achieved in 53.2% of the participants in the intervention group, as compared with 43.7% of those in the control group (relative risk, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.35). All-cause mortality was 2.9% in the intervention group and 4.3% in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: In rural communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, a multicomponent intervention that was centered on proactive home visits by trained government community health workers who were linked with existing public health care infrastructure led to a greater reduction in blood pressure than usual care among adults with hypertension. (Funded by the Joint Global Health Trials scheme; COBRA-BPS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02657746.).Item Elderly victims dying of unnatural causes: a retrospective descriptive study from Ragama, Sri Lanka(Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at University of Peradeniya, 2018) Kitulwatte, I.D.G.; Paranavithana, S.S.; Perera, A.A.B.S.; Edirisinghe, P.A.S.Even though life expectancy among the elderly has been improving health hazards due to unnatural causes are a significant medical and social issue among this group. The objective was to determine the causes and epidemiological aspects of unnatural deaths in the elderly. A retrospective descriptive study conducted for a period of 3 years, at a tertiary care hospital of Sri Lanka where information was collected from hospital records and post mortem reports of persons above 60 years of age, who died due to unnatural causes revealed that a majority of deaths were due to road traffic accidents of pedestrians.