Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item Adolescent sexual practices and contraceptive usage(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya & Plan International, 2008) Herath, H.M.R.P.; Dissanayake, D.M.A.B.; Hilmi, M.A.M.; Pathmeswaran, A.; Wijesinghe, P.S.INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is a critical period of development, as adoption of unhealthy risk behaviours such as unprotected sex, smoking and drug abuse, avoiding contraceptive methods will lead to long standing health and socioeconomic consequences. Therefore information is needed about the sexual practices and contraceptive usage of adolescents and young adults to develop interventions in the community. This study was undertaken to describe and compare the sexual practices, knowledge and usage of contraceptives by adolescents and young adults in selected urban and rural settings.METHOD: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among young adults aged less than 21 years at the time of interview in three settings in both rural and urban areas. The study subjects were students from universities, technical colleges and garment factory workers representing both rural and urban areas. The data was collected using a pretested self administered questionnaire during June 2007 to August 2007. Information collected included marital status, gender and the level of education, first sexual relationship (age, partner, contraception used), current contraceptive practices and knowledge about contraceptive methods. The data was analysed using SPSS 10.1 statistical package. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. RESULTS : There were a total of 1258 subjects who had returned the completed questionnaires. Out of them there were 290 garment factory employees, 480 technical college students, and 488 university students. The percentage of females was 58.9%. The mean ages of the males and the females of the total population were 20.75(50 1.13) years and 20.55(SD 1.63) and it was similar in the three settings. The level of education was highest among the undergraduates lowest among garment factory workers. Out of the population 303 (24.1%) were sexually active. It was significantly higher among males {33.5%0 than females (17.0%). Both among male and females this trend was significantly more common among garment factory workers. Sexual activity of the unmarried and the premarital sexual practices of married subjects are shown in the table. 6. 17% of females and 33.5% of males were sexually active before marriage. 90% male garment factory workers were sexually active. In contrast the proportionItem A study on adolescent sexual & violent behaviour, drugs & alcohol abuse and its relationship to the past experiences(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya & Plan International, 2008) Mettananda, D.S.G.; de Silva, D.G.H.; Jayasinghe, Y.C.; Waduge, T.R.W.; Pathmeswaran, A.; Abeysinghe, A.P.S.D.Item Prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections and their relationship to injectable drug use in a cohort of Sri Lankan prison inmates(Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2015) Niriella, M.A.; Hapangama, A.; Luke, H.P.D.P.; Pathmeswaran, A.; Kuruppuarachchi, K.A.L.A.; de Silva, H.J.INTRODUCTION: Prisoners are considered to be at high risk for Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) virus infections. This is attributed to intravenous drug use and high-risk sexual behaviour. There are no published studies on HBV and HCV among prison inmates or injecting drug users in Sri Lanka. OBJECTIVES: To determine prevalence of HBV and HCV infections, and their relationship to injectable drug use among Sri Lankan prisoners. METHODS: We investigated 393 (median age 42 years (range 16 to 93); 82% males) randomly selected inmates of Mahara and Welikada prisons. RESULTS: Though 167 (42.5%) admitted drug abuse, only 17 (4.3%) had ever used intravenous drugs. Twelve (70.6%) of them reported sharing needles. One inmate was positive for HBsAg but was negative for HBV-DNA. Twenty seven (6.9%) were positive for anti-HCV antibodies, of whom only 2 (0.5%) were positive for HCV-RNA. None of the injecting drug users were positive for HBV-DNA or HCV-RNA. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HBV and HCV infections as well as injecting drug use was very low among this cohort of Sri Lankan prisoninmates