Clinical picture of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Aim: Study of the clinical presentation and laboratory data of type 1 diabetes in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: The medical records of all affected children during the period 1986-1997 were reviewed for the analysis of clinical and laboratory data.

Results: Type 1 diabetes was diagnosed in 46 children, 27 girls and 19 boys, with a mean age at diagnosis of 9.

Symptomatic rickets in adolescence.

Aim: To describe 21 cases of symptomatic rickets in adolescents.

Methods: The setting was a primary and secondary care hospital in Saudi Arabia providing medical care to Saudi Arab company employees and their families. Cases of symptomatic rickets diagnosed between January 1996 and December 1997 in adolescents aged 10 to 15 years were assessed with respect to clinical presentation, biochemical and radiological evaluation, dietary assessment, and estimation of sun exposure.

Heart disease in infants of diabetic mothers.

Congenital anomalies occur more commonly in infants born to diabetic mothers, and cardiac defects predominate. Although respiratory problems are also frequently found in those infants, they need to be differentiated from cardiovascular problems that such patients may also have, which include cardiovascular maladaptation to extra-uterine life, congenital heart defects and hypertrophic septal cardiomyopathy. A high index of suspicion is required as the specific management may vary and digoxin, or inotropic agents which may be used in heart failure associated with structural heart defects are contraindicated if hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is present.

A twelve year study of the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Objective: Study of the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Analysis included all children eligible for care in our hospital who had type 1 diabetes diagnosed before their 15th birthday between 1986 and 1997.

Results: A total of 46 children (27 girls and 19 boys) were identified, with a median age at diagnosis of 10.

Feeding problems with the first feed in neonates with meconium-stained amniotic fluid.

Objective: To compare the incidence of feeding problems at the first feed between neonates born with meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) and those born without MSAF.

Design: A prospective observational study conducted over a one-year period.

Setting: A level 2 neonatal unit.

Is gastric lavage needed in neonates with meconium-stained amniotic fluid?

Unlabelled: We compared the incidence of complications from meconium-containing gastric fluid in a group of neonates born with meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) who did not routinely have gastric lavage prior to feeds, versus a group who had elective gastric lavage before the first feed. In the first group, 275 neonates born with MSAF were fed without prior gastric lavage. While 13 developed feeding problems, the other 262 infants (95%) who did not undergo routine gastric lavage remained free of later feeding difficulties or secondary meconium aspiration.

Neonatal circumcision: when can infants reliably be expected to void?

Objective: Analysis of factors influencing voiding after neonatal circumcision.

Design: Prospective study of the following factors in 200 circumcised infants: birth weight, gestational and postnatal age, type and timing of feeding before the procedure, and timing of last voiding before circumcision.

Results: There was no significant difference in the age when circumcision was performed between breastfed infants (6 and 60 hours) and in those formula-fed (8 and 130 hours).

High incidence of Down's syndrome in infants of diabetic mothers.

The incidence of Down's syndrome was studied in 1870 infants of diabetic mothers out of 22,300 neonates born between January 1987 and April 1994 in our institution. All pregnancies were screened for diabetes and all cases of Down's syndrome were confirmed by chromosome analysis. Down's syndrome (all trisomy 21) was diagnosed in 35 infants: seven were born to mothers with gestational diabetes and 28 to non-diabetic mothers.

Gestational and pre-gestational diabetes: comparison of maternal and fetal characteristics and outcome.

Objective: To determine the incidence of antenatal and intrapartum maternal and fetal complications of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and compare them with pre-gestational diabetes mellitus (pre-GDM) and non-diabetic pregnancies in our population.

Study Design: Nine-hundred and seventy-two women with gestational diabetes mellitus and 71 women with pre-gestational diabetes mellitus, and their offspring (delivered in our hospital between January 1991 and April 1994) were studied. Maternal and fetal prenatal and intrapartum complications were analyzed.

Congenital hypothyroidism screening program: A five-year experience at Saudi ARAMCO Al Hasa Health Center.

We report the results of a five-year study of cord blood screening for congenital hypothyroidism in a genetically homegenous population in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism was 1/5061 and is compared to other reports. The prevalence of dyshormonogenesis was 1/7592, higher than in other reports.

Infective endocarditis in children. A seven-year experience.

Eighteen children with infective endocarditis were detected over seven years. Fever, gastrointestinal and chest symptoms were striking features. Anaemia, elevated leukocyte count and sedimentation rate were constant laboratory findings.

Transient primary hypothyroidism in prematures.

Twelve sick neonates, ten of whom were prematures, were found to have transient primary hypothyroidism. Two months after cessation of treatment all those followed were found to be clinically and biochemically euthyroid. The possible etiologic factors in the pathogenesis of transient hypothyroidism of the sick prematures are discussed.