PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C A Herath

Publications and source records attributed to C A Herath.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

Recent aspects of alcoholism in Sri Lanka--an increasing health hazard.

Eighty-five patients (81 males and 4 females) with significant alcoholic histories were studied. Alcohol misuse was directly or indirectly responsible for about 5-10% of hospital admissions in Sri Lanka. Prevalence of alcoholism in patients below 40 years (43% of cases) or with a strong family history (56% of cases) were demographic features simulating trends in developed nations. Although rarely an occupational hazard, the majority in this lower socio-economic group drank illicitly-manufactured brews with high alcohol content while many consumed a mixture of beverages. Lone drinkers were predominant (86%); features of psychological interest were sleep disturbance (64%), emotional problems (42%) and loneliness (34%); domestic problems (36%), social problems (24%) and financial problems (34%) were also noted. Many such factors, either singly or in combination, initiated or perpetuated the drinking habits of the patients. Drug misuse and suicidal tendencies were not observed. Severe hepatic damage was noted in 63% of 42 patients where the histology was demonstrated, and who usually presented with significant hepatomegaly; about 50% of patients below the age of 40 had hepatic damage of a serious or irreversible nature. Direct toxicity of ethanol, toxic contamination during the preparation of illicit brews and nutritional factors appear pertinent to hepatic damage in developing nations. Nutritional factors may cause variations in relation to abnormalities in liver function tests and also liver size among the population studied when compared to findings from the western world.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Zinc and vitamin A status of alcoholics in a medical unit in Sri Lanka.

Zinc and vitamin A concentrations in the serum were measured in 40 alcoholics (33 males and 7 females) and 35 healthy, age-matched subjects (31 males, 4 females). Liver zinc concentrations were measured in 15 alcoholics from specimens collected by liver biopsy and compared with the zinc concentrations in liver specimens taken at autopsy from victims of road-traffic accidents. Alcoholics had significantly lower serum concentrations of both zinc and vitamin A compared to the control group of healthy subjects. The depression of zinc and vitamin A levels was related to the severity of the hepatic lesions, the lowest levels being observed among cirrhotics. Liver zinc concentrations were similar in alcoholics and healthy subjects and were not related to plasma zinc concentrations. Serum zinc and vitamin A levels were positively correlated among cirrhotics, but not in other alcoholics or controls. Thus low levels of vitamin A in cirrhotics may have arisen as a result of impaired mobilisation from the liver due to zinc deficiency, or to non-availability of hepatic zinc. Female alcoholics were more severely affected than males with respect to their zinc and vitamin A levels, although they consumed lesser amounts of alcohol and had a shorter duration of alcohol intake. A strong positive relationship existed between zinc and albumin levels in all alcoholics but not in controls. It is possible that the decreased serum albumin levels may have limited the availability of albumin for the transport of zinc in the plasma and this in turn may have resulted in increased urinary excretion of zinc.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗