Singap Med J
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One hundred and fourteen patients with scabies admitted to a dermatological ward between 1982 and 1989 were studied retrospectively. There was a change in the epidemiological pattern over the eight-year period. We noticed an increase of two to three fold in the incidence of in-patients with scabies. ⋯ There was also a change in the racial distribution of scabies from a Malay predominance to a Chinese predominance. We also noticed a change in the residential status of these patients; more patients admitted towards the end of the decade came from institutional homes. The changing epidemiological pattern brought with it new problems both in diagnosis and in the prevention of scabies.
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A study of 233 neonatal deaths out of 30910 livebirths over an 8 year period in the Toa Payoh Hospital is done. The Hospital has since ceased providing obstetric and neonatal intensive services from April 1990 due to restructuring of hospital care. The Neonatal Mortality Rates (NNMR) from 1982-1989 ranged from 6.52 to 9.55 and there was no significant fall in trend (p = 0.13). ⋯ Improvement in VLBW and RDS management has not contributed to a significant decline in NNMR. It is observed that more VLBW babies were born during this 8 year period (p = 0.01) especially so in the less than 1000 gm group (p = 0.0005) and the survival of VLBW babies has improved (45.5% to 75.8% alive) as a result of advances in neonatal intensive care. The reasons for increase in incidence of VLBW births in the past few years are not known.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)