Papers by Sanath Mahawithanage
Availability and cost of medicines for treatment of non-communicable diseases in private sector drug outlets in Sri Lanka
Poster Presentation Abstract (PP22), 119th Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Associat... more Poster Presentation Abstract (PP22), 119th Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2006 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Impact of childhood malaria in Sri Lanka
Poster Presentation Abstract (PP21), 119th Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Associat... more Poster Presentation Abstract (PP21), 119th Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2006 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition, 2007
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of Vitamin A supplementation on health st... more The objective of this study was to determine the impact of Vitamin A supplementation on health status and absenteeism of school children. A randomized double blind placebo controlled trial over a period of 13 months was conducted in a rural area of Sri Lanka involving 613 school children attending Grades 1-5 (aged 5 to 13 years). Children were assigned to either 200,000 IU of Vitamin A (n=297) or placebo (n=316) once every 4 months. Socio-demographic data were obtained at baseline, and anthropometry and haemoglobin concentrations were assessed at baseline and post intervention. Serum vitamin A concentrations were assayed by HPLC in a subgroup of children (n=193) before administration of each dose. School absenteeism was recorded. The two groups of children were similar at baseline in all variables. The subgroup of children was comparable to the main study population. The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (< 20 microg/dL) in the subgroup of children was 8.2%. Changes in anthropom...
The Southeast Asian journal of tropical medicine and public health, 2002
Stratification of malaria endemic areas on eco-epidemiological criteria is an important step in p... more Stratification of malaria endemic areas on eco-epidemiological criteria is an important step in planning and implementing malaria control programs. The uses of stratification of malaria endemic areas lead to better targeting of control measures such as residual insecticide spraying in countries where unstable malaria transmission occur. In this study, two methods that can be used for stratification of malaria endemic areas in Sri Lanka using routinely collected surveillance data over a period of 9 years are described. In the first method, the median Annual Parasite Incidence (API) was used as the criterion to classify an area as at risk for malaria while in the second method, the API and the Falciparum Rate (FR) were used as the criteria. Risk maps were produced by plotting the results of the analyses on maps generated by EPIMAP. The potential uses of risk maps are discussed.
Prevalence of osteoporosis in a sample of Sri Lankan urban population
Oral Presentation Abstract (OP39), 121st Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Associatio... more Oral Presentation Abstract (OP39), 121st Annual Scientific Sessions, Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2008 Colombo, Sri Lanka
British Journal of Nutrition, 2007
The Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka commenced a vitamin A supplementation programme of school chi... more The Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka commenced a vitamin A supplementation programme of school children with a megadose of 105 μmol (100 000 IU) vitamin A in school years 1, 4 and 7 (approximately 5-, 9- and 12-year-olds, respectively) in 2001. We evaluated the vitamin A supplementation programme of school children in a rural area of Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was conducted among children supplemented with an oral megadose of vitamin A (105 μmol; n 452) and children not supplemented (controls; n 294) in Grades 1–5. Children were clinically examined and a sample of blood was taken for serum vitamin A concentration estimation by HPLC. Socio-demographic information was obtained from children or mothers. Supplemented children had a higher proportion of males and stunted children, were younger and lived under poorer conditions as compared to controls. There was no difference in the prevalences of eye signs and symptoms of vitamin A deficiency in the two groups. Supplemented childr...
Use of GIS for spatially targeted interventions to control child malnutrition at district level
BMC Nephrology, 2020
Background This article describes the analysis and interpretation of data relating to the presenc... more Background This article describes the analysis and interpretation of data relating to the presence of cadmium, lead, mercury and fluoride in human bone samples obtained from cadavers of patients dying of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain aetiology (CKDu) in a case-control study, which the authors believe to be the first in Sri Lanka. Methods This is a case-control study comparing selected nephrotoxins levels in autopsy samples of bones from persons confirmed to have died of CKDu, and who had lived in a CKDu hotspot and controls with no history of abnormal kidney functions who had lived in areas having a low prevalence of CKDu. Results The average age at death of the cases was 59.6 ± 15.1 (±SD), while that for controls was 58.0 ± 19.3 (±SD) years with no significant statistical difference. Calcium adjusted bone lead and bone fluoride levels were significantly higher among CKDu cases (n = 14) than those of controls (n = 33). Further, younger and older clusters of CKDu cases can be d...
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Papers by Sanath Mahawithanage