title: Disease pattern in earthquake affected areas of Pakistan: data from Kaghan valley.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2005 northern parts of Pakistan were hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on rector scale. Fatima Memorial Hospital established a Primary Health care centre in village of Jared in Kaghan valley. The objective of the study was to find the pattern of different diseases presetting to health centre.
  
  
  METHODS
  All cases between August 2006 and December 2008 were included from the daily outpatient record of the centre. Data was analyses using SPSS-17. Frequency of different diseases and groups of diseases in different age groups, sexes and time of the year were the main outcome variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total number of patients was 22,122 with a mean age of 26 +/- 16 years. The number of female patients was 12,634 (57.1%) and males were 9,488 (42.9%). The single most common condition in the study period was viral upper respiratory tract infection (5,042, 23%), followed by Scabies (3,757, 17%), Acid Peptic Disease (3,157, 14.3%), Urinary Tract infection (1,197, 5.4%) and Hypertension (n = 933, 4.2%). There was a high number of young patients with urinary tract infection and hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Communicable diseases like viral respiratory tract infection and scabies were the most common infections. Acid peptic disease was the most common non-communicable medical problem. Except eye conditions, all diseases were more common in summer and rainy season.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, FMH College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan. sanasirshah@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Nasir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Minhaj Anwar
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Abro
authors.forename: Mairaj Anwar
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Abro
authors.forename: Asma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.forename: Hina
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010437:Peptic Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012532:Scabies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012621:Seasons; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*