Factors Influencing The Pattern Of Self-Medication In An Adult Nigerian Population

Background: Despite the growing research interest in self-medication, little information has been available about its major determinants especially in developing countries. This informed the conduct of this study to determine the major factors that influence the pattern of self medication in a population of market women in Ifako-Ijaiye area of Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: Interviewer administered pretested semistructured questionnaire was used to collect data from 205 market women selected by multistage sampling technique. Results: The patent medicine dealers were the commonest source of information on medications (31.4%) and where they were obtained (52.2%). The exceptions were the educated (62.5%) respondents who obtained theirs from hospitals and pharmacies. Trade and generic names (61.1%) were common means of drug recognition especially among the educated respondents (P < .05). Education of the respondents was the major factor influencing the practice of self-medication though the pattern was descriptively associated with the marital status and educational level of the respondents (P < .05). Benefits of the practice includes in the order: curing of ailments (58.0%), saving time and money (32.0%) and independence of care (7.0%). Conclusion: Literacy and public health education were the major factors influencing the pattern of selfmedication among market women. Recommendations on the role of education of market women, patent medicine dealers and the importance of community pharmacy were suggested. Keywords: Factors; pattern; self-medication; market women; Nigeria Annals of African Medicine Vol. 7 (3) 2008: pp. 120-12

The pattern of medical mortalities in a specialist hospital in north-central Nigeria.

Background: Review of causes of morbidity and mortality in health care facilities is an important exercise which gives a picture of the prevailing disease pattern in the particular community and at the same time looks out for any change in the disease pattern over time. This exercise is a necessary component for planning of the health care needs of the community. Objective: To determine the mortality pattern on the medical wards of the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, a tertiary center located in Lokoja, North-Central Nigeria. Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of all patients admitted to the medical wards of the hospital over a period of 18 months (December 2008 &ndash; May 2010) was carried out. The information recorded from these sources included the age and gender, diagnosis/cause of death and the duration of admission. Results: A total of six hundred and eighty-four patients were admitted during the period being studied with a predominance of female patients (Female: Male Ratio = 1.07). There were seventy-six deaths (11.1%) during the period in question with HIV and related &gt;complications accounting for most recorded mortality (32.9%) closely followed by non-communicable cardiovascular conditions (hypertension, heart failure and CVD) &ndash; 28.9%. Conclusion: This study clearly shows that HIV infection and its complications remains the leading cause of death despite the advent of HAART. Clearly there is a need to revisit the strategies of HIV prevention and control. Also there is an urgent need to focus on the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.Keywords: Mortality pattern, causes, medical wards, Nigeri

Improving Employability Skills Through a Web-Based Work Integrated Learning Database for Construction Students

Employability and Unemployment continues to be dire issues that Nigerian youth are faced with daily in a saturated employment market. Whereas, the use of workintegrated learning can help bridge the gap by increasing employability skills among students. The study examined the benefits of having a work-integrated learning (WIL) program for students in the construction field. Therefore, the study developed a framework for improving employability skills through a web-based work integrated learning database for construction students. Using a system block diagram, use case diagram and activity diagram, the study illustrated the functional requirement needed for the development of the WIL platform. The WIL platform is a web-based system pooling submission of available WIL positions from employers in construction businesses and former WIL students in order for prospective WIL students to access possible openings where they can learn in a workplace environment. The methodology of this research includes using the combination of HTML, CSS and the C-Sharp programming language for the interface design and server side scripting while MySQL was the database platform used for storing and retrieving the data used for the application. In conclusion, the study designed a WIL platform for construction students. The use of the WIL platform is intended to encourage employability of construction students by ensuring that they are adequately engaged in a work place training

Intussusception and volvulus secondary to jejunal adenocarcinoma in an adult Nigerian male: A case report

A31 year-old Nigerian man with jejuno-jejunal intussusception with the lead point being an adenocarcinoma complicated by small intestinal volvulus is presented. The subtle clinical features of an underlying small bowel malignancy were masked by the overwhelming clinical and radiological features of intussusception. This rare case is reported to remind clinicians to have an increased index of suspicion of malignancy in patients who present with the usual features of chronic anemia, weight loss and loss of appetite with an intra-abdominal mass. The presentation of acute intestinal obstruction, with mesenteric vein thrombosis probably due to intussusception or volvulus should not however lower the suspicion. Histological evaluation of surgical biopsies is of immense importance

Correlation of Serum Anti-Helicobacter pylori Immunoglobulin A (IGA) with Histological Parameters of Chronic Gastritis in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: The seroprevalence of anti-H. pylori IgA antibodies has been reported to vary among populations and in relation to strains of Helicobacter pylori bacterium. However, there has been conflicting reports on the association between IgA serological status and the histological variables of chronic gastritis. This study was therefore conducted to clarify this relationship.Method : Using an ELISA based commercial kit, anti-H. pylori IgA antibodytests were performed on 65 dyspeptic patients and 65 age- and&#160; ex-matched controls. The gastric biopsies of these patients were also examined histologically for the degrees of inflammation, activity, intestinal metaplasia and atrophy. The CagA status of the patients had been determined previously.Results: There was an anti-H. pylori IgA antibody prevalence of 67.7% in dyspeptics and 56.9% in non-dyspeptic individuals. No correlations were observed between serum H. pylori IgA antibody and the graded parameters of chronic gastritis in dyspeptic patients, although twice more patients withmild gastric inflammation were found among IgA positive than among IgA negative patients. However, a statistically significant relationship was established between serum IgA positivity and the CagA status of the patients (p = 0.028).Conclusion: The seroprevalence of anti-H. pylori IgA antibody is high inour environment. Serum IgA status may be associated with milder degreesof gastritis in our patients but a larger cohort of patients is needed to confirm this. There seems to be a good agreement between serum IgA and CagA statuses among dyspeptic patients

Self medication amongst general outpatients in a Nigerian community hospital

Aim: This study was designed to determine the proportion of general out patients who practice self medication, the drugs employed and the reasons for resorting to self medication. Methodology: This study was conducted between June and December, 2007 at the General Outpatient Clinic of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Two hundred consenting respondents were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed with the aid of semi structured questionnaire by the authors with three assistants. Information regarding their bio-data, history of self medication, drugs used and the reasons for resorting to self medication were obtained.Results: Majority of the respondents (85%) admitted to self medication while the remaining proportion (15%) did not practice it. Drugs utilizedcould be single, usually analgesics (26.5%) and anti-malaria (15.9%) or in combinations, usually antimalaria-analgesics (22.4%),  antimalariaanalgesic-antibiotic (15.3%) and antibiotic-analgesic (10.0%). The reasons cited by respondents for self medication were their perceptionof their complaints been minor enough to be amenable to self medication (54.7%) and financial constraint (22.4%). Conclusion: Majority of the respondents practiced self medication using an array of drugs like analgesics, anti-malaria and antibiotics used either singly or in combination. The main reasons identified for self medication were that the ailments were minor and financial constraint.Key words: Self medication, drug misuse, Nigeria

Evaluation of renal volume by ultrasonography in patients with essential hypertension in Ile-Ife, south western Nigeria

Background and aims: To determine renal volume in adult patients with essential hypertension and correlate it with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA) and duration of hypertension. Patients and methods: A total of 150 patients (75 males, 75 females) with essential hypertension and normal renal status were evaluated sonographically in this prospective study. Fifty healthy individuals (25 males, 25 females) without hypertension were also evaluated as control. Renal volume was then calculated from the kidney&rsquo;s length, width and anterio-posterior diameter using the formula L*W*AP*0.523. Results: The range of renal volume obtained was 51.65-205.02 cm3, with a mean of 114.06&plusmn;29.78 cm3 for the left kidney and 47.37-177.50 cm3 with a mean of 106.14&plusmn;25.42 cm3 for the right kidney. The mean volumes of the right and left kidneys in males (112.98&plusmn;25.56 cm3 and 123.11&plusmn;32.49 cm3, respectively), were significantly higher than in females (99.31&plusmn;23.07 cm3 and 105.01&plusmn;23.77 cm3, respectively). Renal volume correlated significantly with BSA and BMI, but decreased with age. The renal volume showed no correlation with duration of hypertension. Conclusion: Renal volume is higher in the left than the right kidney in hypertensive patients of both sexes and female hypertensive patients have smaller kidney size compared to males. The study also shows that volume of both kidneys decreases with age and positive correlation between renal volume, BSA and BMI. However, there is no correlation between renal size and duration of hypertension.Keywords: essential hypertension; renal volume; ultrasonograph

Self-medication profile of dental patients in Ondo state, Nigeria

The practice of selfmedication has been extensively researched but there is dearth of information about its modality among dentalpatients in developing countries. Hence, this study was designed to determine the proportion of dental patients who practice, medications employed and the reasons for resorting to self medication in general dental populations in Ondo State, Nigeria and tomake appropriate recommendations. This study was conducted between June 2007 and June 2008 at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo and State Specialist Hospital, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Five hundred and thirty six consenting respondents were selected by multistage sampling technique and interviewed with the aid of semi structured questionnaire.Results: Almost half of the respondents (42% or n=225) admitted to self medication while the majority (58%) did not practice it. Drugs utilized are usually singly (56.4%) rather than in combination(43.6%), commonly analgesics (50.1%) and antibiotics (30.4%), with themajority (45.8%) using the medications for at least one week. The reasons cited by respondents for self medication were theirperception that they know what to do and it saves time andmoney. A sizable majority of the respondents admitted to self-medication usually with analgesics. Adequate health education of the populace on the use and misuse of analgesics needs to be mounted, while dental services should be made readily available and affordable so that self medication among dental patients can be reduced to the barest minimum.Keywords: self-medication, profile, dental patients, OndoState, Nigeri

Influence of disease remission on renal dimensions in childhood nephrotic syndrome in Ibadan, South West Nigeria

Background: The hallmark of Nephrotic syndrome is massive proteinuria, with associated enlarged kidneys. However the association between remission status and size of the kidneys in patients with nephrotic syndrome is not known. This study is aimed at determining the dimensions of the kidneys of children with nephrotic syndrome and to compare kidney dimensions in patients with nephrotic syndrome who were in remission compared with the dimensions in patients who were not in remission.Subjects and Methods: This is a case-control study, where fiftythree children with diagnosis of Nephrotic syndrome and fiftyseven age matched healthy controls were analysed. The kidneys of both cases and controls were scanned using the B- mode ultrasound and the kidneys Bipolar, anteroposterior and transverse dimensions and volume were determined.Results: The mean renal longitudinal, anteroposterior, transverse dimensions and volume were higher in cases compared to the controls, bilaterally (p &lt;0.001). The mean difference in values of the measured parameters between the cases in remission and those yet to attain remission was not significant. The bipolar dimension of the left kidney showed positive correlation with duration of disease (r= 0.290, p=0.035). The study was also able to demonstrate high incidence of nephromegaly, in 52.8%, 62.3% and 67.9% respectively for the right kidney, left kidney and combined.Conclusion: Despite a comparative global enlargement in the kidney dimensions in children with nephrotic syndrome compared with controls and the general population, the remission status does not seem to be a significant factor.Keywords: Nephrotic syndrome, renal dimensions, ultrasonography, nephromegaly, paediatric