Fasting blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin levels in randomly selected Ghanaian diabetic patients – the clinical implications

This work involved the measurement of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels of diabetes mellitus patients as an index of glycaemic control. It was a prospective casefinding study using laboratory and general practice records. The subjects were confirmed diabetic patients, attending a Diabetic Clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana. The fasting blood glucose levels were measured in millimolar concentration and corrected glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels expressed as percentages. The mean level of fasting blood glucose (± standard deviation) for the non-diabetics was 4.91 ± 1.08 mmol/L and the corresponding mean value for the HbA1c was 5.40 ± 0.84%. There was a linear correlation between the fasting blood glucose and HbA1c. Out of the 99 diabetics, 9 of them had near-normal levels of HbA1c while 64 had mean values between 12 and 16%. There was generally high levels of glycosylated haemoglobin in the majority of patients studied, reflecting their poor glycaemic control. This suggests a relatively large proportion of the diabetics could be predisposed to microvascular complications, while a small group with near-normal HbA1c levels could be prone to hypoglycaemic complications. Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 26(1) 2006: 8-1

Lowered Serum Triglyceride Levels among Chronic Hepatitis B-Infected Patients in Ghana

Dyslipidemia is a common finding in most studies of liver diseases. Little is however known about the effect of the two pathological stages of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection – chronicsymptomatic and asymptomatic – on the distribution of serum lipids in CHB infection. We conducted a study on CHB-infected patients attending specialist care at the Gastro-Intestinal (GI) Clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) during a 7-month period. 64 participants were randomly sampled over the period. On the basis of serological and liver enzyme assays, participants were categorised as chronic asymptomatic, chronic symptomatic and healthy individuals. The relationship between the hosts pathological stage of infection were evaluated with the indices of lipid metabolism – LDL, HDL, triglyceride, and total serum cholesterol using ANOVA. The 64 volunteers recruited in the study were found to consist of 18 patients (28.1%) who were chronic symptomatic, 35 patients (54.7%) who were chronic asymptomatic hepatitis B, and 11 (17.2%) were healthy subjects. Significant overall male dominance was observed among all categories of population enrolled (p=0.0063). Serum triglyceride levels decreased more among the CHB-infected population compared to the healthy individuals (p=0.0010) with value lowest among the chronic symptomatic population. Basal serum cholesterol, HDL, and LDL were unaffected by the disease. This work reveals that serum triglyceride is significantly lowered in CHB infection and that the extent of this decrease in host is independent of the pathological stage of the infection.Keywords: chronic hepatitis B, lipid metabolism, triglyceride, chronic symptomati

Prostate cancer outcome in Burkina Faso

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>African-American black men race is one of non-modifiable risk factors confirmed for prostate cancer. Many studies have been done in USA among African- American population to evaluate prostate cancer disparities. Compared to the USA very few data are available for prostate cancer in Sub-Saharan African countries. The objective of this study was to describe incident prostate cancer (PC) diagnosis characteristics in Burkina Faso (West Africa).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a prospective non randomized patient’s cohort study of new prostate cancer cases diagnosed by histological analysis of transrectal prostate biopsies in Burkina Faso. Study participants included 166 patients recruited at the urology division of the university hospital of Ouagadougou. Age of the patients, clinical symptoms, digital rectal examination (DRE) result, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, histological characteristics and TNM classification were taking in account in this study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>166 transrectal prostate biopsies (TRPB) were performed based on high PSA level or abnormal DRE. The prostate cancer rate on those TRPB was 63, 8 % (n=106). The mean age of the patients was 71, 5 years (52 to 86). Urinary retention was the first clinical patterns of reference in our institution (55, 7 %, n = 59). Most patients, 56, 6 % (n = 60) had a serum PSA level over than 100 ng/ml. All the patients had adenocarcinoma on histological study of prostate biopsy cores. The majority of cases (54, 7 % n = 58) had Gleason score equal or higher than 7.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Prostate cancer is diagnosed at later stages in our country. Very high serum PSA level and poorly differentiated tumors are the two major characteristics of PC at the time of diagnosis.</p

Prostate cancer screening in Ghana - a clinical benefit?

In Ghana and most African countries, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males after hepatocellular carcinoma. Whereas in the advanced countries, screening for prostate specific antigen (PSA) has led to early detection and management of the disease, screening has been very low in Ghana, thus leading to low detection rate, poor management and increased mortality. The aim of our study therefore was to provide the basis for the advocacy and promotion of prostate cancer screening in Ghana so as to improve early detection, management and prognosis. To do this, we estimated serum PSA levels of 196 men randomly reporting to the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for screening. We employed the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method as our non-invasive screening procedure. We also conducted a survey on the prevalence of the disease as reported at five major hospitals in the country. It was observed that 83.6% of the subjects had their PSA levels above the upper limit of the reference range (4 ng/ml), with their ages ranging between 56 to 85 years. Coincidentally, our survey also revealed that 96.5% of those who had the disease within the period of study were above 50 years. The significance and relevance of these findings to PSA screening in the country and its accuracy in diagnosing prostate cancer cannot be overemphasized. Keywords: prostate cancer, screening, diagnosis, prostate specific antigen (PSA) Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 26(1) 2006: 1-

Prostate cancer screening in Ghana - a clinical benefit?

In Ghana and most African countries, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males after hepatocellular carcinoma. Whereas in the advanced countries, screening for prostate specific antigen (PSA) has led to early detection and management of the disease, screening has been very low in Ghana, thus leading to low detection rate, poor management and increased mortality. The aim of our study therefore was to provide the basis for the advocacy and promotion of prostate cancer screening in Ghana so as to improve early detection, management and prognosis. To do this, we estimated serum PSA levels of 196 men randomly reporting to the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for screening. We employed the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method as our non-invasive screening procedure. We also conducted a survey on the prevalence of the disease as reported at five major hospitals in the country. It was observed that 83.6% of the subjects who had their PSA levels above the upper limit of the reference range (4 ng/ml), with their ages ranging between 56 to 85 years. Coincidentally, our survey also revealed that 96.5% of those who had the disease within the period of study were above 50 years. The significance and relevance of these findings to PSA screening in the country and its accuracy in diagnosing prostate cancer cannot be overemphasized. Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 25(2) 2005: 9-1