Quality of Liver and Kidney Function Tests among Public Medical Laboratories in Western Region of Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia

Background: Medical laboratories play essential roles in measurements of substances in body fluids for the purpose of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and for greater understanding of the disease process. Thus, data generated from have to be reliable for which strict quality control, management and assurance are maintained. The aim of this study is to assess the accuracy and precision of clinical chemistry laboratories in western region of Amhara national regional state of Ethiopia in testing liver and kidney functions.Methods: Eight laboratories in hospitals and a Regional Health Research Laboratory Center participated in this study from February to March, 2011. Each participant was requested to measure six specimens for six chemistry tests from two control samples. Three hundred twenty four test results to be reported from all participant laboratories, if all measurements can be made, were designed to be collected and statistically evaluated.Results: None of the study subject laboratories could deliver all the six tests for estimation of both liver and renal functions simultaneously during the study period. Only 213 values from the expected 324 values were reported and about 65 % of the 213 values reported fell outside of the allowable limits of errors for the chemistry tests of the control specimen used.Conclusion: This study finding showed that there were lack of accuracy and precision in chemistry measurements. A regular survey on medical laboratories should be conducted questioning the accuracy and precision of their analyses in order to sustain improvements in the quality of services provided by participating laboratories for the benefit of patients. Laboratory Quality Management Systems appreciate the need for regular quality control and quality assessment schemes in medical laboratories

The Status of Iodine Nutrition and Iodine Deficiency Disorders among School Children in Metekel Zone, Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Iodine deficiency disorders are serious public health problems in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence and severity of iodine deficiency disorders among school children in Metekel Zone.Methods: A cross-sectional school based descriptive study was conducted between February 2011 and July 2012. One school containing 750 children aged between 6 and 18 years was randomly selected. Two hundred students from this school were selected by systematic random sampling. Physical examination was made according to WHO goiter classification system; 50 salt samples from households to which the sampled children belonged were tested for iodine using rapid field test kits and titration; a casual urine sample (5 ml) was taken from 30 children to measure urinary iodine spectrophotometrically, and 5 ml venous blood sample were collected from 37 children to measure thyroid relevant blood constituents using ELISA.Results: The total goiter prevalence was 39.5%; 60% of the salt samples contained no iodine. The median urinary iodine concentration ranged from 20.54 – 62.2 (39.9 μg/L). School children who were assessed for thyroid hormones showed 18.92% elevated and 27.03% suppressed TSH levels.Conclusion: The study demonstrated that iodine deficiency is still a severe public health problem in Metekel Zone. There is a need to further strengthen the existing controlling and monitoring system in order to achieve proper elimination of IDDs in the community.Keywords: Iodine deficiency disorder, iodized salt, urinary iodine concentration, thyroid function