Socio-demographic and clinical factors predicting time to presentation for children with pneumonia in Ilorin, Nigeria

Background: Pneumonia is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in children, and the time to presentation is a recognized contributor towards disease severity and outcome.Objectives: The current study aimed to explore the influence of some socio-demographic and clinical factors in children with pneumonia on the time to presentation at a health facility in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria.Materials and method: A prospective cross-sectional study of 167 children with pneumonia was done. The duration of the various symptoms and first presentation to a health facility was obtained. Time to presentation was categorized as 0–2 days (early), 3–5 days (intermediate) and greater than five days (late). Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify significant predictors of either early or intermediate presentation compared with late presentation. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Fifty-one (30.5%) children with pneumonia had an early presentation, 73 (43.7%) had intermediate presentation and 43 (25.7%) were late in presentation. Predictors of early presentation were younger age (OR 0.96, 95%CI 0.93–0.99), higher respiratory rates (OR 1.03, 95%CI 1.01–1.06) and bronchopneumonia (OR 6.93, 95%CI 1.52–31.63). Predictors of intermediate presentation were families with few number of children (OR 0.73, 95%CI 0.57–0.92) and bronchopneumonia (OR 3.41, 95%C.I. 1.02–11.38).Conclusion: Infancy and families with few children are socio-demographic features that are likely to determine early-to-intermediate presentation of children with pneumonia while high respiratory rates and bronchopneumonia are disease related factors that predict early presentation.Keywords: Socio-demographic, Children, Pneumonia, Time to presentation, Nigeri

URINARY IODINE LEVELS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

Background: Iodine deficiency is one of the commonest micronutrient deficiencies. Globally, it is the commonest cause of preventable mental retardation and also associated with impaired physical growth. The current iodine nutrition of school children in Ilorin, North-Central Nigeria is not known. Objective: The study aimed to determine the urinary iodine levelsv(UIL) of school children in Ilorin and explored the relationship with socio-demographic variables. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among primary schools children in Ilorin, Nigeria. We recruited school children aged 6-12 years through a multi-staged sampling method. Relevant data including socio-demograhic variables were obtained with a pretested study proforma. The recruited school children had urinary iodine determined using the Sandell-Kolthoff method. Data analysis was with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: The median with interquartile range (IQR) of urinary iodine level was 117.2 (99.6-148.6) µg/L. Of the 480 recruited children, 336 (70.0%) had normal urinary iodine levels while 144 (25%) had mild iodine deficiencyand two (0.4%) had excess urinary iodine levels. Pupils with iodine deficiency was higher among public schoolsthan those in private schools (33.3% vs 23.6%, χ2= 150.149, p< 0.022). The median UIL of the age-group 6-9 years was higher than the 10-12year age group (p=0.026). However, the median UIL values were comparable across gender, socioeconomic strata and mother’s educational level. Conclusions: This study showed that a quarter of the children still has mild iodine deficiency despite salt iodisation policy adopted by the country. Also, the iodine levels were not influenced by socio-demographics