Antihypertension medication adherence and associated factors at Dessie Hospital, North East Ethiopia, Ethiopia

Hypertension is an overwhelming global challenge. Despite the development of many effective anti hypertensive drugs, target to reduce morbidity and mortality due to high blood pressures are reached in only a minor of patients in clinical practice. Poor adherence is one of the biggest obstacles in therapeutic control of blood pressures. There are complaints from patients and physicians that the poor result of actual antihypertensive drug therapies. Many people with age indifference are attacked by this “silent killer” or which results in target organ damage as a complication. The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of adherence and the factors associated with non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medication. Cross sectional exclusively convenient study was conducted by using structured questionnaires consisting of open and closed-ended questions on patients diagnosed for hypertension and have already been on anti hypertensive medications at least for three months at Dessie Referral hospital from 20/01/2012 to 29/01/2012. A total of hundred hypertensive patients were screened from hundred six cases by the exclusive criteria and the overall incidence of anti-hypertensive medication non adherence was 26%. The study identifies reasons why patients don’t adherent with the drug regiments. Among Factors associated with non adherence were health system and health care provider poor interaction with patient and therapy factors like frustration and unwanted effect of the medication in the long run. There was indication of non adherence from the study area. Great emphasis should be placed on intervention strategies such as patient counseling and increasing awareness of the physicians, all other prescribers and health care providers at large about the non adherence of anti hypertensive drugs as well as the complication what comes due to this medication non adherence

Assessment of ART adverse reactions and determinants at primary hospital in Ethiopia

Background: Much progress has been made in treating HIV infection in the last several years and currently antiretroviral therapy regimens are capable of reducing viral load of undetectable level with a consequent increase in T-lymphocyte, CD4+ counts and reduction in development of opportunistic infections.  Hence, a substantial reduction in HIV associated morbidity and mortality can be attained.  In spite of antiretroviral therapy benefits, adverse reaction to these drugs has been pointed to as one of the main reason for discontinuation, switch and non adherence to antiretroviral therapy.Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective review of patient record from December 2009-Novomber 2012 was performed to determine the common adverse drug reactions in patients taking ART medications. A sample of 154 who were taking ART medications at Ambo Zonal Hospital was studied and SPSS for windows software versions-16.0 was used for data analysis.Results: A total of patients with average age of 32.5 years who are taking ART drugs for more than 6 months were studied for the prevalence of adverse reactions. The frequency of GI tract adverse reactions were found to be 75 (48.7%) followed by CNS adverse effects, 55 (35.7%) skin reactions accounted for 29 (18.8%). The least frequently occurred adverse reactions were hematologic reaction (anemia). Patients with low BMI (OR =4.09, p=0.000), having comorbidities (OR=4.566, p=0.000), low CD4+, p=0.002) and treated by TDF/3-TC/EFV (OR=2.087, p=0.001) had high risk of developing adverse drug recreations.Conclusions: BMI, the presence of other diseases, types of regimen used, duration of therapy and CD4+ lymphocyte less than 400cell/mm3 were strongly associated with the occurrence of adverse drug effects in this study

Assessment of potential drug-drug interactions among outpatients receiving cardiovascular medications at Jimma University specialized hospital, South West Ethiopia

Background: The quality of pharmacotherapy is highly dependent on the process of choosing a drug in relation to nature of the disease. Several factors should be considered in choosing optimal pharmacotherapeutics strategy including efficacy, safety, availability and cost of the drugs. The objective of this study was to assess potential drug-drug interactions and risk factors in outpatients taking cardiovascular drugs at Jimma University specialized hospital.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from Feb. to April, 2011on patients visiting the cardiac clinic of Jimma University Specialized hospital. A sample of 332 outpatients who were taking cardiovascular medications at study clinic was studied. MicroMedex software was used to screen drug-drug interactions and SPSS for windows software versions-16.0 was used for data analysis.Results: A total of 1249 drugs with average of 3.76 drugs per prescription were prescribed for the 332 patients. The frequency of potential DDIs was found to be 241 (72.6%). Among these 200 (67.3%) were of "moderate" severity and 164 (55.2%) were delayed in onset. The most common potential DDI observed was between Enalapril and Furosemide (20%). Patients who prescribed many drugs (AOR=4.09; P=0.00) by medical intern had a higher risk of developing potential DDIs (AOR=4.6; P=0.00).Conclusions: Patients with cardiovascular disorders are subjected to high risk of potential drug-drug interactions and the number of drugs prescribed and educational level of the prescribers has a high significantly associated with the occurrence of potential drug-drug interactions. Therefore, it is imperative that further studies need to be conducted to identify reasons for and tackle the problem and provide appropriate mechanisms for management

Comparison of anti-retroviral therapy treatment strategies in prevention of mother-to-child transmission in a teaching hospital in Ethiopia

Background: More than 90% of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children is acquired due to mother-to-child transmission, which is spreading during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding.Objective: To determine the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral and short course antiretroviral regimens in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and associated factors Jimma University Specialized Hospital (JUSH).Method: A hospital based retrospective cohort study was conducted on HIV infected pregnant mothers who gave birth and had follow up at anti-retroviral therapy (ART) clinic for at least 6 months during a time period paired with their infants. The primary and secondary outcomes were rate of infant infection by HIV at 6 weeks and 6 months respectively. The Chi-square was used for the comparison of categorical data multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants of early mother-to-child transmission of HIV at 6 weeks. Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze factors that affect the 6 month HIV free survival of infants born to HIV infected mothers.Results: A total of 180 mother infant pairs were considered for the final analysis, 90(50%) mothers received single dose nevirapine (sdNVP) designated as regimen-3, 67 (37.2%) mothers were on different types of ARV regimens commonly AZT + 3TC + NVP (regimen-1), while the rest 23 (12.8%) mothers were on short course dual regimen AZT + 3TC + sdNVP (regimen-2). Early mother-to-child transmission rate at 6 weeks for regimens 1, 2 and 3 were 5.9% (4/67), 8.6% (2/23), and 15.5% (14/90) respectively. The late cumulative mother-to-child transmission rate of HIV at 6 months regardless of regimen type was 15.5% (28/180). Postnatal transmission at 6 months was 28.5% (8/28) of infected children. Factors that were found to be associated with high risk of early mother-to-child transmission of HIV include duration of ARV regimen shorter than 2 months during pregnancy (OR=4.3, 95%CI =1.38-13.46), base line CD4 less than 350 cells/cubic mm (OR=6.98, 95%CI=0.91-53.76), early infant infection (OR=5.4, 95%CI=2.04-14.4), infants delivered home (OR=13.1, 95%CI=2.69-63.7), infant with birth weight less than 2500 g (OR=6.41, 95%CI=2.21-18.61), and mixed infant feeding (OR=6.7, 95%CI=2.2-20.4). Antiretroviral regimen duration less than 2 months, maternal base line CD4 less than 350 cells/cubic mm and mixed infant feeding were also important risk factors for late infant infection or death.Conclusion: The effectiveness of multiple antiretroviral drugs in prevention of early mother-to-child transmission of HIV was found to be more effective than that of single dose nevirapine, although, the difference was not statistically significant. But in late transmission, a significant difference was observed in which infants born to mother who received multiple antiretroviral drugs were less likely to progress to infection or death than infants born to mothers who received single dose nevirapine

Blood pressure control and its determinants among diabetes mellitus co-morbid hypertensive patients at Jimma University medical center, South West Ethiopia

Abstract Background Hypertension is the major contributor to cardiovascular diseases related morbidity and mortality. Blood pressure is not well controlled in the majority of patients with both diabetes and hypertension. The main objective of this study was to assess blood pressure control and its determinants among diabetes mellitus co- morbid hypertensive ambulatory patients. Methods Hospital based cross sectional study was conducted among diabetes mellitus co-morbid hypertensive ambulatory adult patients based on the inclusion criteria. Patient specific data was collected using structured data collection tool. Data was analyzed using statistical software package, SPSS version 20.0. To identify the independent predictors of blood pressure control, multiple stepwise backward logistic regression analysis was done. Statistical significance was considered at p-value <0.05. Patient’s written informed consent was obtained after explaining the purpose of the study. Patients were informed about confidentiality of the information obtained. Results From a total of 131 study participants 51.14% were males with the mean (SD) age of the 50.69 ± 13.71. The mean duration of time since the diagnosis of hypertension was 7.44 ± 5.11 years. The mean (SD) SBP was 149.79 ± 16.32 mmHg, while the mean (SD) DBP was 89.77 ± 9.34 mmHg. More than one fourth (25.20%) of study participants had a controlled SBP, while about 27.48% had a controlled DBP. The overall control of BP was achieved in about 57 (43.51%) of the study participants. Older age (≥50 years) (AOR = 2.06; 95% CI: 2.65–7.79; P = 0.002), female gender (AOR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.19–2.14; P = 0.042), duration of hypertension (AOR = 2.88, 95% CI: 1.27, 8.31, P = 0.02), non-adherence (AOR 2.05; 95% CI: 2.61–9.33; P = 0.01) and uncontrolled blood sugar(AOR = 1.65; 95% CI: 2.14–3.32; P = 0.04) are independent predictors for uncontrolled blood pressure. Conclusions Blood pressure control to target goal was suboptimal in the study area. Diabetic patients who were older, female, live longer duration with hypertension, non-adherent to their medications and poor glycemic control were more likely to have uncontrolled BP. Therefore, more effort should be dedicated to control the blood pressure in diabetics

Intestinal polyparasitism with special emphasis to soil-transmitted helminths among residents around Gilgel Gibe Dam, Southwest Ethiopia: a community based survey

Abstract Background One third of the world population is estimated to be infected with intestinal parasites. The most affected people are children and the poor people living in tropics and subtropics. Polyparasitism (the concurrent infection with multiple intestinal parasite species) is found to be the norm among the same population although accurate estimate of its magnitude is unknown. It was found that polyparasitism might have a greater impact on morbidity than single species infection which might also increase susceptibility to other infections. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the prevalence and distribution of intestinal polyparasitism with special emphasis on Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) among residents around Gilgel Gibe dam located in Jimma zone of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. Methods A total of 1,021 participants were recruited in this study and provided stool samples for parasitological examination. Direct wet mount and Kato-Katz techniques were employed for stool examination. Pearson chi-square test was employed to assess the association of infection status and polyparasitism with gender and age group of the study participants. Results Five hundred thirty two individuals were infected with at least one parasite, providing the overall prevalence of 52.1%. Among positive individuals, 405 (76.1%), 114 (21.4%), and 13 (2.5%) individuals were infected with only one, two and three species of parasites, respectively. The overall prevalence of intestinal polyparasitism observed among the study participants was 12.4% (127/1,021). The predominant STH was hookworm, with a prevalence of 44.1%. Hookworm and Ascaris lumbricoides were the most frequently recorded combination in cases of polyparasitic infection. The study revealed that there was no significant difference in the distribution of polyparasitism with regard to age group and sex of the study participants (p > 0.05). Conclusion The study indicated the presence of high prevalence of parasites as well as distribution of polyparasitism in the area. Moreover, the detection of Schistosoma mansoni in the community living within close proximity of the newly constructed dam would be taken as an indication of future risk factor. Further investigation on the predictors of polyparasitism and the assessment of effects of polyparasitism on the population are needed. Finally, there is a need to undertake integrated control strategies which involve improved sanitation, health education and chemotherapy that targets the whole community instead of only certain segments of populations

Patterns and epidemiology of acute poisoning in Ethiopia: systematic review of observational studies

Abstract Background Acute poisoning is a common reason for emergency department visit and hospitalization worldwide with major morbidity and mortality. The burden of poisoning exposures in Africa is a significant public health concern, but only 10 of 58 countries have poisons information centers (PICs). Objective The primary intention of our current review is to explore and summarize the published evidence on the patterns and epidemiology of poisoning in Ethiopia. Method PubMed and Scopus were searched for primary, case series and human studies for publications from inception to July 2017. A manual search for additional relevant studies using references from retrieved articles was also performed. Only studies that reported acute poisoning in both pediatric and adult patients were included. From the screened articles, data were extracted for baseline characteristics and relevant end points such as case fatality rate, time for health institution presentation and length of hospital stay. Result Initial entry and search resulted in the retrieval of 332 articles. Finally, 9 studies comprised of 4763 participants were included in this current review. In 78% of the studies included in this review, acute poisoning is reported to be more prevalent in females. Acute poisoning was revealed to be prevalent in less than 30 years old. Organophosphates and household cleaning agents were the predominant agents of acute poisoning. Intentional poisoning was identified responsible for the majority of acute poisoning cases and factors such as psychiatric problems, and quarrel were identified as the underlying reasons for poisoning. Time of presentation to health institution after poisoning, length of hospital stay and case fatality rate were reported and lies in the ranges between 0.2 h–24 h, 0.5 days–17.7 days and 0–14.8%, respectively. Conclusion The occurrence of acute poisoning was higher in females and common in less than 30 years of age, making this a real public health burden in Ethiopia. Psychiatric problems, quarrel and substance abuse were identified as the most common reasons for acute poisoning. Awareness creation how to handle chemicals and prescribed drugs and psychiatric consultations should be in place for the community