Trends in Alcohol Intoxication Cases and Common Complications at Kitwe Teaching Hospital for the Years 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017, Kitwe, Zambia

Background: Alcoholism is a major public health problem. It is associated with unhealthy effects and increased risk of injuries, trauma, violence and death of self or others. The rise in alcohol consumption rates, especially among youths, is alarming and requires immediate attention. Alcohol   intoxication is detrimental to health as intoxication has complications related to the gastrointestinal system, neurological, soft tissue injury and death   Methods: A descriptive retrospective study on Trends in Alcohol Intoxication and Common Complications was conducted at Kitwe Teaching Hospital (KTH), Kitwe, Zambia. Information was collected from patient files and registers admitted to KTH for alcohol intoxication in the years 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017. 113 of 235 files were available for review. Ethical clearance and Permission was granted by the ethical committee of the Tropical Disease Research Center (TDRC) and KTH respectively. Data analysis was done using SPSS V 20 and Microsoft Excel 2016 frequencies and percentages. Results: The average age of participants admitted for alcohol intoxication was 31. Neurological and Gastrointestinal complications were the most common at 25%, followed by fatalities (18%), while only 1% had soft tissue injuries.30% however had no complications. The most common gastrointestinal complication was gastritis (46%) followed by Mallory Weiss tear (18%), then hypoglycemia (14%), hepatitis (11%), pellagra (7%), gastric ulcers (4%). One patient (1%) had an independent outcome of appendicitis which literature has not documented as a direct outcome of alcohol intoxication. More than half of those with neurological complications presented with seizures (52%), followed by those with psychosis (24%), then encephalopathy (10%), neuropathy (7%) and coma (7%).  Conclusion: The findings from this study reviews alarming levels of complications of alcohol intoxication and is a public health problem in Kitwe. Therefore, sensitization campaigns about alcohol abuse need to be scaled up in order to curb the vise. Keywords: Alcohol intoxication(AI), Common Clinical Complications, Kitwe Teaching Hospital (KTH)

A comparative study of prevalence of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehaydrogeanase Deficiency in essential Hypertensive and Normotensive Adults aged between 35 and 65 years at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

BACKGROUND:Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme deficiency is the most common enzymopathy in humans and affects over 400 million people worldwide, majority being in Africa. G6PD catalyses the first reaction of the pentose phosphate pathway where it plays a role in generation of NADPH, which is essential in reducing glutathione. In the reduced state, glutathione decreases oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has been shown to adversely affect vasodilation of small vessels which is essential for reducing blood pressure. There is however, limited scientific evidence that associates G6PD deficiency and aetiology of essential hypertension. This study aims at determining the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in both the essential hypertensive and normotensive adults, and also establishing its association to essential hypertension. It will also determine the levels of nitric oxide (NO) in both groups and its association to essential hypertension. METHODS: An analytical cross-sectional design was applied to 89 essential hypertensive participants and 89 healthy normotensive participants, making a total of 178. All the participants were aged between 35 and 65 years. Blood was collected for G6PD activity and serum levels of NO, glucose, creatinine; and, urea and electrolytes. In addition, routine urinalysis was done. A logistic regression was used to investigate the association of age, sex, nitric oxide levels, and G6PD deficiency with essential hypertension as the dependant variable. RESULTS: The G6PD deficiency was found in 14 (16%) participants with essential hypertension and 9 (10%) control participants. The difference however, in the G6PD deficiency prevalence rate was not statistically significant (p= 0.13). Logistic regression analysis, including G6PD deficiency, age, nitric oxide, and gender as covariates, revealed that G6PD deficiency was significantly associated with increased risk for essential hypertension (odds ratio [OR]=2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.07-7.94, p=0.036), while nitric oxide was significantly associated, but with reduced risk for essential hypertension (odds ratio [OR]=0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.98-0.99, p=0.001). The analysis further showed a significant association of age and essential hypertension, with participants in age groups 46-55 and 56-65 being at higher risk of developing essential hypertension than those in age group 35-45 (odds ratio for age groups [OR]=2.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.05-5.54, p=0.037 and [OR]=7.3, [CI]=3.22-16.61, vi p=0.000 , respectively). The study also revealed no association between gender and essential hypertension ([OR]=0.79, [CI]=0.39-1.60, p=0.52). CONCLUSION: The study established that the difference in the G6PD deficiency prevalence rates was not statistically significant at 0.05 significance level (p=0.13). Therefore, the results support the hypothesis that states that there is no difference in G6PD deficiency prevalence between the essential hypertensive and normotensive adults, though the study showed a possible role of G6PD deficiency in the pathophysiology of essential hypertension. The findings also demonstrated an association between age, nitric oxide levels and essential hypertensio

Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breast feeding among mothers attending underfive clinic at chipokota mayamba urban clinic in Ndola , Zambia

Background: Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) is the best nutrition for babies during the first six months of life, thus it is an unrivaled practice of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants. However, providing EBF remains a major challenge in Africa and many other countries worldwide despite implementation of programmes such as the global initiative to increase political commitment and investment towards breastfeeding by WHO and UNICEF. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards EBF among mothers attending under-five clinic at Chipokota Mayamba Clinic in Chifubu, in Ndola Zambia.Method: A cross-section study was conducted in which 400 mothers where recruited using a simple random sampling method. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to the respondents as a data collection tool. Data was first entered in Microsoft® Excel database for storage and was later exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for analysis. Results: Forty-seven percent (47%) were knowledgeable about the benefits of EBF and fifty three percent (53%) lacked knowledge on EBF. Majority of the respondents were between twenty to twenty nine (20-29) years of age representing fifty eight percent (58%) of the participants while those thirty to thirty nine (30- 39) years of age had fifteen percent (15%) distribution. Those above forty (40) years represented two percent (2%) and twenty five percent (25%) were less than twenty (20) years of age. Fifty-one percent (51%) of the mothers weaned their babies between three to six (3-6) months, thirty three percent (33%) between six and twelve (6-12) months old and lastly sixteen percent (16%) between zero to three (0-3) months of age of the babies. Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that the level of total knowledge score regarding breastfeeding is poor among mothers attending under-five clinic at Chipokota Mayamba clinic. Major concerns are; inadequate knowledge on advantages of breastfeeding, frequency of breastfeeding, and storage of breast milk. The findings showed that limited education was a major factor for lack of knowledge about breastfeeding compared with other factors such as marital status, family income, and age

Trends of malaria prevalence in under-five’s and pregnant women at Kasama general hospital, Kasama district, Northern Zambia

Introduction: Globally, malaria accounts for 429,000 deaths, it accounts for up to 40% of all infant mortality and 20% of all maternal mortality in Zambia. In accordance to WHO, the Zambian government came up with the National malaria Strategic Plan in an urge to completely eradicate the malaria cases in Zambia by 2030. This study aimed at determining the trends of malaria prevalence from 2011 to 2015 in under-fives and the pregnant womenincluding the practices in its prevention. Methods: A cross sectional study design was employed. A standardized questionnaire was used on 347participants sampled randomly using 1/k to determine the practices of pregnant women in the prevention of malaria. Analysis of data was done using SPSS V 20. Results: The findings indicated an increase in the prevalence rate in under-fives though it was not significant at 95% confidence interval (P-value 0.0980) whereas there was a significant reduction in the prevalence of malaria in the pregnant women (P-value 0.03) The results indicated a poor practice with 36.8% not utilizing the preventive knowledge well. Conclusion: There was an elevation of malaria prevalence rate in under-fives as opposed to that of pregnant women Thus, there is need to sensitise the people about malaria and its preventive measures in order to eradicate it

Assessment of knowledge as a factor associated with undernutrition and its correlates among mothers of children below the age of five in two rural-urban areas of ndola Zambia.

Background: Under- nutrition affects a lot of children in Zambia and contributes to the high rates of morbidity and mortality. Some of the common causes of this hunger in children generally include; poverty, lack agriculture investments, lack of knowledge and HIV/AIDS. The objective of this study was to establish the levels of knowledge among mothers/caregivers in these two areas on under nutrition in under-five children and its association with other known factors related to under-nutrition. Method: A cross sectional study was done in Chipulukusu and Masala, rural-urban areas of Ndola using a standardized questionnaire. A Chi-squared test was used to test for associations between knowledge and other risk factors, and a result of less than 5% was considered significant. Results: The study involved a total of 670 households of which 320 were from Chipulukusu and 350 from Masala. The study showed that the associations of knowledge with age, education, occupation, income, number of occupants and meals were not significant. Conclusion: There was average knowledge on under nutrition among women and there was no association between knowledge and social-demographic factors related to under- nutrition

Factors associated with tuberculosis in children aged 0-14 years at Arthur Davison Children's Hospital in Ndola, Zambia

Background: Paediatric tuberculosis (TB) has been overlooked because of challenges of diagnosing it and lower priority afforded to children by TBprograms, as a result, both research and surveillance data in TB is greatly limited. The aim of this study was to determine factors associated with TB and its trends in children aged 0 to 14 years attended to at ADCH in Ndola, ZambiaMethods: A retrospective study was conducted where 97 files of TB patients at ADCH diagnosed bacteriologically or clinically for the years June2016 to June 2018 were reviewed using a standardized checklist. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS version 23.Results: A total of 78.4% were definite TB cases, 57.7% were males and 40.2% were aged 8 years and more. More than a third (33.0%) of patients hadpositive TB contact from family, 40.2% had HIV coinfection, 25.0% had malnutrition and Pulmonary TB was the most (51.5%) prevalent type.Conclusion and recommendation: Age, TB contact from an adult, HIV co-infection and malnutrition are important risk factors of paediatric TB. Therefore, any paediatric patient with these factors should be considered at risk of having TB and require very thorough examination to rule outthe presence of TB

Factors associated with diarrheal diseases in under-five children: a case control study at arthur davison children’s hospital in Ndola, Zambia

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of high mortality and morbidity rate among under five children worldwide. Worldwide mortality estimates ranges from 1.5 to 5.1 million deaths per year, especially in developing countries. The main objective of this study was to establish factors associated with diarrheal diseases in children less than five years at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola, Zambia. Method: A case-control study was conducted in the infectious and non-infectious wards at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola, Zambia from November 2016 to July 2017. Cases were children with diarrhea and controls were children without diarrhea but with other conditions or simply normal and came for review. Results: Total of 112 children with 56 cases and 56 controls participated in the study. Independent factors which were significantly associated with diarrhea after adjusting for confounders were poor hand washing practices by parent or caregiver (OR=0.101, 95% CI[0.022,0.462], lack of exclusive breastfeeding (OR= 0.136, CI[0.029,0.631]) and times of admission for diarrhea (OR=0.18, CI[ 0.004,0.084]).Conclusion: It was found that poor hand washing practices among parents or caregiver was significantly associated with diarrhea in under five children of age at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital, Zambia. Measure should be put in place to educate women about the importance of washing hands with soap after using the toilet and after changing the baby clothes. Further studies are needed in order to help curb the factors that influence diarrhea in under-five children