The psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors among college and university students in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2022

BackgroundThe Corona virus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is a human tragedy that occurred in this era. It poses an unprecedented psychological, social, economic, and health crisis. The mental health and well-being of entire societies are suffering as a result of this crisis, but the suffering is greater in students at all levels of education and must be addressed immediately. Thus, this study was aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence and associated factors of the psychological impact of COVID-19 among higher education students.MethodsThe potential studies were searched via PubMed, HINARI, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. Studies were appraised using the Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal checklist. Micro Soft Excel was used to extract the data, which was then exported to Stata version 14 for analysis. Heterogeneity between studies was tested using Cochrane statistics and the I2 test, and small-study effects were checked using Egger’s statistical test. A random-effects model was employed to estimate the pooled prevalence of the psychological impact of COVID-19 and its associated factor.ResultsAfter reviewing 227 studies, eight fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of the psychological impact of Corona virus disease 19 among higher education students in Ethiopia, including depression, anxiety, and stress was 43.49% (95% CI: 29.59, 57.40%), 46.27% (95% CI: 32.77, 59.78%), and 31.43% (95% CI: 22.71, 40.15), respectively. Having a medical illness, being an urban resident, living with parents, having relative death due to pandemics, and having a non-health field of study were identified as significant associated factors for the impact of the pandemic in higher education students.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic had a significant psychological impact on college and university students. Depression, anxiety, and stress were the most commonly reported psychological impacts across studies among higher education students. Hence, applying tele-psychotherapy using, smartphones, and social media platforms has an effect on reducing the impact. Programs for preventing and controlling epidemics should be developed by the government and higher education institutions that incorporate mental health interventions and build resilience

Trend, determinants, and future prospect of child marriage in the Amhara region, Ethiopia: a multivariate decomposition analysis

BackgroundChild marriage is a harmful traditional practice, which compromises children of their childhood and threatens their lives and health. In Ethiopia, 58% of women and 9% of men get married before the age of 18 years. Surprisingly, parents in the Amhara region make marriage promises of their children before they are even born, which will hinder the region from attaining the Sustainable Development Goal of ending child marriage. Thus, this study aimed to assess the trends, determinants, and future prospects of child marriage in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.MethodsA repeated cross-sectional study was conducted using four consecutive nationally representative Ethiopian demographic and health surveys (2000–2016). A logit-based multivariate decomposition analysis for a non-linear response model was fitted to identify factors that contributed to the change in child marriage over time. Statistical significance was declared at a p-value of < 0.05. The child marriage practice in the Amhara region by the year 2030 was also predicted using different forecasting features of Excel.ResultsThe trend of child marriage over the study period (2000–2016) decreased from 79.9% (76.7, 82.8) to 42.9% (39.1, 46.9), with an annual average reduction rate of 2.9%. Approximately 35.2% of the decline resulted from an increase in the proportion of women who attained secondary and above-secondary education over the two surveys. A decrease in the proportion of rural women and a change in the behavior of educated and media-exposed women also contributed significantly to the decline in child marriage. The prevalence of child marriage in the Amhara region by the year 2030 was also predicted to be 10.1% or 8.8%.ConclusionThough there has been a significant decline in child marriage in the Amhara region over the past 16 years, the proportion is still high, and the region is not going to eliminate it by 2030. Education, residence, and media exposure were all factors associated with the observed change in child marriage in this study. Therefore, additional efforts will be required if child marriage is to be eliminated by 2030, and investing more in education and media access will hasten the region's progress in this direction

Development and internal validation of a clinical risk score for in-hospital mortality after stroke: a single-centre retrospective cohort study in Northwest Ethiopia

Objective To develop and validate a clinical risk score for in-hospital stroke mortality.Design The study used a retrospective cohort study design.Setting The study was carried out in a tertiary hospital in the Northwest Ethiopian region.Participants The study included 912 patients who had a stroke admitted to a tertiary hospital between 11 September 2018 and 7 March 2021.Main outcome measures Clinical risk score for in-hospital stroke mortality.Methods We used EpiData V.3.1 and R V.4.0.4 for data entry and analysis, respectively. Predictors of mortality were identified by multivariable logistic regression. A bootstrapping technique was performed to internally validate the model. Simplified risk scores were established from the beta coefficients of predictors of the final reduced model. Model performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and calibration plot.Results From the total stroke cases, 132 (14.5%) patients died during the hospital stay. We developed a risk prediction model from eight prognostic determinants (age, sex, type of stroke, diabetes mellitus, temperature, Glasgow Coma Scale, pneumonia and creatinine). The area under the curve (AUC) of the model was 0.895 (95% CI: 0.859–0.932) for the original model and was the same for the bootstrapped model. The AUC of the simplified risk score model was 0.893 (95% CI: 0.856–0.929) with a calibration test p value of 0.225.Conclusions The prediction model was developed from eight easy-to-collect predictors. The model has excellent discrimination and calibration performance, similar to that of the risk score model. It is simple, easily remembered, and helps clinicians identify the risk of patients and manage it properly. Prospective studies in different healthcare settings are required to externally validate our risk score

Health facility delivery service utilization and its associated factors among women in the pastoralist regions of Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Background and Aims Utilizing health facility delivery services is one of the pillars of lowering maternal mortality. However, the coverage of health facility delivery service utilization continues to be uneven around the world. In Ethiopia, particularly among pastoralist regions, health facility delivery service utilization is less common. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the pooled prevalence of health facility delivery service utilization and identify the associated factors among women in the pastoralist regions of Ethiopia. Methods A comprehensive systematic search was carried out in PubMed/MEDLINE, Hinary, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, Google, and Ethiopian online university repositories. Studies were appraised using the JBI appraisal checklist. The analysis was done using STATA version 16. The pooled analysis was conducted using DerSimonian and Laird random‐effects model. I2 test and Eggers & Begg's tests were used to assess the heterogeneity and publication bias, respectively. p < 0.05 was set to determine the statistical significance of all the tests. Results The pooled prevalence of health facility delivery service utilization was 23.09% (95% CI: 18.05%−28.12%). Have ANC visit during pregnancy (OR = 3.75, [95% CI: 1.84−7.63]), have information regarding maternal health service fee exemption (OR = 9.51, [95% CI: 1.41−64.26]), have a nearby health facility (OR = 3.49, [95% CI: 1.48−8.20]), and women attend secondary and above education (OR = 3.06, [95% CI: 1.77−5.29]) were found to be significant associated factors. Conclusions Health facility delivery service utilization is very low in pastoralist regions of Ethiopia, and ANC follow‐up, distance from the health facility, women's educational status, and information regarding maternal health service fees were identified as significant associated factors. Consequently, strengthening ANC services, introducing free health services to the community, and constructing health facilities for the nearby residents are recommended to improve the practice