Incidence, patterns and severity of reported unintentional injuries in Pakistan for persons five years and older: results of the National Health Survey of Pakistan 1990–94

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>National level estimates of injuries are not readily available for developing countries. This study estimated the annual incidence, patterns and severity of unintentional injuries among persons over five years of age in Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>National Health Survey of Pakistan (NHSP 1990–94) is a nationally representative survey of the household. Through a two-stage stratified design, 18, 315 persons over 5 years of age were interviewed to estimate the overall annual incidence, patterns and severity of unintentional injuries for males and females in urban and rural areas over the preceding one year. Weighted estimates were computed adjusting for complex survey design using <it>surveyfreq </it>and <it>surveylogistic </it>option of SAS 9.1 software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall annual incidence of all unintentional injuries was 45.9 (CI: 39.3–52.5) per 1000 per year; 59.2 (CI: 49.2–69.2) and 33.2 (CI: 27.0–39.4) per 1000 per year among males and females over five years of age, respectively. An estimated 6.16 million unintentional injuries occur in Pakistan annually among persons over five years of age. Urban and rural injuries were 55.9 (95% CI: 48.1–63.7) and 41.2 (95% CI: 32.2–50.0) per 1000 per year, respectively. The annual incidence of injuries due to falls were 22.2 (95% CI: 18.0–26.4), poisoning 3.3 (95%CI: 0.5–6.1) and burn was 1.5 (95%CI: 0.9–2.1) per 1000 per year. The majority of injuries occurred at home 19.2 (95%CI: 16.0–22.4) or on the roads 17.0 (95%CI: 13.8–20.2). Road traffic/street, school and urban injuries were more likely to result in handicap.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is high burden of unintentional injuries among persons over five years of age in Pakistan. These results are useful to plan further studies and prioritizing prevention programs on injuries nationally and other developing countries with similar situation.</p

Prevalence and risk factors for intestinal nematode infections in children as environmental health indicators for prevention in Sub-Saharan tropical communities of Ebonyi state, Nigeria

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted between   November 2010 and February 2011 to assess the prevalence of intestinal nematode infections among children aged 1 – 14 years living in two communities of rural Ebonyi State, Nigeria, characterize the risk factors for infection and develop environmental health indicator for use for infection preventive activities. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on sanitation, hygiene and socioeconomic variables. Stool samples were examined using existing standard protocols for parasitological detection and identification of nematode eggs/larvae. Results revealed that one or more nematodes infected the study  population providing an overall prevalence of 57.9%. Dominant parasites encountered were A. lumbricoides (21.1%), hookworm (17.0%), T. trichiura(12.8%), and S. stercoralis (5.9%). One species of intestinal nematodes was detected in 26.2% of infected population whereas 14.5% and 2.5% harboured two and three nematode species respectively. Identified risk factors were environmental, sanitation, hygiene, socioeconomic, crowding in households and availability of washbasin with water in toilets. The environmental health indicator developed summarized the biological,environmental and social factors associated with risk infection. This could be incorporated into environmental and community-based health  surveillance in line with  the primary health-care delivery system initiative.Keywords: Intestinal nematode, Prevalence, Intensity, Risk factor, Environment, Helminthiase

Effects of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces on haematological characteristics of Rattus novergicus

The effect of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces on the haematological profile of normal male albino rats was investigated for 28 days using standard methods. The rats were divided into five groups comprising of the control group, I; which received equal volume of distilled water and four treatment groups, II, III, IV and V that were administered orally, 100mg.kg-1, 200mg.kg-1, 400mg.kg-1 and 800mg.kg-1 body weight respectively. The serum levels of total white blood cell (WBC), haemoglobin content (Hb), pack cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean cell volume (MCV) were determined weekly using blood collected from the rats through the ocular puncture method. The mean serum levels of WBC, Hb, PCV, RBC, MCH, MCHC and MCV ranged from 4498.00 ± 1.16 to 20666.67 ± 1763.83; 4.99 ± 0.01 to 17.90 ± 0.61; 14.99 ± 0.01 to 53.67 ± 1.86; 323.33 ±12.02 to 700.00 ± 110.15; 0.01 ± 0.00 to 0.37 ± 0.00; 33.27 ± 0.08 to 33.36 ± 0.04 and 0.10 ± 0.04 to 3.76 ± 2.93, respectively. Whereas there was no significant difference (p&lt;0.05) in the MCHC level, an overall dose and duration independent significant increase (p&gt;0.05) was observed in the remaining  haematological parameters of the rats treated with the aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces. The ability of the extract to increase Hb, PCV, RBC and its indices suggests possible usefulness of the extract in treating anaemia.Keywords: Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces, Aqueous extract, Haematological parameters, Albino rat