Health Problems of the Under-Five Children in an Urban Slum in Enugu

Objective: To determine the health problems common among under-five children in a typical urban slum in Nigeria and assess the treatment patterns commonly offered to these children.Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in May-July 2010. A cluster sampling technique was used to select 245 children from 140 households and an interviewer-administered questionnaire were used on mothers of these children.Result: Majority of the mothers (89.2%) had primary/secondary education and 69.4% were traders. Most commonly reported symptoms among the children were fever, diarrhoe, cough and fast breathing (acute respiratory symptoms). Diarrhoeal (40%) and acute respiratory symptoms ( 37.6%) occuring singly or as a comorbidity were the most common illnesses while fever without any other appreciable symptoms was documented in 25.4% of the children. While 50.4% of the households visited only orthodox health facilities for treatment, 14.6% and 6.9% use only self-medication and traditional health practitioners respectively. As regards immunization, 22.7% of the children were not fully immunized. A total of 69 deaths mostly from febrile illness were reported from 58 households. There was a strong association between morbidity and some socio-demographic factors such as accommodation pattern and toilet facility. Childhood morbidity and mortality remains high in the slum in our environment.Keywords: Under-five morbidity, childhood mortality, diarrhoea, Slu

Factors affecting compliance to treatment among children with epilepsy attending at a paediatric neurology clinic of a tertiary hospital in Enugu

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to determine the factors affecting compliance to treatment among children with epilepsy in Enugu,Nigeria.METHODS: Children with diagnosis of epilepsy were consecutively recruited.Their 6 months retrospective and 1 month prospective data were collected;and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 (p < 0.05).RESULTS: Fifty six children with epilepsy (mean age= 9.7 ± 4.1 years) were studied. Generalized tonic clonic epilepsy was noted in 41.1% (23/56) of them.Thirty six (64.3%) complied strictly with the treatment regimen. Polytherapy, high cost of drugs, multiple drug dosages and drug related side effects affected compliance. Majority (79.4%, 27/34) of patients on monotherapy and a few (27.2%, 6/22) on poly-therapy had good seizure control (p<0.001).CONCLUSION: Poor drug compliance is a major constraint to adequate seizure control in children with epilepsy in our setting.Addressing the problem of poor compliance will enable them to achieve optimal seizure control.KEY WORDS: Epilepsy, Treatment Compliance, Associated Factors;Childre

Factors influencing academic performance of primary school pupils in Uyo, Nigeria

No Abstract

A comparison of axillary with rectal thermometry in under 5 children

Background: Body temperature measurement is a crucial clinical assessment in the care of an acutely ill child, especially the under fives. Most temperature measurements in our hospital are done from the axilla. Objective: To study the relationship between temperatures taken in the axilla with those taken in the rectum in febrile and afebrile children less than 5 years.Materials and Methods: Rectal and axillary temperatures were taken concurrently in 400 febrile and 400 afebrile children aged less than 5 years using mercury-in-glass thermometers.Result: The rectal temperature measurements ranged from 38.0 to 41.4°C and 36.4 to 37.9°C in the febrile and afebrile groups of children respectively while the axillary temperatures ranged from 36.7 to 41.0°C and 35.9 to 37.5°C in the febrile and afebrile groups of children, respectively. There were significant differences between the temperatures measured at the two sites in all the age groups studied. There was good positive correlation between the rectal and axillary temperatures. A linear relationship between axillary and rectal temperatures was derived using the simple regression analysis. The equation is: rectal temperature = 0.94×axillary temperature+2.92. Conclusion: Although there’s good correlation between axillary and rectal temperatures, significant difference exits between them that cannot be explained by the addition of any single value or any particular equation.Key words: Axillary, children, rectal, temperature, thermometr

Academic performance of school children with behavioural disorders in Uyo, Nigeria

Introduction: Behavioural disorders can have a negative influence on the academic performance of school children. There are no similiar published is no known studies in Nigeria. Objective: To compare the academic performance of primary school children with behavioural disorders with that of their controls. Methods: A total of 132 primary school pupils aged 6-12 years with behavioural disorders using Rutter scale for teachers (Scale B 2 ) and their matched-controls were selected. Their academic performance was assessed and compared using the overall scores achieved in the first and second term examinations in the 2005/2006 academic sessions, as well as the scores in individual subjects. Number of days absentt from school was documented. Results: While 26.5% and 12.9% pupils with behavioural disorders had high and poor academic performance respectively, 38.6% and 9.1% pupils without such disorders had high and poor performances respectively. The difference in the ooverall academic performance was statistically significant (p=0.04). The mean scores of the pupils with behavioural disorders on four core subjects compared well with those of the controls. Pupils with antisocial behaviour underachieved more than others. School absence rate had no significant influence on their performance. Conclusion: Behavioural disorders are associated with poor academic performance in school children in Uyo