The East African health research journal最新文献

Background: According to the World Health Organization in 2015, 40 million out of the 56 million deaths recorded worldwide (70%) were due to non-communicable diseases. These were mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.

Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted from October 2018 to March 2019. Availability of the files in the department's archives store for medical records and availability of trained physicians to perform diagnosis and treatment of HBP were the criteria used to select departments to be included in the study.

Results: Patients data were recorded from internal medicine department (59.8%), emergency department (18.1%) gynaecology and obstetrics department (13.3%) and surgery department (8.6%). The mean age of the patients who were hospitalised in the study period was 54 years (SD±10.2) with extremes of 18 and 104 years. The modal class was the age group of 50 to 60 with 24.4% of cases. Among patients who were hospitalised, 3.6% (127) had essential hypertension, of which 57.4% (73) were women.

Conclusion: Notable percentage of patients hospitalized at the University Hospital of Kamenge had essential hypertension. However, patients' knowledge of their hypertensive status had no positive contribution to its management.

Background: Cancer has become a global public health challenge and the number one cause of premature death. The incidence is increasing globally and more rapidly in low and middle-income countries despite the gross under-registration and challenges in diagnosis. Data about Uganda is mostly from the Mulago cancer registry which may not entirely represent other parts of the country. This study presents the trends of cancer incidence for Southwestern Uganda in a decade (2012 to 2021).

Method: We did a review of records at the Mbarara University histopathology laboratory and Mbarara Regional Referral Oncology Clinics from January 2012 to December 2021 for cancer diagnoses. Records missing patients' age or sex were excluded.

Results: We registered 4197 incident cancers, 51.8% were among males, and 10.7% were among children (0-18 years). The median age was 52 years and the interquartile range was 35-67 years. The most commonly diagnosed cancers were prostate cancer (13.46%), ocular surface carcinoma (11.03%), cervical cancer (10.55%), head and neck cancers (7.31%), esophageal carcinoma (6.79%), lymphomas (5.36%), retinoblastoma (5.31%), and breast cancer (5.00%) in descending order. Retinoblastoma was the most common cancer among children.

Conclusion: The cancer pattern in Southwestern Uganda has changed and the numbers diagnosed each year are increasing. Prostate cancer is the most common diagnosed cancer overall, and the commonest cancer among men. Among women, cervical cancer is the most common cancer, followed by ocular surface carcinoma, and breast cancer. Retinoblastoma is the most common cancer among children. The trend of Kaposi sarcoma has plummeted together with ocular surface carcinomas. The cancer trends seem to be influenced by the presence of diagnostic and treatment expertise in the region.

Background: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination is a key primary prevention method against cervical cancer which is given to young girls before onset of sexual activity. In Tanzania, cervical cancer is the most frequent occurring cancer among women and is the leading cause of cancer mortality. The HPV Vaccination programme was rolled-out in Tanzania in 2018 for adolescent girls aged 9-14 years to receive two doses at a six-months interval, with an annual vaccine uptake of 46.1%. In 2019, the uptake of the HPV vaccine was only 64%, whereas the national coverage target is 75%. This study aimed at assessing the determinants of HPV vaccination among adolescent girls in Hai district, Kilimanjaro region, northern Tanzania.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2020 to August 2020 among 14-year-old adolescent girls in four selected secondary schools, including two government-owned and two private-owned, within Hai district. Close-ended questionnaire interviews were conducted with the adolescent girls in the study and data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 20.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). Odds ratio was used to assess the association between several factors and HPV vaccination.

Results: A total of 301 adolescent girls aged 14 years consented to the study. HPV vaccination uptake was 65%. More than three-fifths (n=119, 60.7%) reported having received the two required doses. Knowledge of HPV (OR 5.68; 95% CI, 0.72 to 44.96; P=.01) and HPV vaccine (OR 20.11; 95% CI, 10.88 to 37.99); P =.01) contributed significantly to HPV vaccine uptake among the adolescent girls in the study. More than one-third (n=105, 34.9%,) of the participants, were not vaccinated, the main reasons adduced for not being vaccinated include lack of proper information about the HPV vaccine (60.0%), fear of side effects (14%) and parental refusal (11%).

Conclusion: HPV vaccination uptake was 65%. Lack of proper information to both the children and parents about the safety of the vaccine hinders its uptake. More effort should be made for clear and comprehensible dissemination of information especially to the community stakeholders mainly parents, community and religious leaders, about cervical cancer and HPV vaccine in order to considerably increase vaccination coverage among adolescent girls. Likewise, involvement of healthcare workers and policymakers in educating people about cervical cancer prevention measures can ensure successful implementation of HPV vaccination. There is need to conduct an indepth qualitative study to explore further people's perceptions and attitudes towards HPV.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes is on the rise globally, with likely disproportionate increase in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, diabetes has been acknowledged as one of the top non-communicable diseases needing prevention and control. Research can contribute to diabetes prevention and control: however, the landscape of diabetes research in Kenya remains understudied.

Methods: PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar and ProQuest were searched for relevant articles. We included studies on humans, reporting on any type of diabetes, conducted in Kenya between 2000 to 2020.

Results: From the search, 983 records were retrieved out of which 102 met the study inclusion criteria. Most studies were facility based (71%) cross sectional (65%) and descriptive (71%) conducted in Nairobi (38%) between 2013-2020 (82%), focused on diabetes control, (71%) and funded by organisations/institutions from high income countries (73%).

Conclusion: Despite the recent increase in research outputs, there is still limited diabetes research being conducted in Kenya necessitating more research in the country and particularly outside Nairobi to inform prevention and control efforts. Specifically, more focus should be given to etiological and intervention studies (which use longitudinal and randomised controlled trial designs), community-based and public health research. Finally, increased local funding for diabetes research is required.