Acute poisonings during pregnancy and in other non-pregnant women in emergency departments of four government hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 2010-2015.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise acute poisonings in pregnant and non-pregnant women treated at emergency departments of government hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between 2010 and 2015. METHODS: All data for acutely poisoned women were retrospectively collected from patient medical charts at the emergency departments of Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Ras Desta Memorial Hospital, Yekatit 12 Hospital Medical College and Zewditu Memorial Hospital. Data were collected by extraction questionnaire and analysed using SPSSv. 20 statistical software. RESULTS: During the study period, 998 cases of acutely poisoned women were listed in the hospital registries. Of these, complete data for inclusion in the study were available for 592. 36.3% of the study participants were in the age group of 20-24, with a mean (±SD) age of 23.03 (±6.3) years. 80.9% were from Addis Ababa; 4.6% were pregnant. The mean arrival time of all cases was 4.14 h. 85.5% of all study cases were due to intentional self-poisoning, of whom 42.1% were discharged without complications. The most common poisons were bleach and organophosphates; 25.9% of pregnant cases and 32.6% of non-pregnant cases were poisoned by bleach; and 18.5% of pregnant cases and 18.9% of non-pregnant cases had organophosphate poisoning. 0.7% had a history of poisoning; all were non-pregnant women. The common route of poison exposure was oral, and the case fatality rate of organophosphate poisoning in pregnant and non-pregnant women was 20 and 1.87%, respectively. The pre-hospital intervention for the majority of the women was milk, in 12.0% of cases. CONCLUSION: Acute poisoning remains a public health problem in our community. Bleach is the most common poisons. Our present findings indicate the necessity of educational programmes on preventable reasons of acute poisonings and their outcomes on pregnant and non-pregnant women.

Thyroid Malignancy in Patients Who Underwent Thyroidectomy for Multinodular Goiter and Solitary Thyroid Nodule.

PURPOSE: Worldwide, incidence of thyroid malignancy is increasing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pattern and magnitude of nodule types. METHODS: A cross-sectional retrospective study was performed at Saint Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, among patients who underwent thyroidectomy from May 2018 to June 2022. Data were extracted using a structured format. Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS version 26 software. Results were presented in terms of percentages and frequencies. RESULTS: During a 4-year period, 1,476 patients had thyroidectomies and histopathologic information of 212 malignant cases was studied. Within multinodular goiter (MNG), thyroid cancer accounted for 69.8% (n = 148) of patients, whereas in solitary nodules, it accounted for 30.2%. From the total, 160 participants (75.5%) were female, and the female:male ratio was 3.1 (mean, 41.72; ± standard deviation [SD], 16.44) years, and age range of 12-88 years versus men, who have a mean of 44.71 (±SD, 14.91) years and an age range of 21-78 years. The mean age of male cases with solitary nodule and MNG was 40.6 and 46.5 years, respectively. The most frequent cancer in both types of nodules, accounting for 59% of patients, was papillary carcinoma, which was found in 64% of solitary nodules and 57.4% of multinodular nodules. Overall, 14.1% of tumors had multiple centers (17.4% in multinodular nodules and 6.9% in solitary nodules). In 7.1% of patients, microcarcinoma (<1 cm) was found, with papillary carcinoma accounting for 91.7% of the total. CONCLUSION: Compared with men, women with cancer typically manifested at a younger age. Males with malignancy in solitary nodules had a lower mean age than those with MNGs. The most frequent and significant cause of multicentric presentation is papillary carcinoma.

COVID-19 Preventive Practices among Bus Station Workers in Ethiopia.

As of May 19, 2021, Ethiopia was among the five African countries most affected by COVID-19. A cross-sectional design was used to assess the level of knowledge, perceptions, and practices of bus station workers about COVID-19 between August 25 and September 17, 2020. Face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaires were used. To identify the factors associated with the dependent variables, simple and multiple binary logistic regression analyses were used. A P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. In this study, 427 workers from three bus stations participated. Approximately 84.5%, 84.8%, and 81.3% of the workers had good knowledge, positive perceptions, and good practices, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that workers with a monthly income of 3,001 to 4,000 birr were about four times more likely to have poor knowledge compared with higher income workers. Those workers with poor knowledge were 2.4 times, and security workers were 3.7 times, more likely to have poor practices compared with workers with good knowledge and drivers, respectively. In conclusion, workers used in security and those who had poor knowledge regarding COVID-19 failed to exhibit effective preventative practices against the virus.

Prevalence and determinants of self-medication practice among selected households in Addis Ababa community.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Self-medication (SM) is one part of self-care which is known to contribute to primary health care. If practiced appropriately, it has major benefits for the consumers such as self-reliance and decreased expense. However, inappropriate practice can have potential dangers such as incorrect self-diagnosis, dangerous drug-drug interactions, incorrect manner of administration, incorrect dosage, incorrect choice of therapy, masking of a severe disease, and/or risk of dependence and abuse. The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of the self-medication practice (SMP) in Addis Ababa. METHODOLOGY: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among selected households in Addis Ababa from April 2016 to May 2016, with a recall period of two months before its conduction. Trained data collectors were employed to collect the data from the 604 sampled participants using pre-tested and validated questionnaires. RESULT: Among the 604 participants involved in this study, 422 (69.9%) were female and 182 (30.1%) were male and there was a mean age of 41.04 (± 13.45) years. The prevalence of SM in this study was 75.5%. The three most frequently reported ailments were headache 117 (25.7%), abdominal pain 59 (12.9%) and cough 54 (11.8%). The two main reasons for SM were mildness of illness 216 (47.4%) and previous knowledge about the drug 106 (23.2%). The two most frequently consumed medications were paracetamol 92 (20.2%) and traditional remedies 73 (16.0%), while drug retail outlets 319 (83.3%) were the main source of drugs. The two most frequently reported source of drug information were health professionals 174 (45.4%) and experience from previous treatment 82 (21.4%). Moreover, there were statistically significant differences among respondents who reported practicing SM based on income and knowledge about appropriate SMP. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Self-medication was practiced with a range of drugs from the conventional paracetamol and NSAIDs to antimicrobials. Being that the practice of SM is inevitable, health authorities and professionals are highly demanded to educate the public not only on the advantages and disadvantages of SM but on its proper use.