Assessment of workhour feeding practices, healthy behaviour score and body mass index of physicians in Northern Nigeria: a cross-sectional multi-centre study.

Background: The increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight among health workers calls for an appraisal of their lifestyle. This study assessed medical practitioners' workhour feeding and lifestyle practices and explored the relationship between these practices and their body mass index (BMI). Methods: The survey involved 321 medical practitioners selected from 9 northern Nigeria hospitals in 2021. Data collected included biodata, medication history, workhour feeding characteristics, lifestyle behaviours, blood pressure, height, and weight measurements. Data were analyzed using Epi info software (version 7). Results: Most respondents were male (70.7%). Their mean age was 38 ± 7.4 years. During their last workhours, 84.1% had lunch, and 46.4% took sugary drinks. Usually, 41.7% source their lunch from the hospital canteen, and 18.7% patronize their canteen at least weekly. Most reported healthy behaviour towards alcohol consumption (99.7%), fruit and vegetable consumption (54.8%) and smoking (98.4%). However, only 22.4% were physically active. Their mean healthy behaviour score and BMI were 2.8 ± 0.7 and 26.1 ± 4.6 kg/m2, respectively. The obesity and overweight rates were 18.4% and 37.7%, respectively. Their source of lunch during workhours, age, sex, years of practice, employment duration, marital status, job category, systolic blood pressure, anti-hypertensive, and antidiabetic medication use were significantly associated with mean BMI. However, only antihypertensive medication use, being married, inadequate fruit/vegetable consumption and workhour sugary drinks consumption predicted obesity. The predictors of overweight/obese were years of practice (< 10 y) and use of antihypertensive medications. Conclusions: Obesity and overweight rates were high. Most were physically inactive. Workhour sugary drink consumption predicted obesity. Effective workplace and community interventions to improve practitioners' lifestyle behaviour and curtail obesity and overweight are needed.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on primary care research in a resource-limited setting: a commentary.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on several aspects of human existence including primary care research activities in resource-limited settings. Opportunities exist for initiating multi-disciplinary collaborative research teams that may examine current controversial areas of the disease such as prevention, diagnosis and treatment; experiences of stakeholders like COVID-19 survivors and frontline health workers; and individuals and community experiences during lockdowns. Challenges associated with initiating new studies and/or sustaining old ones and publication of research outcomes may need to be curtailed through alternative strategies and support from stakeholders.

Assessment of Sleep Quality among Medical Doctors in a Tertiary Hospital in a Semi-Rural Setting.

INTRODUCTION: Sleep is an integral part of human physiology; therefore, disorders of sleep may result in significant derangement in human functionality. Sleep medicine has received little attention in Nigeria. Against this backdrop, this survey seeks to evaluate the quality of sleep among doctors. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 59 doctors working with Federal Medical Centre Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria; it was done between August 2017 and December 2017. Purposive sampling method was adopted. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were adopted. The questionnaire was self-administered. RESULTS: There were 34 (57.6%) males and 25 (42.4%) females. Their age ranged from 20 to 66 years, with a mean of 34.39 ± 8.00. The Epworth score ranged from 8 to 29, with a mean of 16.1 ± 4.4, while the PSQI score ranged from 5 to 19, with a mean of 9.5 ± 2.7. The mean work hour per week was 90.3 ± 36.2 h, and majority of the respondents worked for >80 h and or >24 h consecutively in the preceding week, and most had high ESS scores; however, this observation was not statistically significant (Fisher's exact test = 4.0904, P = 0.213). All respondents were poor sleepers and majority sleep for <7 h in the night. Respondents had worked for 5 years and less; house officers and medical offers had more tendencies for daytime sleepiness. CONCLUSION: All respondents were poor sleepers and also had prolonged work hours per week; there was also heightened daytime sleepiness.