Pattern, Clinical Characteristics, and Impact of Family History on Prostate-Specific Antigen in Prostate Cancer: A Multicenter Study.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major cause of illness and death in men of Sub-Sahara African origin. The study assessed the pattern of PCa, the effect of family history on PSA at diagnosis, and clinical characteristics of PCa in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of 200 participants was performed within a 12-month period in Nigeria. Data were collected through patients' interview and hospital records and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. P values <.05 were significant. Mean age of 68.5 years was observed among the 200 study participants. Only 64 (32.0%) had a positive immediate family history of PCa, and 61 (30.5%) were not aware of their family cancer history. Most patients 140 (70.0%) had lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS)/lower back pain/leg pain, and the average Gleason score was 7.55 (±0.876). Symptoms of LUTS/lower back pain mostly occurred in patients between 58 and 79 years, while LUTS/leg pain was more common in persons between 60 and 84. Average PSA differed among participants; persons with no family cancer history (M = 143.989; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 114.849-173.129), family history of PCa (M = 165.463; 95% CI = 131.435), family history of cervical cancer (M = 133.456; 95% CI = 49.335-217.576), and persons with no knowledge of their family cancer history (M = 121.546; 95% CI = 89.234-153.857). Univariate one-way (F-Tests) showed that family history of cancer had no significant impact on patients' PSA (R2 = 0.017; adjusted R2 = 0.002; df = 3; F = 1.154; p = .329) at diagnosis. PCa mostly occurred in men within 60 to 70 years of age, and family history of cancer did not predict PSA at diagnosis. Patients presented to health facilities at advanced or metastatic stages. These findings highlight the need for policies and strategies that encourage early PCa screening.

Impact of a pharmacist-led intervention on prostate cancer illness perception.

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: Illness perception (IP) significantly determines illness outcomes. This study determined the impact of a pharmacist educational intervention on IP in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) and predictors of IP. METHODS: Using a brief IP questionnaire, an interventional study of patients with PCa was conducted in all cancer reference hospitals in one Nigerian state. After a pre-post assessment of patients' IP, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed. The impact of pharmacists' intervention on IP was determined by paired-sample statistics and correlation analysis at the 95% CI. Relationships and predictors of IP were determined using Kendall's tau-b (τb), likelihood ratio, and F tests of equality of means, respectively. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Pharmacists' educational intervention significantly improved IP (SEM, 0.13; r = 0.875; P < 0.0001) among the 200 participants. The analyses also showed a significant paired sample difference (2.662; SEM, 0.06; 95%CI, 2.536-2.788; t = 41.69; df = 199; P < 0.0001). All subscales of patients' IP significantly improved except for illness consequences (P = 0.173) and identity (mean [SD], 4.40 [3.730] in both pre- and postintervention assessments). Pre- and postintervention assessments showed a significant negative relationship of IP with age (τb = -110 [P = 0.040] and τb = -14 [P = 0.021], respectively), Gleason score (τb = -0.125 [P = 0.021] and τb = -0.124 [P=0.012], respectively), and age at diagnosis (τb = -0.103 [P = 0.036] post intervention). IP was significantly dependent on the drug therapy (df = 8; mean square [M] = 6.292; F = 2.825; P = 0.006), alcohol intake (df = 1; M = 9.608; F = 4.082; P = 0.045) and Gleason score (df = 9; M = 6.706; F = 3.068; P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Patients' IP significantly improved after pharmacists' educational intervention. Predictors of IP were drug therapies, alcohol use and Gleason score. Findings can be extrapolated in clinical settings to improve treatment outcomes.

A review of factors influencing the uptake of prostate cancer treatment in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The uptake of prostate cancer (PCa) treatment determines the disease course, but is influenced by several factors. This review assessed the factors that influence the uptake of PCa treatments in Nigeria, with a view to providing evidence for policies and other interventional approaches that enhance treatment uptake and PCa outcomes. METHODS: A review of relevant articles retrieved from electronic databases of Web of science, PubMed, Google scholar, African Journals online and Hinari was performed using relevant keywords. Relevant studies were also extracted from the bibliographic references of the identified studies. Peer-reviewed published articles that reported any associated factor to the uptake or utilisation of PCa treatment options from 2000 to 2023 were considered eligible, and the most pertinent reports were extracted and incorporated into this review. RESULTS: The uptake of PCa treatment options was observed to be dependent on several factors which could be grouped as economic, system-related and patient-related factors. Among these were the availability of treatment options and targeted therapies, cost and financial constraints, system-related barriers, funding gaps and lack of insurance coverage, patients' beliefs and perceptions, access to radiotherapy services and access to PCa screening. CONCLUSION: Several influencing factors posed barriers to the timely uptake of PCa treatment. Policies and strategies aimed at reducing or preventing these barriers are solicited from relevant stakeholders.

Assessment of prescribing in under-five paediatric outpatients in Nigeria: an application of the POPI (Pediatrics: Omission of Prescription and Inappropriate Prescription) tool.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated prescribing in children under the age of five attending paediatric outpatient clinics at three Central hospitals in Delta State, Nigeria and determined the conditions mostly associated with inappropriate prescriptions and omissions. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of prescriptions made to children from 0 to 59 months who attended the clinics. Prescriptions were evaluated using the POPI tool, occurrence of potentially inappropriate prescriptions and prescribing omissions were reported as percentages and inappropriate prescription types and prescription omissions were also reported as frequencies. Relationship between inappropriate prescriptions, omissions of prescriptions and age group and gender were determined, P < 0.05 was considered significant. KEY FINDINGS: A total of 1327 prescriptions from the three centres were analyzed. There was a preponderance of infants (>1 month-12 months of age) in the study (43.0%) and a somewhat even gender distribution. Exactly 29.8% of all the prescriptions studied had at least one occurrence of inappropriate prescription. The use of H1 antagonists with sedative or atropine-like effects accounted for the majority of inappropriate prescriptions (49.5%), while the prescription of drinkable amoxicillin or other antibiotics in doses other than mg was the most frequent omission of prescription (97.2%). There was a significant relationship between the occurrence of inappropriate prescription and age group (P > 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Inappropriate prescriptions and omissions of prescriptions were high and effectively detected by the POPI tool.

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 prognosis with the use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin-converting-enzyme-2, being the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, is increased in the use of RAAS inhibitors. Therefore, concerns have been raised over risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection and poor prognosis of COVID-19 in persons with prior exposure to these drugs. This study aimed to systematically review available evidence for associations between exposure to RAAS inhibitors with susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and clinical outcomes in infected persons. It hopes to address the question on the effects of RAAS inhibitors on the risk of COVID-19 and its prognosis. MAIN BODY: Search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Embase and MedRxiv.org from December 2019 to May 31, 2020, using relevant keywords. Additional articles were identified through hand-searching of reference lists. Studies that reported associations between positive tests to COVID-19 and use of RAAS inhibitors, and treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients who had exposure to RAAS inhibitors were considered eligible. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess risk of bias in individual studies. The review was conducted in line with Preferred Regulatory Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines 2009. From the 952 studies screened and 2 studies from reference hand-searching, 18 were reviewed. Four studies evaluated the risks for SARS-CoV-2 infection among RAAS inhibitors users, and 16 (including 2 of the 4 studies) evaluated the clinical outcomes associated with previous exposure to RAAS inhibitors. CONCLUSION: Evidence does not suggest higher risks for SARS-CoV-2 infection or poor disease prognosis in the use of RAAS inhibitors. This suggests the continued use of RAAS inhibitors by patients with existing needs, which supports the position statements of American Heart Association and European societies for Cardiology. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43094-021-00224-4.

Benefits and extent of CAM use among persons living with HIV attending an antiretroviral therapy clinic in Warri, Nigeria.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies among patients on anti-retroviral therapies as well as the possible reasons for their use. METHOD: This cross-sectional survey was conducted with the aid of an interviewer-administered questionnaire on HIV-positive patients attending the antiretroviral therapy clinic (Heart-to-Heart centre) of the Central Hospital, Warri, Nigeria. Patients who were 18 years and over were included after a brief introductory talk on the nature of the study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. KEY FINDINGS: One hundred and thirty-five patients participated in the study, 50 (37%) patients used one form of CAM. Of the patients who used CAM, 17 (34.0%) patients used herbal medicines; eight (16.0%) patients used spirituality, and 25 (50.0%) nutritional supplements. The CAM methods used by the patients were for the treatment of discomforts related to antiretroviral therapy (ART), eight (16.0%); the treatment of medical conditions not related to ART, 13 (26.0%), boosting the immune system, 25 (50%) among other reasons. The study revealed that a higher percentage of HIV-infected patients (76.0%) did not disclose their use of CAM to their healthcare providers. CONCLUSION: Although highly active antiretroviral therapy has proved to be very effective in the management of patients with HIV, CAMs are still much in use.

Evaluation of cost of treatment of malaria in adults in Benin City, Nigeria: patients' perspective.

Background: Malaria remains a disease of immense clinical and economic significance. Limited research has been carried out to estimate malaria treatment costs at the health care facility level using the patient's perspective. The objectives of this study were therefore to determine the direct and indirect costs of malaria treatment among adult outpatients and to assess the patients' perception of treatment costs. Materials and methods: A cr oss-sectional study was conducted at the Pharmacy section of the General Practice Clinic, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. It involved adult outpatients diagnosed with malaria and who received a prescription of one or more anti-malarial medications. A cost-of-illness approach was employed in the assessment of costs of treatment of malaria per sick adult patient. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were used in the study. Furthermore, self-reported incidence of malaria per year was assessed. Results: The mean direct and indirect cost of tr eating malaria illness per adult outpatient was Nigerian Naira (NGN) 3417.70 ($ 20.34) and NGN 4870 ($ 29.0), respectively, giving a ratio of 0.7:1. Medications and laboratory tests for detection of malaria parasites contributed about 52 and 22% of the total direct cost, respectively. A total of 1592 malaria episodes were self-reported to occur annually, giving a mean value of 3.35 episodes per adult. Having a health care insurance was associated with the response that the cost of malaria treatment was low (P< 0.001). Conclusion: The mean values of direct cost and indirect cost of treatment of malaria illness per adult outpatient were $ 20.34 and $ 29.0, respectively. Respondents who had health insurance perceived malaria treatment cost to be low, whereas those without such insurance felt otherwise.