ABSTRACT
Introduction: Dysglycemia has been shown to influence outcome among critically ill children. We aimed to determine the prevalence, outcome and factors associated with dysglycemia among critically ill children aged one month to 12 years presenting to Fort Portal regional referral hospital. Methods: The study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional design for prevalence and factors associated, and longitudinal observational study design to determine the immediate outcome. Critically ill children aged one month to 12 years were systematically sampled and triaged at outpatient department using World Health Organization emergency signs. The random blood glucose was evaluated on admission and at 24 hours. Verbal and written informed consent/assent were obtained after stabilization of the study participants. Those that had hypoglycemia were given Dextrose 10% and those with hyperglycemia had no intervention. Results: Of the 384 critically ill children, dysglycemia was present in 21.7% (n = 83), of those 78.3% (n = 65) had hypoglycemia and 21.7% (n = 18) had hyperglycemia. The proportion of dysglycemia at 24 hours was 2.4% (n = 2). None of the study participants had persistent hypoglycemia at 24 hours. The cumulative mortality at 48hours was 3.6% (n = 3). At 48 hours 33.2% (n = 27) had stable blood glucose levels and were discharged from the hospital. After multiple logistic regression, obstructed breathing (AOR 0.07(0.02-0.23), inability to breastfeed/drink (AOR 2.40 (1.17-4.92) and active convulsions (AOR 0.21 (0.06-0.74), were the factors that were significantly associated with dysglycemia among critically ill children. The results will guide in the revision of policies and treatment protocols to facilitate better management of children at risk of dysglycemia nationally. Conclusions: Dysglycemia was found to affect one in five critically ill children aged one month to 12 years presenting to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital. Dysglycemia outcomes are good with early intervention.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19 years globally is complications from pregnancy and childbirth. Girls have poor access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including information. STUDY OBJECTIVE: To describe the accuracy of SRH information (SRHI) and its associated factors among adolescent girls in Uganda METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among girls aged 13-19 years in an urban district and a rural district. The accuracy of SRHI was assessed using a set of 13 questions covering "sex and reproduction," "condom use," and "HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases." Accuracy was categorized as low (≤7 items correct), moderate (8-11 items correct), and high accuracy (≥12 items) according to the number of correct answers. Poisson regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with accurate SRHI using STATA version 14. RESULTS: Of the 600 girls (mean age: 16.9 years; SD = 3.84), 75.3% were in school. The mean SRHI knowledge score was 9.9. The SRHI accuracy score was low among 6.3% of adolescents, moderate among 80.7%, and high among 13%. Parents with permissive parenting styles had adolescents with low SRHI accuracy compared with disciplinarian/authoritarian parents (IRR = 0.93 [0.885-0.987]; P = .004), whereas parents talking about sex with their adolescents was associated with accurate SRHI (IRR = 1.1 [1.051-1.153]; P < .001). Adolescents who had ever been pregnant had low SRHI accuracy (0.98 [0.911-0.989]; P = .019). There was no difference in SRHI accuracy between the urban and rural districts (P = .45). CONCLUSION: The low accuracy of SRHI calls for interventions aimed at engaging and training parents, who are considered to be the first in line to provide accurate information to adolescents irrespective of their location. The interventions and training should be culturally appropriate, and parents need to be supported with skills aimed at demystifying SRHI.
