Haematological and biochemical effects of etonogestrel subdermal implant (Implanon) in Ilorin Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of etonogestrel subdermal implant (Implanon) on haematological and biochemical parameters of its users. METHODOLOGY: A prospective observational study among healthy women using Implanon for contraception. The study site was the family planning clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. Informed consent was obtained and participants were followed up for three years. Follow up parameters were haematological and biochemical evaluation at insertion (baseline), first and third years post-insertion. Statistical analysis was with SPSS-version 20.0; p value <0.05 was significant. RESULTS: 124 participants of age 20-44 years were included in the study. During the period of study, a progressive increase in the weight as well as in the level of alanine transaminase and systolic blood pressure was recorded. As compared to the baseline values, statistically significant difference in the mean values of systolic blood pressure (p<0.01), alanine transaminase (p<0.01) and weight (p=0.001) were recorded at the first year. Packed Cell Volume (p=0.001), weight (p=0.001), alanine transaminase (p=0.001) and alkaline phosphatase (p<0.05) were significant at the third year. Between the first and third year post-insertion, there was statistically significant difference in Packed Cell Volume (p=0.001), urea (p<0.05), aspartate (p=0.001) and alanine transaminase (p=0.001) and weight (p=0.001). However, there were no clinically detectable abnormalities or pregnancy during the study period. CONCLUSION: Haematological and biochemical parameters change with Implanon use but they were not significant to cause clinical sequelae. Implanon remains a safe long term contraceptive.

Attitudes to female genital mutilation/cutting among male adolescents in Ilorin, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The central role of males in female reproductive health issues in patriarchal societies makes them an important group in the eradication of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). OBJECTIVE: To determine knowledge about and attitudes to FGM/C among male adolescents, and their preparedness to protect their future daughters from it. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey among male adolescent students in Ilorin, Nigeria. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire after consent had been obtained from them or their parents. Statistical analysis was with SPSS version 20.0 (IBM, USA). A p-value of <0.05 was taken as significant. RESULTS: Of 1 536 male adolescents (mean age 15.09 (standard deviation 1.84) years, range 14 - 19), 1 184 (77.1%) were aware of FGM/C, 514 (33.5%) supported female circumcision, 362 (23.6%) would circumcise their future daughters, 420 (27.3%) were of the opinion that FGM/C had benefits, mostly as a necessity for womanhood (109, 7.1%), and 627 (40.8%) perceived it as wickedness against females; 546 (35.5%) were aware of efforts to eradicate FGM/C, and 42.2% recommended education as the most important intervention to achieve this. CONCLUSION: Education and involvement in advocacy may transform male adolescents into agents for eradication of FGM/C.

Evaluation of parturient perception and aversion before and after primary cesarean delivery in a low-resource country.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the perception of and aversion to cesarean delivery (CD) and their determinants before and after primary CD. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional survey of pregnant women undergoing primary CD (elective or emergency) was conducted in six health facilities in Ilorin, Nigeria. All participants completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire before the operation and 3-4days thereafter. The statistical analysis included the calculation of odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and a logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 254 participants, 182 (71.7%) and 53 (20.9%) had an aversion to CD before and after the procedure, respectively. A woman's personal decision was the overriding factor influencing acceptance of the operation. Preoperative predictors of aversion were prenatal admission (OR 2.86 [95% CI,1.07-7.66]; P=0.030) and a history of previous surgery (OR 0.42 [95% CI, 0.24-0.75]; P=0.003), whereas postoperatively a low number of prenatal clinic visits (less than four; OR 3.05 [95% CI,1.63-5.69]; P=0.001) and a history of previous surgery (OR 0.51 [95% CI, 0.27-0.96]; P=0.034) were significant. Postprocedure, 164 (64.6%) women said they would accept a repeat CD. CONCLUSION: Patient education, prenatal care, and previous surgical experiences were important in determining women's perception of and aversion to CD.

Attitudes to female genital mutilation/cutting among male adolescents in Ilorin, Nigeria

Background. The central role of males in female reproductive health issues in patriarchal societies makes them an important group in the eradication of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).Objective. To determine knowledge about and attitudes to FGM/C among male adolescents; and their preparedness to protect their future daughters from it.Methods. A cross-sectional survey among male adolescent students in Ilorin; Nigeria. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire after consent had been obtained from them or their parents. Statistical analysis was with SPSS version 20.0 (IBM; USA). A p-value of 0.05 was taken as significant.Results. Of 1 536 male adolescents (mean age 15.09 (standard deviation 1.84) years; range 14 - 19); 1 184 (77.1%) were aware of FGM/C; 514 (33.5%) supported female circumcision; 362 (23.6%) would circumcise their future daughters; 420 (27.3%) were of the opinion that FGM/C had benefits; mostly as a necessity for womanhood (109; 7.1%); and 627 (40.8%) perceived it as wickedness against females; 546 (35.5%) were aware of efforts to eradicate FGM/C; and 42.2% recommended education as the most important intervention to achieve thisConclusion. Education and involvement in advocacy may transform male adolescents into agents for eradication of FGM/C

Male Partner's Role during Pregnancy, Labour and Delivery: Expectations of Pregnant women in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the expectations of pregnant women on the role of the male partner during conception and delivery. METHODOLOGY: A prospective multi-centre observational study comprising 506 pregnant women at eight health facilities in Ilorin, Nigeria from January to June 2014. Consenting women were recruited at antenatal clinics using multistage purposive sampling and a self-administered questionnaire was administered with provision for interpreters in local dialects for those without western education. The data was analyzed using SPSS using percentages and chi-square test; p <0.05 was termed significant. RESULTS: Participants were aged 17 to 49 years (mean 30.23±4.81), 82.4% desire male partners company during antenatal clinic visits and 59.1% experienced this in index pregnancy. During labour and delivery, 427(84.4%) want company; 345(80.8%) chose the male partner with 211(57.7%) hoping men will appreciate the value of females afterwards although 27.9% feared the men may disturb the health workers, 72(14.2%) male partners attended previous delivery and 84.8% of the women were satisfied with the experience. Significant predictors of support for male partner's presence at delivery were maternal age (p=0.001), secondary or higher education (p=0.001) and parity less than four (p=0.001); religion (x(2)1.010; p>0.001) and social status (p>0.001) were statistically insignificant. Pregnant women wanted education for male partners on care of pregnant women (77.0%) and sex during conception (25.2%). CONCLUSION: Parturient desire male partners' presence at deliveries but their past participation was low; health facility modifications and education for men are required to meet the desires.

Pattern of cervical dilatation among parturients in Ilorin, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the pattern of cervical dilatation in live singleton pregnancies with spontaneous onset of labor and to compare any differences among nulliparas (P ara 0) and multiparas (Para >or=1). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Descriptive statistics are presented for 238 consecutive labor patients with spontaneous onset, >or=37 weeks gestation, live singleton pregnancy and who had spontaneous vertex delivery at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, from May 2004 to June 2004. Pre-labor rupture of membrane and referred cases were excluded. RESULTS: The mean cervical dilatation on presentation and duration of labor before presentation in labor ward among nulliparas were 5.40 cm and 6.66 hours; and among multiparas, 6.45 cm and 5.15 hours, respectively, the overall mean being 6.12 cm and 5.63 hours, respectively. The average time spent to achieve full cervical dilatation from time of arrival in labor ward was longer in nulliparas (4.80 hours) than in multiparas (3.60 hours) (t test not significant; P> 0.05). Overall mean total length of first stage of labor was 9.36 hours, while the total length of first stage of labor was 11.03 hours and 8.53 hours for nulliparas and multiparas, respectively (difference is significant; t test P< 0.05). Significant negative correlation existed between parity and total length of first stage of labor. Mean cervical dilatation rate in labor ward (active phase) was higher in multiparas (1.83 cm/h) than in nulliparas (1.76 cm/h), but the difference was not significant (t test P> 0.05). No significant correlation existed between rate of cervical dilatation and maternal age, gestational age and fetal size. CONCLUSION: It is evident from this study that higher the parity the shorter the length of first stage of labor; however, significant difference existed only in the first half of first stage of labor between nulliparas and multiparas. Mean rate of cervical dilatation was greater than the WHO-specified and Philpott's lower limit of 1 cm/h in active phase of labor.

Sexual activity and contraceptive use among young female students of tertiary educational institutions in Ilorin, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: A survey was conducted to evaluate the pattern of sexual behavior and contraceptive use among female students aged 15 to 24 years attending tertiary institutions in Ilorin, Nigeria. STUDY DESIGN: A valid and reliable semistructured questionnaire was self-administered to a sampled population of 600 students aged 15 to 24 years. RESULTS: Of the 600 students, 562 (93.7%) completed the questionnaire. Most (98.6%) of the respondents were unmarried, 77.6% have had sexual intercourse, 67.8% have had an unwanted pregnancy while 63.5% have had induced abortion. All the respondents were aware of contraceptives, but only 25.4% have ever used any contraceptive method. The most common sources of information about contraception among the respondents were friends/relatives (73.7%), while the fear of side effects of modern contraceptives was the most common reason (77.5%) for nonuse. CONCLUSION: The fear of side effects is the main reason for low contraceptive prevalence among young female students of tertiary institutions in Ilorin. Reproductive health services should focus more on delivery of adequate and accurate information about contraceptives to improve use among young women.

Acceptability of measures aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV among pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the acceptability of measures aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV among counseled and yet-to-be-counseled antenatal women in a federal medical center in Nigeria. METHODS: A valid and reliable questionnaire was interviewer administered to newly booking antenatal women who were yet to be counseled about HIV/AIDS and women on an antenatal follow-up visit who had already been counseled about HIV/AIDS. RESULTS: A total of 108 newly booked women and 116 women on follow-up visit responded to the questionnaire. The proportion of the counseled women who accepted HIV screening (98%) was significantly higher than the proportion of the yet-to-be-counseled women who would want to be screened (88%). Also, the proportions of the counseled women who accepted HIV screening so as to benefit from interventions like prevention of mother-to-child transmission, antiretroviral therapy and prevention of transmission to partner were significantly higher than the proportions among the yet-to-be-counseled women. The majority of the women in the study would accept antiretroviral drugs and avoidance of breastfeeding to prevent mother-to-child transmission, while only 29 (14%) respondents would accept cesarean section to prevent mother-to-child transmission. There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of the counseled women (15%) who would accept cesarean section to prevent mother to child transmission when compared to the proportion among the yet-to-be-counseled women (11%). CONCLUSION: Antenatal HIV screening is acceptable to most pregnant women attending our hospital, and while many would accept antiretroviral drugs and avoidance of breastfeeding to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, there is low acceptability of elective cesarean section.