Anxiety disorders among youth with substance use and associated factors in Northwest Ethiopia: A community-based study.

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety disorder is an unpleasant emotional feeling with symptoms related to psychological and autonomic symptoms such as headache, perspiration, palpitations, dizziness, and stomach discomfort. The use of substances become a worldwide problem among youth which brings situation that leads to serious social and health-related problems. Anxiety disorders with substance use have a huge impact on their high prevalence, therapeutic issues, and poor prognosis on clinical effects. Although the prevalence of anxiety disorders is significant among young people who use substances, limited studies were conducted. Therefore, this study revealed the burden of anxiety disorders among youth with substance use and associated factors in Ethiopia. METHOD: A community-based multi-stage with a simple random sampling technique was conducted. A total of 372 substance users study participants were recruited for this study. Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Tests, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, and other tools were used to assess anxiety disorders with substance use and associated factors. Data were entered into Epi-data version 4.6, and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Bi-variables logistic regression analysis was employed to identify variables with a p-value of < 0.2 and associated factors were determined in multi-variables logistic regression analysis with a p-value < 0.05 with AOR and CI. RESULTS: From a total of 372 respondents the overall prevalence of anxiety disorders with substance use was 48.1%. Male sex [AOR = 1.99; 95% CI: (1.01-3.93)], low educational status of the father [AOR = 6.38 95%CI: (1.50-7.08)], and the presence of stress [AOR = 2.48; 95% CI: 2.48(2.43-4.40)] were significantly associated factors with anxiety disorders with substances use. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The prevalence of anxiety disorders with substance use was 48.1% therefore; it is recommended that the zonal administration give collaborative work with the health bureau and facilitate awareness creation about the impact of substance abuse. Clinicians are recommended to mitigate anxiety disorders with substance use to get a good prognosis for clients with controlling their stress.

Determinants of Malnutrition and its associated factors among pregnant and lactating women under armed conflict areas in North Gondar Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a community-based study.

INTRODUCTION: Maternal malnutrition remains a major public health problem, particularly in low and middle-income countries and war-affected areas like Ethiopia. Malnourished pregnant and lactating women with low nutrient stores have babies with poor mental and physical development, increasing the risk of poor birth outcomes. Despite the fact that the majority of Ethiopian mothers are malnourished, there is little evidence in war-affected areas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant and lactating mothers in the war affected area of North Gondar Zone, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 10 to May 25, 2022. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 1560 pregnant and lactating mothers. MUAC was to ascertain the outcome variable. Data was entered and analyzed by using EPI INFO version 3.5.3 and SPSS version 24, respectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the factors associated with acute malnutrition. An adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval was used to show the strength of the association, while a P-value of 0.05 was used to declare the significance of the association. RESULTS: The prevalence of acute malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women was 34.3% at the 95% CI (31.9-36.8). The age of the mothers (AOR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.54, 0.99), family size 6-8 (AOR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.82), and greater than or equal to 9 family sizes (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.19, 0.97), were significantly associated with acute malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, the prevalence of acute malnutrition among pregnant and lactating mothers is high in the study area. Mother's age and family size were factors associated with acute malnutrition in war-affected areas. As a result, mothers with large families will require special assistance to reduce the impact of malnutrition.

Suicide ideation and/or attempt with substance use and associated factors among the youth in northwest Ethiopia, community-based.

BACKGROUND: Substance use is referring to the use of psychoactive substances like chat, cigarettes, alcohol, and others. The use of substances particularly (alcohol, chat, and cigarette) is a major mental health burden in developing countries including Ethiopia among youth. Suicide ideation and an attempt are thinking or trying to kill oneself that facilitates the act of a person intentionally causing his or her death. Suicide is one of the most serious mental health problems and has a great social impact in the world as it is currently the third leading cause of death for youth. Youth is defined as the period of life between childhood and maturity with an age interval of (15-25). METHOD: A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts with substance use among youth in northwest Ethiopia. Multi-stage sampling techniques of stratified with simple random sample ware used. In the first stage, substance users are selected then as the second stage among substance users the burden of suicide behavior is assessed. ASIST, DASS-21, and other tools were used to assess suicidal behavior with substance use and associated factors. Data were edited, purified, and entered into Epi-data version 4.6 before being exported to the statistical package for social sciences version 20 for analysis of bi-variables to see the associations' p-value < 0.2 and multi-variables to identify the associated variables with a p-value of < 0.05 AOR and CI also done. RESULTS: From a total of 372 substance user participants over all prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among youth was 54(14.5%) with 95% CI of (11.0,18.0) and 37(9.9%) with 95% CI (7.0, 13.0) respectively. Being female [AOR =2.36;95% CI:(1.19, 4.68)], poor social support [AOR =3.03; 95% CI: (1.11, 8.25)], and anxiety [AOR = 3.82: 95% CI; (1.96, 7.46)]. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt among substance users was 14.5 and 9.9% respectively therefore, immediate interventional actions needed to be administered to decrease the burden of suicide by reducing substance use and other associated factors.

Anxiety and associated factors among Ethiopian health professionals at early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: In late 2019, a new coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease 2019) was identified. As there is no any drug to treat this pandemic, the healthcare professionals are disproportionately at higher risk. The mental health outcome is expected to be high. Anxiety is expected to have a significant impact on health professionals, especially among those who work without adequate resources for self-protection. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this research was to assess self-reported anxiety symptoms and associated factors among Ethiopian healthcare professionals in the early stages of the pandemic. METHODS: We have conducted an online cross-sectional study to collect information from healthcare professionals in Ethiopia during the early stage of the outbreak from April 7, 2020 to May 19, 2020. GAD-7 was used for measurement of anxiety. We have used a cut of point of 10 and above to report anxiety symptoms. We have used Google Forms for online data collection and SPSS-22 for analysis. To determine associated factors for anxiety, a binary logistic regression model was used. Variables with p-value < 0.2 during the bivariable binary logistic regression were exported for further analysis in the multivariable binary logistic regression. Finally, variables with p-value <0.05 were considered as significantly associated with the outcomes. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty-eight healthcare professionals filled the online questionnaire; Majority (71.1%) were males. Significant number of respondents (78.9%) reported lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at the work place. The prevalence of anxiety was 26.8%. Being female (AOR: 1.88; 95% C.I:1.11, 3.19), visiting/treating 30-150 patients per day (AOR: 3.44; 95% C.I:1.51, 7.84), those employed at private healthcare institutions (AOR: 2.40; 95% C.I:1.17, 4.90), who do not believe that COVID-19 is preventable (AOR: 2.04; 95% C.I:1.04, 4.03) and those who reported lack of PPE (AOR: 1.98; 95% C.I:1.04, 3.79) were more likely to be anxious. CONCLUSIONS: The anxiety prevalence among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia during early stage of COVID-19 pandemic was high. This study shows that lack of preventive equipment, being female, contact with many patients, low self-efficacy and working in private health facilities were risk factors for anxiety. Anxiety prevention among health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic requires a holistic approach including provision of sufficient PPE, improving self-efficacy and addressing problems both at public and private institutions and focusing more on female health professionals.

Depression, anxiety, stress and their associated factors among Ethiopian University students during an early stage of COVID-19 pandemic: An online-based cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the mental health situation of almost everyone, including University students who spent most of their time at home due to the closure of the Universities. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing depression, anxiety, stress and identifying their associated factors among university students in Ethiopia during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We invited students to complete an online survey using Google forms comprising consent, socio-demographic characteristics, and the standard validated depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. After completion of the survey from June 30 to July 30, 2020, we exported the data into SPSS 22. Both descriptive and analytical statistics were computed. Associated factors were identified using binary logistic regression and variables with a p-value <0.05 were declared as statistically significant factors with the outcome variables. RESULTS: A total of 423 students completed the online survey. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in this study was 46.3%, 52%, and 28.6%, respectively. In the multivariable model, female sex, poor self-efficacy to prevent COVID-19, those who do not read any material about COVID-19 prevention, lack of access to reading materials about their profession, and lack of access to uninterrupted internet access were significantly associated with depression. Female sex, lower ages, students with non-health-related departments, those who do not think that COVID-19 is preventable, and those who do not read any materials about COVID-19 prevention were significantly associated with anxiety. Whereas, being female, students attending 1st and 2nd years, those who do not think that COVID-19 is preventable, presence of confirmed COVID-19 patient at the town they are living in, and lack of access to reading materials about their profession were significantly associated with stress. CONCLUSIONS: Depression, anxiety, and stress level among University students calls for addressing these problems by controlling the modifiable factors identified and promoting psychological wellbeing of students.

Cognitive Impairment and Associated Factors Among Adult Hypothyroid Patients in Referral Hospitals, Amhara Region, Ethiopia: Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment is a common complication of hypothyroidism that affects the patient's quality of life in different aspects. In Ethiopia, though the prevalence of hypothyroidism is high the magnitude of cognitive impairment among these patients is not known. Therefore, the current study is aimed at determining the prevalence of cognitive impairment and associated factors among adult hypothyroid patients. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was employed from February 24 to May 22, 2020, to assess the prevalence of cognitive impairment and associated factors among adult hypothyroid patients. Data was collected by a pretested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and standardized Mini-mental state examination (SMMSE) tool. A cluster sampling technique was used. Data was entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported into a statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25 for further analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done. A 95% confidence interval and P-value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 216 adult hypothyroid patients were included with a response rate of 98.6%. The mean age was 42.5 (± 11) years. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 27.3% (95% CI (21.7, 33.8)) and it was significantly associated with increased age (AOR = 1.23, 95% CI (1.11, 1.34)), increased duration of illness (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.14, 1.90)) and high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level (AOR = 1.3, 95% CI (1.1, 1.6)). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of cognitive impairment among hypothyroid patients was high. Increased age, increased duration of illness and high TSH levels were significantly associated with cognitive impairment. Hence, early screening of cognitive impairment among hypothyroid patients with increased age, increased duration of illness and high TSH level should be given due emphasis to increase patients quality of life.

Primary health care nurses attitude towards people with severe mental disorders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Negative attitude and discriminatory behavior of health professionals constitute a major obstacle in psychiatric care and have been pointed out as a key issue in working with mental illness. Understanding about the attitude of nurses is crucial for quality and holistic care of psychiatric services and essential for the successful integration of mental health into primary health care. However, there is a paucity of study to examine the attitude of primary health care nurses towards severe mental disorder in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the attitude of primary health care nurses and its associated factors towards people with severe mental illness in Addis Ababa. METHODS: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working at primary health care in Addis Ababa from May to June, 2018. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 634 participants. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used. Data were coded and entered into EPIDATA 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with attitudes of nurses in primary health care. The level of significance was declared at P-value < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 610 respondents were included in the study with a response rate of 96.2%. The mean age of participants was 28.6 ± 5.9 (SD) years and the prevalence of negative attitude was 48.2%. Multiple logistic regression models revealed that respondents who have diploma [AOR = 3.09, CI (1.20-7.95)], work experience of < 5 years [AOR = 4.49, CI (2.37-8.49)], respondents who didn't took mh-Gap training [AOR = 4.92, CI (3.05-7.95)] and poor knowledge about mental illness [AOR = 2.84, CI (1.82-4.44) were associated with negative attitude towards people with severe mental illness. CONCLUSION: Nearly half of the participants have negative attitude towards people with severe mental disorders. Therefore, evidence based and contextualized models are warranted to mitigate negative attitudes of primary health care nurses.