Magnitude of surgical site infection and determinant factors among postoperative patients, A cross sectional study.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections that occur within 30 days of surgery or within 1 year in patients with implants at or around the surgical site. They are among the dangerous complications of surgical procedures that expose patients to higher costs and increase the risk of death because of severe morbidity and associated longer hospital stays. This study aimed to determine the extent and determinants of surgical site infections in surgically treated cases during the study period. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among surgically treated patients at Dilla University Referral Hospital in the surgical department. The calculated sample size was 408, calculated using the single population proportion formula, and the required information was collected from the medical records of the study participants using checklists. Bivariate logistic regression was performed to identify candidate variables, and all candidate variables with a P-value < of 0.25 were included in multivariable logistic regression. Variables with a P-value < 0.05 were considered statically significant, and the strength of association was measured by odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Result: As our finding showed magnitude of surgical site infections was 19.3%. The factors which had significant association with surgical wound infections were blood transfusion (AOR = 0.16 (0.04-0.73), hemoglobin level < 7 g/dl (AOR = 10.40 (3.39-32.49), shock (AOR = 19.09 (4.69-77.51), previous surgery (AOR = 11.53(3.73-35.61), hospitalization 7-14 days (AOR = 5.51(1.52-19.91) and hospitalization >14 days (AOR = 8.18(1.84-36.75). Conclusion: The percentage of surgical site infections was high. Shock, low haemoglobin level, blood transfusion, previous surgery, and longer length of hospital stay were significantly related to surgical site infections.

Risk factors for scabies, tungiasis, and tinea infections among schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional Bayesian multilevel model.

BACKGROUND: Skin problems cause significant sickness in communities with poor living conditions, but they have received less attention in national or global health studies because of their low mortality rates. In many developing regions, the prevalence of parasitic skin diseases among schoolchildren is not reported. Previous studies thus have attempted to identify risk factors for these conditions using the frequentist approach. This study aimed to assess the occurrence and risk factors of skin infections among rural schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia by combining a frequentist and a Bayesian approach. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using three-stage random sampling, we assessed 864 schoolchildren aged 7-14 years from the Wonago district in southern Ethiopia. We detected potential risk factors for scabies, tungiasis, and tinea infections and recorded their hygienic practices and socio-demographic information. The frequentist model revealed a clustering effect of 8.8% at the classroom level and an insignificant effect at the school level. The Bayesian model revealed a clustering effect of 16% at the classroom level and 5.3% at the school level. Almost three-fourths of the sample had at least one type of skin problem, and boys were at higher overall risk than girls (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.55 [95% Bayesian credible interval [BCI] 1.01, 2.28). Risk factors included unclean fingernails (aOR 1.85 [95% BCI 1.08, 2.97]); not washing the body (aOR 1.90 [95% BCI 1.21, 2.85]) and hair (aOR 3.07 [95% BCI 1.98, 4.57]) with soap every week; sharing a bed (aOR 1.97 [95% BCI 1.27, 2.89]), clothes (aOR 5.65 [95% BCI 3.31, 9.21]), or combs (aOR 3.65 [95% BCI 2.28, 5.53]); and living in a poor household (aOR 1.76 [95% BCI 1.03, 2.83]). Washing legs and feet with soap daily was identified as a protective factor for each of the three skin diseases (aOR 0.23 [95% BCI 0.15, 0.33]). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We observed high variation in skin problems at the classroom level, indicating the presence of shared risk factors in these locations. The findings suggest the need to improve children's personal hygiene via health education by schoolteachers and health workers.

Concurrent anemia and stunting among schoolchildren in Wonago district in southern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis.

BACKGROUND: Even if many schoolchildren in Ethiopia are anemic and stunted, few have studied the co-existence of anemia and stunting among schoolchildren in Ethiopia. In addition, multilevel analysis to explore the variation in prevalence of concurrent anemia and stunting (CAS) across schools and classes is rarely applied. Thus, we aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of CAS at the individual, household, and school level among schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia. METHODS: We recruited 864 students aged 7-14 years from the Wonago district in southern Ethiopia using a three-stage random sampling, assigning four schools to level one, 24 classes to level two. We then randomly selected 36 children from each class, and recorded their weight, height, haemoglobin, intestinal helminthic infections, hygienic practices, dietary practices, household food insecurity, and socio-demographic information. A multivariate, multilevel logistic regression model was applied to detect potential risk factors for CAS. RESULTS: The prevalence of CAS was 10.5% (85/810) among schoolchildren, which increased with age in years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.39 [95% confidence interval 1.13, 1.71, P = 0.002]) and among children who always did not wash their hands with soap after use of latrine (aOR 4.30 [1.21, 15.3, P = 0.02]). Children who walked barefoot (aOR 10.4 [2.77, 39.1, P = 0.001]), were infected with Trichuris trichiura (aOR 1.74 [1.05, 2.88, P = 0.03]), or had head lice infestation (aOR 1.71 [1.01, 2.92, P = 0.04]) had higher CAS prevalence. Prevalence rates of CAS were low in those using treated drinking water (aOR 0.32 [95% CI 0.11, 0.97, P = 0.04]). Most of the risk factors for CAS were identified at the individual level. The clustering effect measured by the intra-cluster correlation coefficient was 6.8% at school level and 19% at class. CONCLUSION: CAS prevalence is a moderate public health problem among schoolchildren in southern Ethiopia and varies across classes and schools. After controlling for clustering effects at the school and class levels, we found an association between CAS and increasing age, not always washing hands with soap after using latrine, walking barefoot, and T. trichiura infection. Using treated water for drinking was found to have a protective effect against CAS. Thus, educating children on personal hygiene and provision of safe drinking water could reduce the CAS burden in schoolchildren in rural areas of southern Ethiopia.