Quality of life and depression among patients with high myopia in Nigeria: a cross sectional study.

AIM: To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) and level of depression among participants with high myopia in Nigeria and the demographic factors associated with these outcomes. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 adult participants with high myopia (defined as refractive error ≤-5.00 D or worse, and uncorrected visual acuity worse than 6/18 in the better seeing eye) attending ophthalmology centres in Nigeria from 2 October 2021 to 30 August 2022. The means and standard deviations were calculated for each of the four domains of World Health Organization Quality of life scale (WHOQOL-BREF) using the transformed scores. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale was used to assess the level of depression. RESULTS: The highest and the lowest mean scores of WHOQOL-BREF domains were found for the psychological and physical health domains (mean percentage scores were 67.0 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 64.1-68.9] and 55.3 (95%CI 51.8-58.8, P<0.001), respectively. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences in physical health with educational status (higher among those with tertiary education: mean difference 0.9, 95%CI -0.2-2.1; P=0.049), differences in psychological health with working status (higher among those who were working 1.2, 95%CI 0.3-2.1; P=0.012). Also, the result showed a statistically significant association between environmental health and marital status (higher among non-married: 1.7, 95%CI -0.9-2.3; P=0.012) while overall health was associated with place of residence (higher in urban areas: 2.3, 95%CI 1.2-3.5; P=0.024). For depression, one in every nine participants reported major depressive symptom, mostly younger people (aged 16-29 vs 30-49y: 17.0% vs 0, P=0.019), and slightly more women than men (14.3% vs 0, P=0.064). There were significant negative correlations between the depression scores and psychological health (r=-0.48, P<0.001), physical health (r=-0.29, P=0.002), social and relationship (r=-0.49, P<0.001), environmental (r=-0.48, P<0.001) and overall health (r=-0.49, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: People with high myopia have a relatively moderate QOL, but poor physical health, particularly the younger age group, and women who are more likely to experience clinically relevant depression. Eye care professionals should consider possible referrals for counselling for people with high myopia.

Effect of domestic solid waste disposal practices on quality of drinking water sources in some rural communities of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Poor waste disposal practices impinge on water quality. An assessment of the effect of domestic solid wastes disposal practices on microbial quality of drinking water sources was conducted in some rural communities of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. An ecological study design was adopted using quantitative methods and a multi-stage sampling technique for random selection of LGAs, communities, and households for the administration of questionnaires to 120 respondents within four communities. Microbiological analysis of water samples from various sources was also conducted. A total of 26 (43.3%) and 16 (26.7%) households in the coastal and upland areas respectively had waste disposal facilities, the remaining percentage dumped waste into rivers and nearby bushes. The majority of the coastal community dwellers defecate directly into water bodies or swamps due to a lack of faeces disposal facilities whereas all respondents in the upland areas had faeces disposal facilities though some were unimproved. The result of the microbial analysis showed that the coastal areas had a mean heterotrophic bacterial, coliform, and fungal count of 1.45(± 0.44) × 105 cfu/ml, 0.90(± 0.27) × 105 cfu/ml, and 1.75(± 0.50) × 105 cfu/ml while the upland areas had 1.34(± 0.55) × 105 cfu/ml, 0.65(± 0.36) × 105 cfu/ml, and 1.88(± 0.58) × 105 cfu/ml. There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) in microbial water quality between the coastal and upland areas besides the self-reported health problems. A moderate positive correlation was found between solid waste disposal practices and total bacterial count (r = 0.418**), and total coliform (r = 0.397**), P < 0.01. Most of the microorganisms isolated from drinking water in both settings were of public health importance. The result obtained from this study indicates very poor water quality in both settings. This implicates the poor solid waste disposal practices predominant in these communities and calls for immediate measures to secure the health of the rural community dwellers.

Analysis of Perception, Reasons, and Motivations for COVID-19 Vaccination in People with Diabetes across Sub-Saharan Africa: A Mixed-Method Approach.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with severe COVID-19 infection and complications. This study assesses COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy in people with DM, and explores the reasons for not being vaccinated. This was a web-based cross-sectional survey using a mixed-method approach conducted in March-May 2021, corresponding to most Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries' early vaccine rollout period. Participants were those aged ≥18 years with self-reported DM in 11 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Responses to comments on the reasons for vaccine hesitancy and facilitators for vaccine uptake were analyzed. Of the 73 participants with DM, 65.8% were males, older than 35 years (86.3%), had postsecondary education (90%), and a significant proportion were from South Africa (39.7%), Nigeria (28.8%) and Ghana (13.7%). At the time of this study, 64.4% experienced COVID-19 symptoms, 46.6% were tested for COVID-19, of which 19.2% tested positive. Few participants (6.8%) had received a COVID-19 vaccination, 65.8% were willing to take the vaccine when it becomes available in their country, while 26.0% either refused or remained hesitant towards taking the vaccine. The main identified reasons for not taking the vaccine were: advice from religious leaders; concerns about the safety, effects, and efficacy of the vaccines; mistrust of the pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccines and the process of production; the conspiracy theories around the vaccines; and the personal belief of the participants regarding vaccination. However, participants stated they would take the vaccine if they were more educated about it, received positive feedback from those vaccinated, were rewarded for taking the vaccine, or if vaccination became a condition for travel and employment. In conclusion, this study shows that the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine was very low in this high-risk group. Efforts to increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among people with diabetes are imperative, such as the provision of education and relevant information.