Hypercholesterolaemia among urban residents in Lagos State: The knowledge, attitudes, prevalence and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Hypercholesterolaemia, a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), is particularly increasing in urban areas of underdeveloped nations. This research assessed the knowledge of, attitude towards, prevalence of and risk factors for hypercholesterolaemia in an urban local government area of Lagos State. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted among 229 adult residents who were selected through a multistage sampling method. Data were collected with a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Anthropometric measures were assessed using standard tools while the lipid profile was assessed by finger pricks using a CardioChek® professional analyser. Participants with knowledge scores of at least 50% were considered as having good knowledge and scores below 50% were considered as poor knowledge. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. P < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents was 38.9 ± 4.6 years. More than a third 89 (38.9%) of the respondents had high blood total cholesterol, 39 (17.0%) had high low-density lipoprotein and 8 (3.4%) had high triglycerides. Overall, 110 (48.0%) of the participants had good knowledge of hypercholesterolaemia and 131 (57.2%) of them had positive attitudes towards hypercholesterolaemia as a risk factor of CVD. Being a female (odds ratio [OR] = 2.16; 95 confidence interval [CI] = 1.19-3.91) and consumption of baked food (OR = 1.94; 95% CI = 1.054-3.57) were significant predictors of high cholesterol among respondents. CONCLUSION: Cholesterol levels were high in this sample of urban Nigerians. Overall, 110 (48.0%) of the respondents had a good level of knowledge while 131 (57.2%) had positive attitudes. Being a female and consuming baked food were significant predictors of high cholesterol among the respondents. This calls for gender-specific interventions for women and health education on dietary modification.

Utilisation and preferences of family planning services among women in Ikosi-Isheri, Kosofe Local Government area, Lagos, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Despite women's adequate knowledge and the obvious unmet need for family planning (FP), contraceptive prevalence in Nigeria is low. A greater understanding of the barriers to FP that informs service utilisation and preferences is needed to improve service delivery. AIM: This study was aimed at assessing the use and preferences of FP services among women. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A community-based, descriptive, cross-sectional survey was carried out among 367 women (15-49 years of age) residing in Ikosi-Isheri, Kosofe local government area, who were selected by multistage sampling method. Data were collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire and were analysed using SPSS software version 20. Frequency distributions and cross tabulations were generated. The Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to determine associations, and the level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Although 64.0% were aware of FP, only 26.4% had ever used FP services. The contraceptive prevalence was 17.9%. Traditional or religious restrictions were given as the reasons for not using FP (40.9%). The preferred FP services were those offered at primary healthcare centres (45.2%) and teaching hospitals (33.9%) because of proximity (38.7%), privacy (14.5%) and health workers being female (22.6%). Age, level of education and marital status were associated with the utilisation of FP services (P < 0.001, P = 0.020 and P < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although awareness was high, uptake was low. Government health facilities were preferred. Primary healthcare should be strengthened, and FP services should be scaled up to make FP more accessible. Services should be closer to where people live while providing the privacy they desire.

Obesity among health service providers in Nigeria: danger to long term health worker retention?

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a global epidemic. There are rising rates of obesity and its associated disorders, especially in developing countries, including among Health Service Providers (HSPs). Obesity is associated with early retirement, increased morbidity and mortality. Thus, obesity has the potential of reducing long-term retention of HSPs in inadequately staffed health systems of developing countries. This study aimed to determine the magnitude of and factors associated with obesity among HSPs of a tertiary health care facility in Lagos, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out with a questionnaire, which included the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form (IPAQ-SF). Obesity was defined as BMI ≥30kg/m2. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: 300 HSPs were recruited, of which 47.7% were medical doctors and dentists, 43.3% were nurses and other categories of HSPs. The mean age and BMI of the HSPs were 39.3(9.0) years and 27.7(4.6) kg/m2 respectively. Eight two (27.3%) HSPs were obese and 134 (44.7%) were overweight, 149(49.7%) had central obesity. After adjusting for confounding variables using multivariate logistic regression, age > 40 years (OR 3.51, p=0.003), female gender (OR 2.84, p=0.007) and earning a monthly salary of ≤ 200,000 naira relative to 201,000-400,000 naira (OR 2.58, p=0.006) were significantly associated with obesity. CONCLUSION: Obesity was prevalent among these Nigerian HSPs. This calls for concern, especially with the implication of loosing health workers to obesity related disorders and early retirement.