Current Issue : October-December Volume : 2021 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
Background: Neonatal mortality remains a major public health problem in low income countries. The survival within the first 28 days of life remains a challenge in such countries. Many strategies have been implemented to reduce deaths in children under five especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Laquintinie Douala Hospital benefits from some of these measures including a perinatal network and an emergency voucher. We aimed to describe the main causes of neonatal deaths at Laquintinie Douala Hospital. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study including files of all deceased neonates in the neonatal unit during a 24 months period from January 1st, 2017 to December 31st, 2018. Data collection included socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers and the newborns, clinical and therapeutic data and the evolution of the newborn. We used SPSS 20 software for data analysis with a p-value less than 0.05. Results: We included 270 files with an overall mortality rate of 13.1% and a sex ratio of 1.2. The main causes of death included prematurity (37.8%), neonatal infection (34.1%) and neonatal asphyxia (24.4%). The main factors associated with deaths included informal sector (OR = 5.49; 95% CI 0.86 - 34.77; p = 0.07) and a primary level of education for mothers, malaria during pregnancy (OR 2.28; 95% CI, 1.44 - 3.12; p = 0.0001), very preterm babies (OR 6.45; 95% CI 4.68 - 8.89; p < 0.001) and resuscitation.................
Objective: Despite the growing evidence that lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) plays a major role in cardiovascular disease (CVD) pathophysiology and obesity, data regarding this association in children are rare. Therefore, our objectives were to assess whether there was a difference between overweight/obese and normal-weight children in plasma LBP levels and to assess the cardiovascular changes in both groups. Methods: In an observational, case-control study, a total of 30 children as obese and overweight children. Obese children with body mass index (BMI) above 95th percentile, and overweight children with BMI between 85th and 95th percentile were recruited if they aged between 8-16 years old. A similar number of matched controls were included. Serum LBP was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results: With regard to serum LBP, the mean LBP was significantly higher in obese children than in the control group (52.74 ± 17.25 versus 12.34 ± 2.67 μg/mL, respectively; p < 0.001). The ROC curve showed that the serum LBP, at a cutoff value of >19 μg/mL, was a significant discriminator of obesity with a sensitivity of 96.67% and specificity of 100%. The regression analysis showed that BMI was an independent predictor of serum LBP (B coefficient = 0.684; p = 0.024). The serum LBP correlated significantly with age (r = 0.58; p = 0.001), BMI (r = 0.834; p = 0.001), and LV longitudinal strain (r = 0.362; p = 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings showed that obesity was associated with a worse lipid profile and cardiovascular function. LBP is a promising predictor of obesity in children....
Introduction: Neonatal mortality accounts for 44% of deaths among children. This study aimed to investigate neonatal morbidity and mortality in the neonatal care unit of the University Teaching Hospital of Parakou (CHU-P) from 2010 to 2016. Patients and Methods: This research was a retrospective, descriptive and analytical study that covered the period from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016. It focused on the medical records of newborns hospitalized in the said unit during the period mentioned above. Study variables were sociodemographic, clinical, paraclinical and outcome. Findings: During the time span of the study, 6204 newborns were registered. Sex ratio was 1.32. Mean age for newborns was 6.01 ± 5.39 days. Clinically obvious neonatal infection (54.1%), prematurity and low birth weight (34.8%) and perinatal asphyxia (30%) were the main diseases of newborns recorded in the unit during the study period. Mortality rate was 16.8% including 77.9% occurred in the first week of life and 62.1% in the first 24 hours of life. Conclusion: More than one in six newborns died and three out of five deaths occurred in the first 24 hours of life. Therefore, it seems wise to carry out a case-control study with multivariate analysis in order to identify the main risk factors for that mortality....
Introduction: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is the most prevalent genetic disease in the world predominantly in the African population with Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) being its dominant form. One of the most frequent complications of SCD is osteomyelitis. SCA is due to a point mutation in the beta globin chain of haemoglobin. This is responsible for the sickled shape of RBCs under low oxygen tension conditions leading to obstruction in the microcirculation. This leads to vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) which has a similar clinical presentation to that of osteomyelitis, another complication of SCD. Case Presentation: We present the case of a three-year-old girl with SCA who presented with an inability to bear weight in a febrile context. A diagnosis of VOC was initially made, which was later on changed to both a left chronic tibial and right distal femoral osteomyelitis following a series of biological, and imaging investigations. Surgical debridement and drainage were performed, resulting 9 weeks later in the involution of fever and leg pain. Conclusion: Osteomyelitis when associated with SCD is a dreadful and deathly disease in low income countries as it also presents like VOC therefore higher suspicion index is recommended. It is therefore important to take this into consideration at an early stage in patients with homozygous sickle cell disease so as to rapidly...................
Background: In the developing world, pneumonia is not only more common than it is in Europe or North America; it is also more severe and considered the leading cause of under-five mortality. Effective management of pneumonia in children under 3-year-old-age is still challenging due to various causes. Some authors believed in non-calcemic role of vitamin D as a potential factor in the pathogenesis, prevention, or therapy of pneumonia in this specific age. Purpose: Investigate the Vitamin D status in pneumonia among children between 6 months to 3 years of age. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted in a Pediatric point of care at Al-Zahraa University Hospital on 90 children aged 6 months to 3 years old; divided into two groups: group I (study group) including 47 patients presented with pneumonia and group II (control group) including 43 apparently healthy children of matched age and sex with no evidence of pneumonia. Serum vitamin D was estimated with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The vitamin D level showed no significant difference between the two groups of the study. Conclusion: Possible role of vitamin D in disease process of pneumonia in children between 6 months to 3 years could not be assured....
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