Dataset Information

Assessment of liver and renal function tests among gasoline exposed gas station workers in Mekelle city, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Volatile organic compounds such as gasoline and other fuels are associated with a wide variety of deleterious health effects including liver and kidney diseases. Gasoline station workers are exposed to a mixture of hydrocarbons during dispensing. However, no published studies investigated the liver and renal function tests of gasoline station workers in Ethiopia. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess liver and renal function tests among gasoline station workers. METHOD:A comparative cross sectional study was conduct from January 2018 to April 2018 at Mekelle city, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia. Liver and renal function tests were analyzed on gasoline exposed (n = 43) and controls (n = 47) by Pentra C400 automated clinical chemistry analyzer. Student independent t-test and one way-ANOVA statistical methods were employed using SPSS Ver23. P-value < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. RESULT:The mean level of ALT, AST, Urea, creatinine, and uric acid was significantly higher among gasoline stations workers when compared to control study participants. There was also a significant increase in ALT, AST, Urea, creatinine and uric acid among gasoline stations with above 6 years exposure when compared with those exposed for ?2 and3-6years. CONCLUSION:These findings suggest that increasing liver and renal parameters may be associated with exposure to gasoline and it is dependent on time of exposure to gasoline.

SUBMITTER: Asefaw T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7546501 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessment of liver and renal function tests among gasoline exposed gas station workers in Mekelle city, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.

Asefaw Tsegay T Wolde Mistre M Edao Abebe A Tsegaye Aster A Teklu Gebre G Tesfay Feven F Gebremariam Gebreslassie G

PloS one 20201009 10

<h4>Background</h4>Volatile organic compounds such as gasoline and other fuels are associated with a wide variety of deleterious health effects including liver and kidney diseases. Gasoline station workers are exposed to a mixture of hydrocarbons during dispensing. However, no published studies investigated the liver and renal function tests of gasoline station workers in Ethiopia. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess liver and renal function tests among gasoline station workers.<h4>Met ...[more]

PMID: 33035217

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Project description:IntroductionMost communities, rural or urban, have taboos regarding foods to avoid during pregnancy, and most have local explanations for why certain foods should be avoided. Such taboos may have health benefits, but they also can have large nutritional and health costs to mothers and fetuses. As such, understanding local pregnancy food taboos is an important public health goal, especially in contexts where food resources are limited. Despite this, information regarding food taboos is limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed food taboos, related misconceptions, and associated factors among pregnant women in Northern Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 332 pregnant women in antenatal care (ANC) follow-up at selected private clinics in Mekelle city, Tigray, Ethiopa, recruited between April and May, 2017. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, we assessed whether respondents' observed food taboos, what types of foods they avoided, their perceived reasons for avoidance, diversity of respondents' diets during pregnancy, and respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. After reporting frequency statistics for categorical variables and central tendencies (mean and standard deviation) of continuous variables, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the socio-demographic factors and diet diversity associated with food taboo practices.ResultsAround 12% of the pregnant women avoided at least one type of food during their current pregnancy for one or more reasons. These mothers avoided eating items such as yogurt, banana, legumes, honey, and "kollo" (roasted barley and wheat). The most common reasons given for the avoidances were that the foods were (mistakenly) believed to cause: abortion; abdominal cramps in the mother and newborn; prolonged labor; or coating of the fetus's body. Maternal education (diploma and above) (AOR: 4.55, 95% CI: 1.93, 10.31) and marital status (single) were found to be negatively associated (protective factors) with observances of pregnancy food taboos. Approximately 79% of respondents had pregnancy diets that were insufficiently diverse, although we did not find any statistical evidence that this was associated with adhering to food taboos.ConclusionThe misconceptions related to pregnancy food taboos should be discouraged insofar as they may restrict women's consumption of nutritious foods which could support maternal health and healthy fetal development. Health providers should counsel pregnant women and their husbands about appropriate pregnancy nutrition during ANC visits.

Project description:IntroductionAnemia is a global public health problem that has affected a significant number of pregnant mothers worldwide. The World Health Organization has estimated the prevalence of anemia in pregnant women at 18% and 56% in developed and developing countries, respectively. This study aimed to identify factors associated with severe anemia among laboring women in Mekelle city public hospitals, Tigray, Ethiopia.MethodsThis unmatched case-control study involved 264 (88 = cases and 176 = controls) pregnant women who were recruited when they came for delivery service in Mekelle city public hospitals. The data was collected from July to August, 2016. In this study, a systematic sampling technique was used inselecting controls, but the cases were enrolled until the required sample size was reached. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to find predictors of severe anemia. Statistically significant predictors of severe anemia were identified at P-value <0.05 and 95% confidence interval.ResultsA total of 264 pregnant women who came for delivery services were enrolled in this study. The major predicting variables for the occurrence of severe anemia among laboring women were residency (AOR = 3.28, 95% CI: 1.26-8.48), number of pregnancies (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI: 1.14-5.29), iron folate supplementation (AOR = 3.29, 95% CI: 1.27-8.49), dietary diversification score (AOR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.19-8.71) and duration of menstrual cycle (AOR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.10-5.10). The variable 'blood loss during pregnancy' (AOR = 6.63 95% CI: 2.96-14.86) was identified as a strong predictor of the outcome variable, severe anemia.ConclusionThis study identified determinants of severe anemia among laboring women in Mekelle city public hospitals, Northern Ethiopia. To reduce anemia, strengthening health education provision related to the importance of birth spacing and consuming diversified and iron-enriched food should be considered. Moreover, screening of pregnant women for state of anemia during their visits to health facilities, as well as de-worming for intestinal parasites infection are needed.

Project description:INTRODUCTION:Patient counseling can ideally be providing medication information orally or in written form to patients or their attendants, and it helps to form a concordant approach on encouraging patient involvement in the pharmaceutical care process and to explore patient's knowledge and understanding. Lack of adequate knowledge on drugs and up-to-date drug information are the major factor that hinders counseling services. This study assessed counseling practice of pharmacy professionals in Mekelle City. METHODS:A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Professionals who volunteered to participate were involved. Self-administered questionnaires were used as data collecting tool to grasp professionals' practice on patient counseling, and the data were analyzed by using SPSS version 23. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc statistical tests were done to check for association between sociodemographic and other variables of counseling practice. In the statistical analyses, p-value of 0.05 and 95% confidence interval were considered. RESULTS:The most frequent drug information given by the pharmacy professionals to clients were unit dose (65%), frequency of administration (79%), and duration of therapy (62%). Study participants claimed that lack of knowledge (37%), lack of updated drug information (49%), high patient load (62%), and absence of a private counseling room (51%) were the main factors that prohibit pharmacy professionals from counseling their patients. Those pharmacy professionals whose monthly income was <2000 Ethiopian Birr claimed lack of knowledge (p=0.007), limited access for updated drug information (p=0.009), and lack of experience (p=0.039) as factors for poor counseling practice. Results of the post hoc analysis showed significant difference among the participants with <5 and >10 years of experience in providing information on storage conditions and written materials with p-value of 0.025 and 0.016, respectively. CONCLUSION:This study proves that the level of satisfactory counseling is still very low compared to the expected practice. Lack of knowledge, lack of updated drug information, high patient load, absence of private counseling room, and underestimating the importance of counseling were identified as some of the factors that impede counseling services.

Project description:IntroductionDyslipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The prevalence of dyslipidemia is not known among Ethiopian adults. The prevalence is expected to rise due to the socio-economic development accompanied by lifestyle changes. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of dyslipidemia and associated risk factors among adult residents of Mekelle City.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 321 randomly selected subjects. Data were collected on sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics of the participants using the WHO STEPS survey instrument. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24.0. Student's t-test and Pearson's Chi-square test were used to assessing the interrelationship between each factor and outcome variables. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors associated with dyslipidemia. All statistical significance was considered at p ≤0.05.ResultsThe prevalence of dyslipidemia in this study was 66.7%. The prevalence of high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), elevated triglyceride, elevated total cholesterol, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was 49.5%, 40.2%, 30.8%, and 16.5%, respectively. Being above 64 years (aOR: 2.196, 95% CI: 1.183-4.078) and 40-64 years old (aOR: 2.196, 95% CI: 1.183-4.078), overweight (aOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.314-4.756) and obesity (aOR: 15.489, 95% CI: 3.525-68.070), walking <150 minutes per week (aOR: 1.722, 95% CI: 1.004-2.953), raised fasting blood glucose (FBG) (aOR: 4.804, 95% CI: 1.925-11.988), and medium socio-economic status (aOR: 2.017, 95% CI: 1.044-3.899) were identified as significant predictors of dyslipidemia.ConclusionsThe finding of this study indicated that the prevalence of dyslipidemia is unacceptably high among adult residents of Mekelle City, which underlines an urgent need for early detection and public health interventions through the integrated involvement of public, governmental, and non-governmental organizations.

Project description:AimThe emerging respiratory disease known as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a global concern and was declared as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2022. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice and associated factors toward COVID-19 and its prevention measures among residents of Mekelle city, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.Subject and methodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 604 residents of selected kebelles in Mekelle city, Tigray region from April to February 2022. A structured questionnaire and observation check list were used to collect the data. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used with SPSS version 25 to identify factors associated with the outcome variables.ResultsA total of 604 residents were participated in the study with 100% response. Among the total study participants (n = 604), 74.2%, 58.8%, and 39.2%, of them had good knowledge, a positive attitude, and good practice toward COVID-19 and its preventive measures, respectively. Results from the multivariate analysis showed that age, level of education, and family size were found to be significantly associated with good knowledge of study participants toward COVID-19. Additionally, occupation, family size, income level, and having knowledge about COVID-19 were significant factors associated with the attitude of the study participants toward COVID-19. Moreover, practice of study participants to prevent COVID-19 was also significantly associated with educational status, occupation status, income level, and having a positive attitude about the practice toward COVID-19 prevention.ConclusionThis study result revealed that the study participants' knowledge and attitude regarding COVID-19 were good. However, their practice toward COVID-19 and its preventive measure was poor, which will affect combating the pandemic. Therefore, continuous and effective public health education programs, community mobilization, law enforcements, and breaking siege and allowing all types of humanitarian aids in the region are urgently needed to improve knowledge, attitude, and practices toward COVID-19 and its preventive measures among the residents.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01826-3.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Locally established clinical laboratory reference intervals (RIs) are required to interpret laboratory test results for screening, diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was establishing reference interval of clinical chemistry parameters among apparently healthy adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years in Mekelle, Tigrai, northern part of Ethiopia. METHODS:Community based cross sectional study was employed from December 2018 to March 2019 in Mekelle city among 172 males and 172 females based on Multi stage sampling technique. Blood samples were tested for Fasting blood sugar (FBS), alanine aminino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin (ALB), direct and indirect bilirubin (BIL.D and BIL.T) using 25 Bio system clinical chemistry analyzer. Results were analyzed using SPSS version 23 software and based on the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI)/ International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) C 28-A3 Guideline which defines the reference interval as the 95% central range of 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles. Mann Whitney U test, descriptive statistics and box and whisker were statistical tools used for analysis. RESULTS:This study observed statistically significant differences between males and females in ALP, ALT, AST, Urea and Creatinine Reference intervals. The established reference intervals for males and females, respectively, were: ALP (U/L) 79.48-492.12 versus 63.56-253.34, ALT (U/L) 4.54-23.69 versus 5.1-20.03, AST 15.7-39.1 versus 13.3-28.5, Urea (mg/dL) 9.33-24.99 versus 7.43-23.11, and Creatinine (mg/dL) 0.393-0.957 versus 0.301-0.846. The combined RIs for Total Protein (g/dL) was 6.08-7.85, ALB (g/dL) 4.42-5.46, FBS(mg/dL) 65-110, BIL.D (mg/dL) 0.033-0.532, and BIL.T (mg/dL) 0.106-0.812. CONCLUSIONS:The result showed marked difference among sex and with the company derived values for selected clinical chemistry parameters. Thus, use of age and sex specific locally established reference intervals for clinical chemistry parameters is recommended.

Project description:BackgroundOwing to lack of adequate healthcare financing, access to at least the basic health services is still a problem in Ethiopia. With the intention of raising funds and ensuring universal health coverage, a mandatory health insurance scheme has been introduced. The Community Based Health Insurance has been implemented in all regions of the country, while implementation of social health insurance was delayed mainly due to resistance from public servants. This study was, therefore, aimed to assess willingness to pay for social health insurance and its determinant factors among public servants in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia.MethodsA concurrent mixed approach of cross-sectional study design using double bound dichotomous choice contingent valuation method and qualitative focus group discussions was employed. A total 384 public servants were recruited from randomly selected institutions and six focus group discussions (n = 36) were carried out with purposively selected respondents. Participants' mean willingness to pay (WTP) and independent predictors of WTP were identified using an interval data logit model. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsFrom the 384 participants, 381 completed the interview, making a response rate of 99.2%. Among these respondents 85.3% preferred social health insurance and were willing to pay for the scheme. Their estimated mean WTP was 3.6% of their monthly salary. Lack of money to pay (42.6%) was the major stumbling block to enrolling in the scheme. Respondents' WTP was significantly positively associated with their level of income but their WTP decreased with increasing age and educational status. On the other hand, a majority of focus group discussion participants were not willing to pay the 3% premium set by the government unless some preconditions were satisfied. The amount of premium contribution, benefit package and poor quality of health service were the major factors affecting their WTP.ConclusionThe majority of the public servants were willing to be part of the social health insurance scheme, with a mean WTP of 3.6% of their monthly salary. This was greater than the premium proposed by the government (3%). This can pave the way to start the scheme but attention should focus on improving the quality of health services.

Dataset Information

Assessment of liver and renal function tests among gasoline exposed gas station workers in Mekelle city, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.

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Assessment of liver and renal function tests among gasoline exposed gas station workers in Mekelle city, Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.

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