Psychiatric morbidity in stroke patients attending a neurology clinic in Nigeria

Back ground

Stroke produces a wide range of mental and emotional disorders. Neuropsychiatric complications associated with stroke may have negative effects on the social functioning, overall quality of life and the recovery of motor functioning of stroke survivors.

Objective

To determine the prevalence and nature of psychiatric morbidity among stroke patients attending neurology outpatient clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin-Nigeria.

Methods

All patients with stroke aged 18 years and above at an outpatient neurology clinic in Ilorin, Nigeria were assessed for mental and emotional disorders using the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) over one year (March 2009 to February 2010).

Results

Overall prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was 36.0% (30/83) among 83 patients who constituted the study population. Specific diagnoses recorded were depression (19.2%), generalised anxiety disorder (9.6%), harmful alcohol use (2.4%); dementia, somatoform disorder, phobia and delusional disorder each had a prevalence of 1.2%. Clinical and sociodemographic variables were not significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity.

Conclusion

Psychiatric disorders are often associated with stroke. Identifying and treating stroke patients with these psychiatric co-morbidities could thus help to improve the overall quality of life of these patients.     

Breast feeding practices in urban and rural health centres: impact of baby friendly hospital initiative in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

The present study was carried out to assess the impact of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) on breast feeding practices. The variables used to evaluate the BFHI centre included time of initiation of breastfeeding (BF) after delivery, intended duration of BF, adoption of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in relation to educational status, location of health centre, and knowledge and practice of positioning the child at the breast. Observation, questionnaire and interview techniques were employed to collect the data among 217 and 214 nursing mothers (NMs) from Urban and Rural Health Centres. Of the 228 NMs who initiated BF within 30 minutes after delivery, 140 (61%) were from a designated BFHI Centre and 88 (39%) were from an undesignated BFHI rural health centre. There was a significant relationship between the practice of EBF and designation of BFHI centre (P = 0.0001). The higher the level of education of the NMs, the higher the present of NMs subscribing to EBF (P = 0.0001). The present study has also confirmed that EBF which was once considered to be less than 3%, has increased significantly to 61%. The success was not unconnected with the inauguration of BFHI. The BFHI is recording huge success in the urban area but the impact is still to be felt in the rural areas.     

Sociocultural practices influencing under five nutritional status in an urban community in Osun State, Nigeria

Three hundred and forty four preschool children from Ilare district of Ife Central Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria were assessed for nutritional status using selected and sensitive anthropometric techniques. The sociocultural practices of the parents were also examined. Approximately 53.8% and 54.7% of the children were identified to be malnourished and stunted respectively. The socioeconomic situation of the family was identified to have a significant influence on the child's nutritional status. Female children were observed not to be as adequately nourished as their male counterparts. However parity and food taboo had no significant influence on the child's nutritional status. The need for improvement in the socioeconomic status of the family and education of the community on the importance of female nutrition are discussed.     

Controlled trial of continuous inflating pressure for hyaline membrane disease

A controlled trial of elective intervention with continuous inflating pressure (CIP) was performed in infants with severe hyaline membrane disease who weighed more than 1000 g at birth. Infants entered the trial if their arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) fell below 60 mmHg while breathing a fractional inspired oxygen concentration (F1O2) greater than 0-95. 11 out of 12 infants in the CIP-treated group and 10 out of 12 in the control group survived. 7 treated and 6 control infants required mechanical ventilation. When CIP was started the Pao2 of the treated infants increased, and they breathed high concentrations of oxygen for a significantly shorter period than the control infants. During the 31-month duration of the trial 107 other infants with severe hyaline membrane disease were admitted who did not meet the criteria for entry to the trial. 37 survived after breathing high concentrations of oxygen (F1O2 greater than 0-60) spontaneously without any ventilatory assistance, and the remaining 70 infants were already being ventilated on their arrival in the unit, usually because they had required mechanical ventilation during transfer from other hospitals. The neonatal survival rate for those infants born in this hospital during the study period was 88% (50 out of 57 infants) and for those referred from other hospitals it was 69% (51 out of 74 infants). The maximum further increase in overall survival rate that might have been achieved in our population of infants if CIP had been initiated very early in the course of the illness was 5%--i.e. from 77% (101/131) to 82% (107/131).     

Thrombosis at venous insertion sites after inferior vena caval filter placement

Color Doppler flow imaging or compression ultrasound (US) was used to prospectively determine frequency of thrombosis at 54 venous insertion sites (47 in common femoral veins, seven in right internal jugular veins) after percutaneous placement of Greenfield filters for interruption of the inferior vena cava. Fifty-one filters were successfully placed in 51 patients with a dilator set or a balloon angioplasty catheter. Nine focal thrombi were detected in the common femoral vein (19%) and one in the right internal jugular vein (14%). Use of dilators induced eight thrombi (24%), compared with two (10%) from balloon catheters. The left common femoral vein had a high frequency of thrombosis, regardless of dilation technique (five of nine). Of nine patients with acute common femoral vein thrombosis, four became symptomatic within 10 days after the procedure. Patients may remain asymptomatic or have delayed symptoms; thus, US is valuable for determining patients at risk of thrombosis of the common femoral vein.