Prevalence and pattern of knee osteoarthritis among nurses

Nurses at work assume uncomfortable postures that predispose the knee joint to osteoarthritis (OA) due to excess workload and stress. This study determined the prevalence and pattern of knee OAamong nurses. This cross - sectional designed survey employed convenient sampling technique to enrol 300 eligible and volunteer nurses from three randomly selected public hospitals out of five existing ones located at the study area. Written informed consent forms were issued to eligible participants. Forms containing socio-demographic variables and physical characteristics of the participants, American College of Rheumatology (ACR) clinical classification criteria for diagnosis of symptomatic knee OA, and health seeking behaviour were administered on the participants. Descriptive and Chi square (X2) statistics were employed to summarize and analyze the collected data respectively. Mean age and age range in years of the participants were 39.92 ± 10.97 and 19-65 respectively. Prevalence of knee OA among the nurses was 32.3%. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the prevalence of knee OAamong the participants existed in the following variables: age groups, body mass indices (BMI), rank and years of working experience. Most (62.9%) participants presented with unilateral knee OA. Prevalence of knee OAamong nurses at the public hospitals surveyed was 32.3%. Age, BMI, working experience and rank were significantly associated with knee OA

Pattern of presentation and management of urolithiasis at federal medical centre, Nguru, Nigeria

Background: Urolithiasis has been with mankind since ancient time. Although it is more common in the developed world, the pattern of presentation in the developing countries is tending towards that of developed countries. Objectives: To evaluate the pattern of presentations and treatments offered to patients with urolithiasis over the last 2 years at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Nguru.Materials and Methods: The study is a 2-year retrospective review of patients managed for urolithiasis at FMC Nguru. The patients' bio-data, pattern of presentation and radiological features of the stones, as well as the treatment given to the patients, were reviewed.Results: The records of 55 patients were reviewed; the mean age was 24.1 years with a range of 1.5 to 70years. The male to female ratio was 10:1. The most common presenting symptom was painful micturition in 21 patients (38.18%). The total number of stones extracted was 58, one patient had multiple right renal pelvic calculi, another had bilateral renal pelvic stone and the third patient had bladder and distal ureteric stone. Two patients (3.64%) expelled their calculi while awaiting surgery, the remaining 53 patients (96.36%) had opened surgical treatment. Most of the stones are in the bladder in 29 patients (52%). Twenty-one patients (38.18%) had upper urinary tract stones out of which 13 were in the renal pelvis.Conclusion: Urolithiasis is also common in the developing communities. Despite the changing pattern from lower to the upper tract in developed countries, we found lower tract stone dominating as seen in many underdeveloped. This may be attributable to yet to establish environmental or genetic factors