Smoked Food Consumption as Significant Risk Factor for Advanced Breast Cancer on Bone Scan in Southwest Nigerian Hospital

The ingestion of smoked foods has been linked to the development of cancer. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have been recognized as carcinogenic compounds which contaminate smoked foods; their ingestion has been linked to the development of cancers such as breast cancer. Breast cancer may be evaluated using the nuclear bone scan as an imaging modality. This study reviewed bone scan results of patients with a positive history of consumption of smoked foods who presented at a Nuclear Medicine facility in South-West Nigeria. Our results show a significant association between a positive history of consumption of smoked foods and the presence of advanced breast cancer on the bone scan ((χ2 = 11.190, p = 0.001, df = 2; Crude Odds Ratio (95% CI) = 1.692 (1.242-2.304). Thus, those patients with a history of eating smoked foods have between 50-100% increase in the risk of having abnormal scan findings. In a logistic regression, this association was retained (AOR=0.591 (0.434-0.805). Recommendations are made to address the significance of these findings

Awareness and coverage of the national health insurance scheme among formal sector workers in Ilorin, Nigeria

A prepayment scheme for health through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was commenced in Nigeria about ten years ago. Nigeria operates a federal system of government. Sub-national levels possess a high degree of autonomy in a number of sectors including health. It is important to assess the level of coverage of the scheme among the formal sector workers in Nigeria as a proxy to gauge the extent of coverage of the scheme and derive suitable lessons that could be used in its expansion. This is a cross-sectional; descriptive survey carried out among formal sector workers in Ilorin Kwara State; Nigeria. A stratified sampling technique was used to select study participants. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Data was analysed with the SPSS. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the Bowen University Teaching Hospital Research Ethics Committee. A total of 370 people participated in the study. Majority; (78.9%) of the respondents were aware of the NHIS; however only 13.5 % paid for health care services through the NHIS. Logistic regression analysis shows that respondents with post-secondary education (OR = 9.032; CI = 2.562 - 31.847; p = 0.001) and in federal civil service (OR = 2.679; CI = 1.036 - 6.929; p = 0.042) were over nine and three times more likely to be aware of the scheme than others. Coverage of the scheme among the respondents was unimpressive. A lot still need to be done to fast-track the expansion of the scheme among this sector of the population

Factors associated with undernutrition and overweight in elderly patients presenting at a primary care clinic in Nigeria

Background: Undernutrition and overweight are commonly overlooked health problems of the elderly, often due to the implicit assumption that undernutrition is a rare occurrence in old age and overweight is an invariable consequence of ageing. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 500 patients aged 60 years and above who presented consecutively at the general outpatient department, University College Hospital, Ibadan, between September and October 2009, was undertaken. The main outcome measures were prevalence of nutritional problems (undernutrition and overweight), healthcare utilisation pattern and morbidities. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool was used to assess undernutrition, while body mass index was used to assess body weight. Results: The prevalence of undernutrition and overweight was 7.8% and 54.1%, respectively. Previous hospital admission (p < 0.001) and chronic morbidities like hypertension (p < 0.001), osteoarthritis (p < 0.001) and psychosomatic disease (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with undernutrition, but not with overweight. Logistic regression analysis showed that previous hospital admission (OR = 2.105, 95% CI 1.479-2.996) and hypertension (OR = 0.122, 95% CI 0.048-0.306) were the most important factors contributing to the development of undernutrition. Conclusion: Nutritional problems were prevalent among the elderly in this setting. Co-morbidities in the elderly constitute risk factors to be addressed in order to reduce the occurrence of nutritional problems. Health workers should always assess the elderly for nutritional problems, together with other morbidities with which they may present, and institute appropriate management

Factors Affecting the Utilization of Antenatal Care Services in Ibadan; Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Antenatal care utilization is still low in Nigeria. This underutilization varies from region to region and from state to state. This study assesses the factors that determine the utilization of antenatal care service in Ibadan. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in two randomly selected local government council area in Ibadan. A pretested questionnaire was administered to 400 women. Information was obtained from the women on their attendance at antenatal clinic and the reasons for not attending the antenatal clinics RESULTS: Majority (76.8) of the respondents attended ANC clinic. Women in urban areas were more than 2 times likely to attend antenatal clinic than women in urban areas [(OR=2.177; 95CI; 1.081-4.382)].Women who were Muslims or other religions were more than 2 times likely to attend ANC clinic than women who were Christians [(OR=2.398; 95CI; 1.264-4.557)]. Also; Women who were 25 years and older were more than 2 times more likely to utilize antenatalthan women who were 25 years or younger (OR=2.236; 95CI;1.106- 4.107]. CONCLUSION: Efforts towards ensuring the utilization should be targeted towards rural areas; the importance of modern antenatal care should be emphasized even in the religious settings and younger women should be encouraged to utilize antenatal care services