Hypertensive retinopathy in a Nigerian community

This study was designed to determine the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy amongst hypertensives presenting to the medical outpatient department of Federal Medical Centre,Owo,Ondo State,Nigeria. The study was conducted between September 2007 and January 2008.One hundred consenting hypertensives were interviewed by the authors using a semi-structured questionnaire. All the respondents had fundoscopy by a direct ophthalmoscope to establish the presence of hypertensive retinopathy. The data obtained was collated and analyzed with SPSS 12.0.1 statistical soft ware version. Few respondents [11%] had hypertensive retinopathy of varying degrees, 6% had grade 3 hypertensive retinopathy, 4% had grade 1 hypertensive retinopathy and 1% had grade 4 hypertensive retinopathy. Fifty-five percent of the respondents had good blood pressure control, 35% had fair blood pressure control and 10% had poor blood pressure control. Hypertensive retinopathy occurred in only 11% of patients and more than half of them were of grade 3. Blood pressure control affected the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy, however, the differences amongst the different groups were not satistically significant. There is need to ensure that hypertensives have regular ocular examination. Physicians should ensure optimal blood pressure control in hypertensive patients so as to prevent target organ damage

Tetanus in a rural setting of South-Western Nigeria: a ten-year retrospective study

We review the records of 79 tetanus patients in two hospitals [one tertiary and one secondary level] in Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria from 1997 to 2006. The male: female ratio was 3:1. Ages were 14-70 years [mean 33.25 years, SD +/- 16.76]. The overall case fatality rate [CFR], 32.91%, did was not significantly different in the two hospitals. CFR for men was 32.10% and for women 35.29%. The main factor indicative of bad prognosis was a short hospitalization period. It was observed that 30.38% of our patients were discharged against medical advice [DAMA], that financial constraint was the underlying problem in 50% of cases, and that the trend of DAMA occurred at the two study sites. This DAMA phenomenon could pose a great danger to the eradication of this vaccine preventable disease in rural areas