Laboratory biomarkers associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (preprint)

Background: Laboratory biomarkers are amongst the best imperative predictors of disease outcomes in hospital-admitted COVID-19 patients. Although data is available in this regard at a global level, there is a paucity of information in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to assess the laboratory biomarkers association with death among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia. Methods: A health facility-based longitudinal study was conducted from 2020 to 2022 among RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted and on treatment follow-up at COVID-19 treatment hospitals in Addis Ababa. A robust Poisson regression model was fitted to assess the association between demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors and death. Significance was determined at p<0.05, and variables with p < 0.15 in bivariate analyses were included in the final multivariable models. Incidence rate ratio (IRR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to describe associations. Results: Of the 2357 COVID-19 patients, 248 (10.5%) died. The median age of participants was 59 (IQR= 45- 70) years, and the majority (64.9%) of them were male. Lower median RBC was observed among those who died at 4.58 (4.06-5.07) as compared to those who survived at 4.69 (4.23-5.12) whereas high median (IQR) WBC was a predictor of mortality with 11.2 (7.7-15.9). After adjusting for confounders, death was associated with age >74 years having adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR (95%CI): 2.46 (1.40-4.34)], and critical clinical situations [aIRR (95% CI): 4.04 (2.18-7.52)]. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that abnormal liver function tests, abnormal white blood cells, age of the patients, and clinical status of the patients during admission are associated with unfavorable outcomes of COVID-19. Hence, timely monitoring of these laboratory results at the earliest phase of the disease was highly commendable.

COVID-19 and food handling practice: The case of food businesses in Jigjiga, Eastern Ethiopia (preprint)

Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the food safety knowledge and practices of food handlers in the context of covid-19.Result A total of 384 food handlers were approached and all of them responded (response rate = 100%). Majority of the participants were under 40 years of age (n = 369, 96.1%). Of the total participants, 50.8% were male with a mean age of 32.1 (SD: 4.8). Majority of the participants were under 40 years of age (n = 369, 96.1%). Female, younger adults, married, educated and those with prior food safety training had better food handling practice than their counter parts.

Knowledge, attitude and practice toward COVID-19 among healthcare workers in public health facilities, Eastern Ethiopia (preprint)

On 13 March 2020, Ethiopia reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Addis Ababa. COVID-19 is likely to overwhelm an already fragile health-care delivery system and reduce the availability of services for endemic health concerns such as malaria and diarrheal diseases. Cross sectional study was conducted on heath care workers in three public health facilities in Somali region to assess knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19. T-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the relationship between the dependent, and independent variables. Spearman’s correlation was used to assess the relationship between mean knowledge and attitude scores. A vast majority of the participants were male (n = 293, 67.5%), with a mean age of 27.6 (SD: 5.3) years. The mean knowledge score was 13.7 (SD: 2.6) and the mean attitude score 10.5 (SD: 4.1). Only 45.2 % (n = 196) of the participants had a good attitude toward COVID-19. There was a negative correlation between knowledge scores, attitude scores (r=-0.295, P<0.001) and practice (r=-0.298, P<0.001). The overall level of knowledge was good. However, the attitude and practice were relatively low. We recommend strategies for enhancing the capacity of healthcare workers to develop positive attitude and practice.