Effects of speculum lubrication on cervical smears for cervical cancer screening: A double blind randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Speculum lubrication may help to reduce the pain experienced during Pap-smear collection and hence increase uptake of cervical cancer screening and repeat testing, but there are fears of its interference with cytological results. AIM: To determine and compare the adequacy of cervical cytology smears and the mean pain scores of women undergoing cervical cancer screening with or without speculum lubrication. METHODS: This was a randomised controlled study of 132 women having cervical cancer screening at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Sixty-six participants were randomly assigned to the 'Gel' and 'No Gel' groups, respectively. Pap smears were collected from each participant with a lubricated speculum ('Gel group') or a non-lubricated speculum ('No Gel group'). The primary outcome measures were the proportion of women with unsatisfactory cervical cytology smears and the mean numeric rating scale pain scores, while the secondary outcome measures were the proportion of women who were willing to come for repeat testing and the cytological diagnosis of Pap-smear results. RESULTS: The baseline socio-demographic variables were similar in both groups. There was no significant difference in the proportion of unsatisfactory cervical smear results between the two groups (13.6% vs. 21.2%, p = 0.359). However, the mean pain scores were significantly lower in the gel group than in the no gel group (45.04 vs. 87.96; p<0.001). An equal proportion of the participants in each group (90.9% vs. 90.9%; p > 0.999) were willing to come for repeat cervical smears in the future. CONCLUSION: Speculum lubrication did not affect the adequacy of cervical smears but significantly reduced the pain experienced during pap smear collection. Also, it did not significantly affect the willingness to come for repeat cervical smears in the future. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered with the Pan-African Clinical Trial Registry with a unique identification and registration number: PACTR2020077533364675.

Malaria Parasitemia and Severe Health Complications in Children Under Five Years of Age in Nigeria: A Study Using the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) 2021.

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, 97% of the population is at risk of contracting malaria. It is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes carrying the Plasmodium parasite and can be lethal. An estimated 55 million illnesses and 80,000 deaths per year result from it. Children under five are more likely to contract malaria. Efforts to control malaria in Nigeria include indoor residual spraying, insecticide-treated bed nets, and quick detection and treatment of confirmed cases with effective antimalarial medications. These attempts have been impeded by limited healthcare access, poor financing, and drug-resistant parasites. Thus, the study of the relationship between malaria complications and housing for children under five is essential. METHODS: The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) 2021, a nationally representative data set from developing countries on population and health, was used for this study. A sample size of 13,727 was employed (n=13,727). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the association between the type of place of residence and malaria complications (outcome). RESULTS: Overall, 4.2% (n=570, weight HV005) of participants in the sample reported malaria complications. The results of the logistic regression revealed that children residing in urban settlements (aOR 0.37, 95% CI 0.37-0.37, p-value <0.001), children from the poorest class families (aOR 11.63, 95% CI 1.62-1.63, p-value 0.004), children from poorer class families (aOR 7.56, 95% CI 7.55-7.57, p-value <0.001), children from middle-class families (aOR 4.05, 95% CI 4.03-9.06, p-value <0.001), children from richer class families (aOR 1.22, 95% CI 2.21-2.23, p-value <0.001), children of mothers with primary education (aOR 0.42, 95% CI 2.32-4.112, p-value 0.001), children of mothers with secondary education (aOR 0.24, 95% CI 3.21-3.22, p-value <0.001), children of mothers with higher education (aOR 0.08, 95% CI 0.72-0.80, p-value <0.001), and children of the female gender (aOR 0.65, 95% CI 0.65-0.66, p-value <0.001) are all associated with severe malaria complications. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the study examined malaria complications in Nigerian children under five by residency. The findings imply that rural children are more likely to have serious malaria complications than urban children. This emphasizes the necessity for targeted malaria therapies in rural areas with limited healthcare access.