Fasting blood glucose, blood pressure and body mass index among combined oral contraceptive users in Chencha town Southern Ethiopia, 2019.

Background: The use of contraceptives has become prevalent among women in Ethiopia. Oral contraceptive use has been suggested to trigger changes in glucose metabolism, energy expenditure, blood pressure, and body weight, among various populations and ethnic groups. Objective: To elucidate the pattern of fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, and body mass index among combined oral contraceptive pills users compared to controls. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 110 healthy women using combined oral contraceptive pills were recruited as cases. Another 110 healthy age and sex-matched women not using any hormonal contraceptives were recruited as controls. A study was conducted between October 2018 and January 2019. Data obtained was entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23 software packages. One-way ANOVA was used to identify the variation of variables in relation to the duration of use of the drug. The P-value of < 0.05 at the 95% confidence level was statistically significant. Results: Fasting blood glucose level among oral contraceptive users (88.55 ± 7.89 mg/dl) was higher than fasting blood glucose level among oral contraceptive non-users (86.00 ± 9.85 mg/dl) with a p-value of 0.025. The mean arterial pressure of oral contraceptive users (88.2 ± 8.48 mmHg) was relatively higher than their counterparts (86.0 ± 6.74 mmHg), with a p-value of 0.04. Comparatively the body weight and body mass index among oral contraceptive users were 2.5% and 3.9% higher than non-users with a p-value of 0.03 and 0.003, respectively(5). Utilization of oral contraceptive pills for prolonged period of time seemed to be a significant predictive factor for higher mean arterial pressure and body mass index with p < 0.001and p < 0.05 respectively. Conclusions: Use of combined oral contraceptives was associated with higher fasting blood glucose (+2.9%), mean arterial pressure (+2.5%), and body mass index (3.9%) compared to controls.

Effect of malaria and HIV/AIDS co-infection on red blood cell indices and its relation with the CD4 level of patients on HAART in Bench Sheko Zone, Southwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Malaria and HIV/AIDS are the two most common infections in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and worldwide. HIV infected individuals in malaria endemic areas experience severe malaria episodes. The immunological basis of this clinical observation is unclear and the hematologic abnormalities such as anemia in malaria and HIV co infected patients were inconsistent from studies in the past. Ethiopia's three-fourth of the landmass is malarious and HIV prevalence is high that significantly affect RBC indices and other hematologic profiles. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare RBC indices and anemia in HIV patients' co-infected with malaria and those HIV patients without malaria and correlates these with CD4 level. METHODS: A comparative cross-sectional study was employed on 103 malaria-HIV/AIDS co infected (MHC) and 103 HIV patients without malaria on HAART of the same ART centers in Bench Sheko Zone. Data was collected by structured questionnaire and blood samples were collected from both groups for malaria test and RBC indices measurement. Data was entered and checked in Epi-data and exported to IBM SPSS version 21 software packages for analysis. RESULTS: There were significant differences in Mean±SD of RBC indices between the two groups (P<0.001). RBC, Hgb, HCT and MCV were lower in MHC patients. In total study participants, significant positive correlation was observed between CD4 count with MCV, CD4 count with MCH and CD4 count with anemia. In the group of malaria-HIV co-infected, CD4 count with RBC and CD4 count with Hgb and in HIV without malaria CD4 count with MCV, CD4 count with MCH and CD4 count with MCHC were positively correlated. Overall anemia prevalence was 45.1%. Anemia prevalence in MHC (Malaria-HIV co-infected) was 63.4%. Anemia prevalence distribution among sex showed that 61.3% in female sex and anemia prevalence distribution among CD4 group showed 55.9% in patients with CD4 count of ≤500 cells/µl. Anemia in MHC patients was higher in those with CD4 count of ≤500 cells/µl (59.3%) while in OH (Only HIV infected) anemia prevalence was similar in those with CD4 count of ≤500 and ≥500 cells/µl (50%). There is significant difference in anemia in MHC and OH infected with different CD4 group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: There was a difference in RBC indices in both groups; RBC, Hgb, HCT and MCV were lower in MHC patients. There was positive correlation between CD4 counts with some RBC indices in combined both groups. However, there was positive correlation between CD4 counts with RBC and Hgb in malaria-HIV co-infected. The combined prevalence of anemia was higher and anemia in MHC was greater than OH infected patients.