Pattern of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among primary school children in Ile-Ife, South-West, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: One of the most common neurodevelopmental problems affecting behavior of children all over the world is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies on ADHD prevalence in Africa used either parents' or teachers' disruptive behavioral disorder rating scale (DBDRS) to diagnose ADHD, but this study diagnose ADHD using both parents and teachers DBDRS simultaneously among primary school pupils in Ile-Ife. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted among 1,385 primary school pupils in Ile-Ife using multistage random sampling. The parents' and teachers' DBDRS were used simultaneously to screen children who had ADHD. RESULTS: Sixty-five (4.7%) of the pupils had ADHD. Among the 65 pupils with ADHD, 28 (43%) had the inattentive subtype, 25 (38.5%) had the combined subtype, whereas 12 (18.5%) had hyperactive/impulsive subtype. The prevalence of ADHD was significantly higher in the younger age group than the older age groups (χ2 = 7.153, P = 0.007). There was no significant association found between the prevalence of ADHD and the social class (χ2 = 3.852, P = 0.146). CONCLUSION: ADHD prevalence of 4.7% was found among the children in Ile-Ife. Assessment of children for ADHD was done by parents at home and teachers in the school with DBDRS. The inattentive subtype was the most common and the hyperactive subtype was the least seen in the study. Early diagnosis and treatment of this disorder will bring better outcome in the children.

Impact of intimate partner violence on anxiety and depression amongst women in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Research into intimate partner violence in the Nigerian environment has been limited. The objective of this study was to determine, amongst a sample of women attending the Enuwa Primary Health Care Center, Ile-Ife, the association between intimate partner violence and anxiety/depression. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 373 women who attended the antenatal clinic and welfare units of a primary health centre in Ile-Ife using the Composite Abuse Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a socio-demographic scale as instruments. Slightly over a third (36.7 %) reported intimate partner violence within the past year, 5.6 % had anxiety and 15.5 % were depressed. Anxiety and depression in the respondents were significantly associated with intimate partner violence. Women were ten times more likely to report being depressed and 17 times more likely to report anxiety if they were in violent relationships. This research has shown that the magnitude of intimate partner violence within the study population is comparable to those found in the developing countries. There are significant associations between intimate partner violence, anxiety and depression amongst the study population and this fact undoubtedly has implications for the mental health of the Nigerian woman.

A comparison of two measures of quality of life of Nigerian clinic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: We present data comparing the quality of life effects of type 2 diabetes determined by the Bradley well-being questionnaire and the WHOQOL-BREF, a generic instrument. We also present data on the reliability and validity of these instruments. METHOD: The Well-being and the WHO-bref were administered on fifty-three consecutive type 2 diabetics. The internal consistency of the quality of life scales was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Convergent, discriminant, and known groups validity were determined and compared. RESULTS: Our patients had a mean age of 55.8+/-13 years. 31(58.5%) were males and all patients had been diabetic for 7.9+/-7.1 years. 13(24.5%) were being treated with oral agents, 14(26.4%) were on insulin and 26(49.1%) were on combined therapy. The Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.31 to 0.72 on the Well-being subscales and from 0.47 to 0.78 on the WHOQOL-BREF subscales. Both scales were modestly related to one another. In general the quality of life measures were not influenced by characteristics such as age, gender, marital or educational status. Both scales were not influenced significantly by treatment type or the severity or number of complications. CONCLUSION: Our study has shown how two different measures of quality of life perform in patients with type 2 diabetes. Even though the subscales of the Well-being and WHOQOL-BREF were not very sensitive to external criteria of disease impact (complications) casting a doubt on their utility as psychological outcome measures, they demonstrated fairly reasonable internal consistency in our patients with type 2 diabetes. Further larger studies are thus required to clarify this given our present limitations.

Attitude towards antipsychotics among out-patients with schizophrenia in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: The study aim to assess the attitude of patients with schizophrenia attending out-patient clinics in Nigeria towards antipsychotic medication and examine the factors associated with such attitude. METHOD: Out-patients with schizophrenia (n = 312) completed the 10-item Drug Attitude Inventory. They were also evaluated for sociodemographic details, illness-related and drug-related variables. RESULTS: Overall, the patients had a good attitude towards antipsychotic medication. The factors significantly associated with poor attitude towards medication include presence of symptoms, presence of side-effects like dyskinesia and sedation, lack of insight into the illness, and being employed. CONCLUSION: Special attention should be paid to patients with these factors while designing programmes to improve overall compliance in patients with schizophrenia.

The association of anxiety with asthma among a sample of asthmatics in Ile-Ife Osun State Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The association between asthma and anxiety has been a subject of various studies in developed countries, but there has been little work done in this area in developing countries. The goal of this study is to determine whether asthmatics are more anxious than orthopaedic patients and healthy individuals. METHOD: Fifty consecutive asthmatics were assessed. All completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ--30) and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI--1 and 2). Healthy individuals (30) and orthopaedic patients (30) were also recruited as controls; they also completed the GHQ and the STAI--1 and 2. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in the sociodemographic variables such as age, sex, occupation, and marital status. The asthmatics had a mean GHQ score of 4.2 (SD+/-4.6) while orthopaedic and healthy control groups scored 1.6 (SD+/-1.8) and 2 (SD+/- 1.8), respectively. There was a significant difference in the mean score of the index population (Asthmatics) and the comparison groups (F=7.09, DF=2/107, P=0.004). With GHQ, cutoff point of > or =5.34% of asthmatics scored above 5 while 10% and 13.3% of the orthopaedic patients and healthy controls each scored > or =5. A significant difference was obtained in the mean scores on the STAI--1 questionnaire (F=4.6, DF=2/107, P=.012) indicating state anxiety whereas there was no significant difference on the STAI-2 questionnaire (F= 1.2, DF=2/107, P=0.31). CONCLUSION: Although asthmatics have higher anxiety compared to controls, this is not an inherent problem or trait among them.