Belief, knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 amongst residents of Abuja, Nigeria: implications for pandemic preparedness.

Introduction: coronavirus disease, (COVID-19), was a pandemic with high global morbidity and mortality, partly due to a lack of preparedness. People´s knowledge, belief, attitude, and perception of disease outbreaks may affect their response, and this may impact their health-related behavior. This study was designed to determine the pattern of belief, knowledge, attitude, and practices (BKAP) of residents of Abuja, Nigeria, towards the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome of the study may help to make informed decisions on future pandemic preparedness. Methods: a cross-sectional study with data collected online about the local perceptions and common concerns, beliefs, misconceptions, attitudes, and conspiracy theories amongst residents of the FCT. A self-reported validated e-questionnaire prepared on Google Forms was used. The obtained data was downloaded on Excel sheet and then exported to SPSS for analysis. Results: there were one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three (1,873) respondents, 1017 (54.3%) females and 856 (45.7%) males. Participants were majorly knowledgeable, the majority (31.2%) were in the 41-50 years age group. Surprisingly, about 17% did not know that wearing a face mask could prevent COVID-19. About 25% still met in crowded places, and slightly more than 33% did not wear outdoor masks. The highest knowledge of COVID-19 was found among people in the age range 41-50 years, females, University graduates, married people, and healthcare personnel, particularly doctors. Conclusion: our study concludes that the overall population of Abuja had good knowledge and, a positive attitude, with pockets of poor attitudes and bad practices born out of misconceptions and infodemics.

HIV infection and stroke in the Young in Abuja, Nigeria: a case series.

Stroke is a major cause of disability and mortality among the Nigerian general population and thought to be commoner after the fifth decade of life and usually driven by conventional risk factors which are mainly cardio metabolic. However, with the youthful population in a city such as Abuja, stroke could be a mode of presentation of HIV in young people who are also more sexually active. Methods. This is a case series, reporting four cases of HIV positive young Nigerians with stroke. Patients´ data were retrieved from ward admissions records. The patients here had their socio-demographic data taken. They had presented with documented varied clinical features including those suggestive of stroke, after which they had HIV screening done which returned positive. One thousand four hundred and eighty-seven (1487) patients, were admitted in the medical ward, over a three-year period. Female to male ratio of 1:1 in the HIV-positive group, with an age range of 32 to 42 years and an average age of 37.5 years. Stroke constituted 5.7% of all admissions, with stroke in the young accounting for 1.2%. Of all stroke cases, stroke in the young constituted 21.43%, with those who were HIV positive accounting for 4.8%. Young people with stroke should be offered an HIV screening test.

Patterns of dyslipidemia amongst hypertensive patients in Abuja, North Central Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: dyslipidemia and hypertension are independent cardiovascular risk factors that are linked by insulin resistance and commonly coexist as components of the metabolic syndrome. The consequences of dyslipidaemic patterns includes high cardiovascular risk profile and sequalae. Data on lipid patterns amongst hypertensive patients in Abuja, a city with affluent pattern of life style and rising cardiovascular risk profile is very scanty or limited to just levels of total plasma cholesterol. This study was aimed at determining the pattern and frequencies of dyslipidaemic forms among hypertensive patients in Abuja. METHODS: this was a retrospective cohort study with the following data collected; socio-demographics, anthropometric measures and certain metabolic parameters from the new and old groups and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 23. All decisions were made using the assymp. Two-sided Pearson χ2 probability. Quantitative variables were expressed as means and standard deviations. Qualitative variables were expressed as percentages. A p-value of ≤0.05 was set as significant. RESULTS: eight hundred and fifty eight (858) cases were enrolled for this study, 704 (82.1%) olds and 154 (17.9%) news. There were 251 (29.3%) males and 607 (70.7%) females. The means of the two groups were largely comparable. The commonest dyslipidaemic type was reduced High density lipoprotein, HDL (96.1%), followed by elevated low-density lipoprotein, LDL (78.6%), then, elevated total cholesterol, (62.3%) TCHOL and elevated triglycerides, TG 43.5%. CONCLUSION: dyslipidemic forms are very common among hypertensive patients in Abuja, Nigeria, particularly reduced HDL. Some observed associations include; middle age, female gender, middle/upper socio-economic classes, low levels of physical activity, overweight/obesity, dysglycaemia and long-standing hypertension.