The heights and weights of secondary school girls in Benin City, Nigeria.

A cross-sectional study of the heights and weights of secondary school girls in Benin City, Nigeria, aged 11-20 years was carried out with a view to providing baseline data for these physical characteristics. The overall mean height and weight of the population studied were 158.0 +/- 7.2 cm and 49.4 +/- 7.9 kg respectively. The heights and weights increased rapidly with age until 14 years, more gradually until age 17 years after which the height remained static while the weight continued to increase gradually. The finding indicates that in our population, significant increase in height should not be expected after age 17 years. Socio-economic factors (income level) did not significantly affect heights and weights in the age group studied. An attempt is made to explain the differences in the growth patterns of our girls compared with their counterparts from the developed countries.

Adolescent induced abortion in Benin City, Nigeria.

Induced adolescent abortion is a major cause of maternal and gynecologic death in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, where 244 out of 349 such cases seen from January 1, 1974 to December 31, 1979 were reviewed. Ignorance and lack of contraceptive facilities were contributory factors. To deal with this problem that has been pervasive throughout Nigeria for the past decade, the authors advocate sex education, systematic dissemination of information for planned and conscientious parenthood as well as free availability of alternative methods of contraception. Interruption of early pregnancy should be an essential component of a national family planning program.

PIP: Records of adolescent girls in Nigeria admitted to the gynecologic ward of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital from 1974-79 show that abortion accounted for 28% of gynecologic admissions in Nigeria. In a review of 244 cases, 60.8% of the patients were adolescent girls and 53.7% of them had septic abortions. 37.5% of the authors' patients already had 1-3 induced abortions or live births at the time of admission and yet had no knowledge of contraception. Only 16.8% were attended by physicians, 9.8% were self induced. The most common complications were hemorrhage, sepsis, cervical laceration, and hypovolemic shock. The main causes of severe morbidity and mortality were uterine and bowel perforation, peritonitis, and endotoxic shock. Several studies indicate that unsuccessful illegal induced abortion is one of the main causes of death among unmarried Nigerian girls of school age, who are ignorant of and lack access to contraception. 2.8% of illegal abortions in this series resulted in death compared to 11% in 1963-67 in Lagos. 62.5% of abortion-related deaths occurred in adolescent girls and 20% of all female adolescent deaths in the entire hospital. Morbidity and mortality associated with adolescent induced abortion are extraordinarily high in Nigeria compared with the U.K., Denmark, and Sweden. The Federal Government of Nigeria is urged to liberalize the abortion law and to provide basic sex education and family planning for adolescent boys and girls in order to discourage criminal abortion and its attendant complications.

Radiologic estimation of gestational age of Nigerian newborn infants using the lower limb ossification centres.

The presence and size of the epiphyseal centres in the lower limb were studied by post-natal radiological examination in 176 Nigerian newborn infants. The gestational age range was between 27 and 42 weeks. There was no difference between the sexes and between the two halves of the body. There was also no difference in size and pattern of appearance of epiphyseal centres between our infants and their Caucasian counterparts. There was a narrow limit within which the knee epiphyseal centres were visible--the distal femoral at 36 weeks and proximal tibial at 38 weeks. The calcaneus and talus centres were visible in all infants. The prediction interval for estimation of age from the mean size of femoral epiphysis in this material was +/- 32.4 days and +/- 38 days for the tibial epiphysis.

Adhesion of the labia minora complicating circumcision in the neonatal period in a Nigerian community.

Twelve cases of adhesion of the labia minora complicating circumcision in the neonatal period of a Nigerian Community are presented. 9 of the cases were under one year in age. 10 of the cases were erroneously diagnosed by general practitioners as cases of imperforate vagina or hymen. The commonest presenting symptom was a poor urinary stream. Treatment was by separation of the adhesion and local application of dienoestrol cream, the success rate of this mode of therapy was 91.7%. The aetiology and treatment of labial adhesions are discussed. If labial adhesions are untreated other complications could arise in later life, hence female circumcision in the neonatal period should be discouraged.