African Journal of Internal Medicine

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-009, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Demographic Trends in Cancer Diagnosis: Insights from Malawi

Humphrey Misiri1,2 * and Abdi Edriss3

1Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
2Department of Community Health, College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi.
3Bunda College, University of  Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi.

Accepted 28 January, 2025

Cancer which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide is emerging as a serious public health problem in Malawi due to the AIDS pandemic. Research has shown that HIV causes the syndrome of premature aging and accelerates carcinogenesis. The objective of this study was to describe age at cancer diagnosis and to fit the age distribution of childhood and adult cancer diagnosis in Malawi. We therefore fitted the normal, gamma, lognormal and inverse Gaussian probability distributions to the data for the 1996–2005 period from the Malawi National Cancer Registry and selected the model of best fit using the Akaike Information Criterion. Additionally, a finite mixture distribution of lognormals was also fitted to the data. According to the analysis for this study, the median ages at diagnosis are at most 42 years for AIDS-defining cancers and at least 46 years for non-AIDS defining cancers. Furthermore, the ages at childhood and adult cancer diagnosis follow lognormal distributions and the distribution of age at cancer diagnosis (all cancers) is a finite mixture distribution of lognormals with estimated mixing proportions equal to 0.071 and 0.929. The estimated means of the mixture distribution are 5.1 and 45.1 years and the corresponding estimated standard deviations are 1.211 and 2.842 years. This analysis suggests that age at cancer diagnosis in Malawi is relatively low and has a bimodal distribution. Therefore, to achieve maximum impact, cancer prevention and control activities should target the 15-50 year age range.

Keywords: cancer, diagnosis, AIC, finite mixture.
 

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-009, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Epidemiological Profile of Cancer Incidence in Blantyre, Malawi: Trends from 1996-2005 and Projections to 2015

Humphrey Misiri1,2, Charles Dzamalala3, Abdi Edriss6, D Max Parkin4, and Freddie Bray1,5

1 Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
2 Department of Community Health, College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi.
3 Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi.
4 CTSU, University of Oxford, UK
5. Norwegian Cancer Registry, Oslo, Norway
6 Bunda Collage, University of Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi

Accepted 28 November, 2024

As in many sub-Saharan countries, communicable diseases have been given greater public health priority in Malawi, although the magnitude of the cancer burden is increasing as a result of demographic changes, as well as the impact of the HIV pandemic. To be able to describe the patterns of cancer between 1996 and 2005 and to predict the incidence and total burden of cancer for 2015,we analysed data from the Malawi National Cancer Registry for the period from 1996 to 2005. We obtained age standardized incidence rates for the most common cancers in Malawi. Linear trend models were used to predict incidence rates and the burden of cancer for Blantyre for 2015. The most common cancers, in terms of age-standardized (world) incidence rates were Kaposi sarcoma (50.5 per 100,000 for males, 26.4 for females), cervical cancer (49.3 per 100,000), oesophageal cancer (22.3 for males, 14.6 for females), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (6.6 for males, 5.3 for females), eye cancer (4.4 for males, 5.4 for females), and breast cancer (11.9). Predictions based on the rather rapidly increasing trends would yield an upper limit of 2512 cases of cancer in Malawi by 2015; an absolute percentage increase of 193.4 % and 242.7 % among males and females, respectively. Based on our analysis we conclude that incidence rates of cancer in Blantyre have been increasing between 1996 and 2005. Apart from the AIDS pandemic in Malawi, population growth and ageing will also contribute to the projected threefold increase in the number of cancer cases.

Keywords: Cancer, incidence, predictions, time trends

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Reliability of the Short Form of the Berg Balance Scale in Older Adults: A Test-Retest Study

Karthikeyan G.1, Shamim. G. Sheikh2 and Purushotham Chippala3

1Associate professor, Srinivas collage of physiotherapy and research center, Mangalore.
2Physiotherapist, Srinivas College of Physiotherapy and Research Center, Mangalore, India
3Assistant Professor, Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy, Mangalore, India.

Accepted 28 January, 2024

Falls and fall-induced injuries in elderly people are a serious public health concern in contemporary societies with aging populations. Research has shown impaired balance to be a major factor associated with falls. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was originally developed to assess balance performance in geriatric persons or geriatric patients. It has shown high reliability and validity, but it takes more time to complete. So to simplify and to improve its utility, SFBBS was developed which include 7 best items from original BBS. The SFBBS was found to feature psychometric properties similar to those of the original BBS. Still no reliability study has been found in elder people. So the purpose of this study is to examine the test-retest reliability of SFBBS scores among elder people. This is a cross-sectional study which includes 76 normal elder people (25 male and 51 female) of 65 years and above age. The participants were screened for the inclusion and exclusion criteria. An informed consent was taken from the participants prior to the study. SFBBS is administered twice by the same assessor initially then after the 1 week retest will be done at a same time 1+ hour of 1st occasion by the same rater. The test-retest reliability of the short form of berg balance scale was calculated using ICC values. Results shows there is a good test-retest reliability (ICC=0.95) of SFBBS in elder people. From this study we conclude that the short form of berg balance scale is a reliable test for Balance evaluation in elder population.

Keywords: Balance, Short Form of Berg Balance Scale, Test-Retest Reliability, Fall Assessment
 

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Morbidity and Mortality Trends in Newborns: A Two-Year Analysis from a Tertiary Care Facility in Nigeria's Niger Delta

G I McGil Ugwu

Department of paediatrics Delta State University Oghara Delta State Nigeria
E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +2348026239010

Accepted 12 October, 2024

To determine the pattern of morbidity and mortality of admitted newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Delta State University Teaching Hospital Oghara. Newborn morbidity and mortality are still very high in developing countriets despite significant decline in developed countries. The quality of newborn care depends among other things, the establishment of the special care baby unit, regular audit and evaluation of services rendered. All neonates admitted into the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Delta State University Teaching Hospital Oghara in Niger Delta of Nigeria over a two year period between January 2010 and December 2011, were prospectively studied. Information documented include the biodata of each child, the diagnosis, services rendered and outcome. A total of 646 neonates were admitted during the period of review. The male: female ratio was 1.2:1 in favour of the males.(350:296). Of these, 108 were due to prematurity (16.4% ), 24(3.9% ) due to intrauterine growth restriction,116 (18.3%) with birth asphyxia. 228 (35.5%) were due to neonatal sepsis, 8(1.5%) neonatal tetanus. 60 (9.5%) had neonatal jaundice while 102 or(14.9 %) were due to other diseases. Of the 228 with neonatal sepsis, only in 80 (35.1%) was the sepsis culture proven, with 47.4% as presumed sepsis and 17.5% of cases, the neonates had other comorbid states. The overall mortality rate was 20.3%. The ratio of male to female deaths was 2.31 with the case fatality rate also higher in males than females at 26.3% and 14.1% respectively. Sepsis accounted for 25.7% of the deaths, birth asphyxia 24.1%, prematurity 22.6%. However the case fatality rate showed neonatal tetanus to be highest at 50%, Prematurity 27.8%, birth asohyxia 27.6% and neonatal sepsis 14.9%. Though more patients seen and died had neonatal sepsis, the case fatality rate showed neonatal sepsis to be just slightly above half of that for prematurity and birth asphyxia which are almost at par. Case fatality for tetanus remains very high. Regular auditing of the services in the neonatal intensive care unit is very essential and reduction of the neonatal mortality is a must, if the dream of achieving the 4th millenium development goal of reducing under 5 mortality by 2/3rd by 2015 can be attained.

Keywords: neonate, morbidity, mortality.
 

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (2), pp. 001-006, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Genetic Factors and Antioxidant Defense in Male Nigerian Patients with Androgenetic Alopecia

Iyanda A.A.

Department of Chemical Pathology, College of Health Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo. E –mail: [email protected]

Accepted 04 January, 2025

Various environmental factors which prone an individual to oxidative stress have been linked with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) but the result outcome of various studies emanating from different regions has not consistently confirmed such association, an indication that there may be race involvement. The aim of this study therefore is to identify using antioxidant enzymes as indices of study if AGA is oxidative stress-induced in Nigerian subjects exposed to cigarette smoke and alcohol. Androgenetic alopecia subjects exposed to cigarette smoke, alcohol consuming or non-smoking/non-alcohol consuming were used for the study with each group comprising 30 subjects while 40 subjects served as the control. Serum activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were estimated, data were also obtained on age, durations of alopecia, smoking and alcohol consumption as well as family history of AGA (maternal and paternal). Results revealed that serum activities of both catalase and superoxide dismutase were significantly different (p<0.05) in the smoking and alcohol consuming group compared with control while that of glutathione peroxidase was significantly different in smokers (p<0.05) but not in alcohol consuming group (p>0.05). An analysis of family history showed that greater than 75% of the subjects had family history of AGA. Moreover, correlation study identified a relationship between smoking and duration of alopecia and two of the antioxidant indices, although alcohol consumption was positively correlated with superoxide dismutase but there was no correlation between it and alopecia. Our findings suggest that both smoking and family history of alopecia but not alcohol consumption seem to play a role in the pathogenesis of alopecia and that smoking-induced AGA may be oxidative stress induced.

Keywords: Serum activities, anti-oxidant enzymes, genetic factor, androgenetic alopecia, male Nigerian.
 

African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN: 2326-7283 Vol. 13 (2), pp. 001-003, February, 2025. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Evaluating Respiratory Challenges in Pediatric Obesity

Maria Agolli1 and Roven Sinani2

Gjirokaster Albania

Accepted 12 January, 2024

Present study has been conducted on obese children ranging in age from 3 to 14 years having Body Mass Index (BMI) value more than equal to 30.Group of 100 children of same age group having no any history of obesity are taken as control group. Following criterion has been followed for the estimation of level of difficulty on breathing: Parental Interview through questionnaire, assessment and evaluation by Otorhinolaringologist and pediatrician.There was no Polysomnography Test carried out on children under study. Results indicate that higher percentage of breathing difficulties have been observed in obese children as compared to control group children.Based on the otorhinolaringologic examination, it was noted that the percentage of the tonsilar hypertrophy and adenoid is almost the same in both groups, having a higher predominance in the obese children group. This shows that the difficulty in breathing of the obese children is directly due to their obesity and not because of the presence of the adenotonsilar hypertrophy. In the pediatric examination, it was observed that the group of obese children has a slight pulmonary obstruction due to the fat which compromises the pulmonary and also the abdominal mass which obstacles the diaphragm.

Keywords: Breathing, obese, children.