Ayodeji A. Oluwole

Sociodemographic factors in anaemia in pregnancy at booking in Lagos, Nigeria

Summary Anaemia in pregnancy is a common problem in many developing countries. In Nigeria, it is responsible for 11.0% of maternal deaths. This study examined the sociodemographic factors associated with anaemia in pregnancy. Anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin (Hb) level <11 g/dl. Proportions were compared using the χ2 test. A total of 35.3% of the 374 women studied were anaemic. Anaemia was more common in primigravidae than in parous women of parity 2 – 4 (χ2 = 6.87; p = 0.0087). Low socioeconomic status, (χ2 = 24.67, p = 0.00090), short interval between pregnancies (χ2 = 20.34, p = 0.000144), booking in the third trimester (χ2 = 15.4, p = 0.00045) and recent febrile illness (χ2 = 6.80; p = 0.0091) were associated with anaemia. Women who only used haematenics were more anaemic than those who also used anti-malarial chemo-prophylaxis (χ2 = 57.32, p = 0.00001). Anaemia in pregnancy is associated with several social and demographic factors. To reduce the prevalence of anaemia women need to have a good formal education, be economically empowered and good antenatal care must be made available, accessible and affordable to all women.

Preterm delivery and low maternal serum cholesterol level: Any correlation?

Background: The study assessed whether low maternal serum cholesterol during early pregnancy is associated with preterm delivery. Patients and Methods: It was a prospective observational cohort study involving pregnant women at gestational age of 14-20 weeks over a period of 12 months. Blood samples were obtained to measure total serum cholesterol concentrations and the sera were then analysed enzymatically by the cholesterol oxidase: p-aminophenazone (CHOD PAP) method. Results: The study showed an incidence of 5.0% for preterm delivery in the low risk study patients. Preterm birth was 4.83-times more common with low total maternal cholesterol than with midrange total cholesterol (11.8% versus 2.2%, P = 0.024). Conclusion: Low maternal serum cholesterol (hypocholesterolaemia) is associated with preterm delivery. Optimal maternal serum cholesterol during pregnancy may have merit, therefore pregnant women should be encouraged to follow a healthy, balanced diet.

Pudendal thigh flap in the treatment of acquired gynatresia from caustic pessaries

To evaluate the use of vaginoplasty with the pudendal thigh flap in patients with gynatresia caused by herbal pessaries in a multidisciplinary context.

The epidemiology and management of gynatresia in Lagos, southwest Nigeria

To document data from patients presenting with gynatresia at 2 tertiary health centers in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

A Study on the Association between Low Maternal Serum Magnesium Level and Preterm Labour

Objectives. The study was aimed to assess the association between low maternal serum magnesium levels and preterm labour. Methods. It is a cross-sectional case-control study in which eligible participants were pregnant women admitted in labour within the labour ward complex of a Lagos tertiary hospital. Relevant data were extracted from the case records of these women and blood samples were obtained from all participants and serum magnesium levels measured. Results. The study showed that 36% of the study patients had varying degrees of hypomagnesaemia. The relative risk indicates that preterm labour is 1.83 times higher among the patients with low serum magnesium (less than 1.6 mg/dL). The mean difference in serum magnesium levels in both groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion. We can infer that low serum magnesium (hypomagnesaemia) is associated with preterm onset of labour. We can, also from this finding, formulate a proposition that would help in preventing preterm labour and birth with the use of prophylactic oral magnesium supplementation among patients with higher risk for development of preterm labour.

Prevalence and risk factors for genital high-risk human papillomavirus infection among women attending the out-patient clinics of a university teaching hospital in Lagos, Nigeria

Introduction Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the developing countries and the seventh commonest cancer in the developed countries. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is now known to be the main factor in the aetiology of cervical cancer with over 99.7% of cases being associated with previous high risk HPV (hrHPV) infection. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for genital hrHPV infection among women attending the out-patient clinics of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Methods This was a cross-sectional study involving a total of 200 women. Questionnaires were administered to collect data such as sociodemographic, reproductive and sexual histories. Endocervical swab samples were then taken from each participant. Samples were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using consensus primers targeted against the hrHPV viruses. Results The prevalence of hrHPV in the study was 36.5%. The most predominant HPV subtypes were 31 (25.0%), 35 (8.0%) and 16 (3.5%) with the largest proportion (76.1%) of the tested samples being positive for only a single hrHPV subtype. The study showed statistically significant associations between early age at coitarche (P = 0.032) and increasing number of lifetime sexual partners (P = 0.001) with genital hrHPV infection. Conclusion The prevalence of hrHPV was high in Lagos with the majority of test positive samples having only a single HPV genotype. We demonstrated early age of sexual debut and increasing number of lifetime sexual partners as the most important factors associated with genital hrHPV infection.

Knowledge and Acceptability of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination among Women Attending the Gynaecological Outpatient Clinics of a University Teaching Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria

Objectives This study was aimed at determining the knowledge and acceptability of HPV vaccine among women attending the gynaecology clinics of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 148 consecutively selected women attending the gynaecology clinic of LUTH. Relevant information was obtained from these women using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The data was analysed and then presented by simple descriptive statistics using tables and charts. Chi-square statistics were used to test the association between the sociodemographical variables and acceptance of HPV vaccination. All significance values were reported at P < 0.05. Results The mean age of the respondents was 35.7 ± 9.7 years. The study showed that 36.5% of the respondents had heard about HPV infection while only 18.9% had knowledge about the existence of HPV vaccines. Overall, 81.8% of the respondents accepted that the vaccines could be administered to their teenage girls with the level of education of the mothers being the major determinant of their acceptability (P = 0.013). Conclusions Awareness of HPV infections and existence of HPV vaccines is low. However, the acceptance of HPV vaccines is generally high. Efforts should be made to increase the awareness about cervical cancer, its aetiologies, and prevention via HPV vaccination.