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BackgroundDiabetic nephropathy is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease. The diagnostic markers of nephropathy, including the presence of albuminuria and/or a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate, are not clinically ideal, and most of them are raised after a significant reduction in renal function. Therefore, it is crucial to seek more sensitive and non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy.Objective of the studyThis study aimed to investigate the serum cystatin C levels and dyslipidemia for the detection of diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.MethodologyA hospital-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2021 to August 2022 in Tikur, Anbessa specialized teaching hospital with a sample size of 140 patients with type2 diabetes mellitus. Socio-demographic data was collected using a structured questionnaire, and 5 mL of blood was collected from each participant following overnight fasting for biochemical analyses.ResultsIn type 2 diabetes patients with nephropathy, we found significant lipoprotein abnormalities and an increase in serum cystatin C (P < 0.001) compared to those without nephropathy. Serum cystatin C, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein, very low-density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, and duration of diabetes were identified as being significantly associated with diabetic nephropathy (P < 0.05) in multivariable logistic regression analysis. The mean values of total cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were also found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in females as compared to male type-2 diabetic patients. The fasting blood glucose levels and lipid profiles of the participants were found to be significantly associated with serum cystatin C levels.ConclusionThe present study found significant serum cystatin C and lipoprotein abnormalities in T2DM patients with diabetic nephropathy when compared with those without diabetic nephropathy, and these lipoprotein abnormalities were significantly associated with serum cystatin C levels.

BackgroundUndernutrition among adolescent girls is still a major public health problem in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Even though the global prevalence of thinness among adolescent girls declined over time, it remains steady in LMICs including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the trends and factors associated with thinness.MethodsA logit-based multivariate decomposition analysis for a non-linear response model was fitted to identify factors that contributed to the change in thinness over time. For the associated factors, a multilevel binary logistic regression model was employed. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and likelihood ratio (LR) test were used to assess the presence of the clustering effect, and deviance was used for model comparison. Statistical significance was declared at p < 0.05.ResultsThinness among late adolescent girls declined significantly from 34.4% (95% CI: 32.8%, 36.0%) in 2000 to 24.9% (95% CI: 23.4%, 26.5%) in 2016 with an annual average reduction rate of 1.73%. About 84% of the decrement in thinness was attributed to the change in the effect of the characteristics. The place of residence and marital status were significantly associated with a change in thinness due to the change in coefficients. The compositional changes in the age of the adolescents, religion, and types of toilet facilities were also significantly associated with the change in thinness. From the multilevel binary logistic regression, higher age of adolescents (AOR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.90), improved toilet facility (AOR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.65), middle wealth index (AOR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.90), and female head of the household (AOR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.98) were significantly associated at an individual level, whereas being from Somali (AOR = 2.14; 95% CI:1.76, 3.10) and SNNP region (AOR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.68), they had a statistically significant association with thinness at community level.ConclusionThinness among late adolescent girls declined substantially, but it remains a major public health concern. Nutritional interventions targeting thinness reduction among late adolescent girls should base on the identified factors. Age, residence, marital status, type of toilet facility, religion, wealth index, sex of head of the household, and region were all associated with thinness in this study.

Background Adolescents are among the nutritionally vulnerable group due to their nutritional demand for pubertal spurt. At this age, adequate nutrition, nutritional education, and counseling are very important to halt the consequence and its impact on this segment of the population. So, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and its associated factors of nutritional status among high school adolescents aged 10–19 years in Debre Tabor Town, South Gondar Zone, and North central Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2017. A total of 349 high school adolescents were selected by using simple random sampling. Data were collected through face to face interview and physical measurement. The data were entered into Epi info version 7 software and then exported into SPSS version 20 software for further analysis. A p-value Result A total of 327 adolescents participated in this study with the overall response rate of 93.69%. The magnitude of stunting and thinness was 15% (95% CI: 11, 19) and 4.9% (95% CI: 2.4, 7.4) respectively. Sex (AOR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.15, 4.36), residency (AOR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.28, 4.82), and family size (AOR: 3.41, 95% CI: 1.65, 7.05) were the associated factors for stunting. Residence (AOR: 3.67, 95% CI: 1.16, 11.56), and living away from the family (AOR: 4.37, 95% CI: 1.20, 15.95) were the associated factors for the development of thinness. Conclusion Stunting is a mild public health problem but not thinness. Sociodemographic variables were the determinant factors for the development of stunting and thinness. To halt this, integrated adolescent related school and nutrition services is very important with adequate and quality food access to adolescents. In addition to this the government shall have to increase the access of education.