Search

Objectives The objective of this study was to assess treatment satisfaction, medication adherence and drug utilization amongst glaucoma patients receiving care at secondary health facilities. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst glaucoma patients attending eye clinics of General Hospital Ilorin and Civil Service Hospital Ilorin in Kwara State, Nigeria from October 2020 to January 2021. Three hundred and eleven patients were enrolled in the study. Sampling was based on convenience as dictated by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ethical permission and informed consent were obtained before data collection. Validated instruments of Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication were used during the data collection process. Descriptive and Chi-square analyses were employed. Key findings Amongst the 311 patients studied 184(59.2%) were females with a mean age of 63.79 ± 14.89 years. Timolol eye drop was the drug of choice for monotherapy in (8.7%) of patients. Combination therapy of beta blockers and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors had the highest number (59.5%) of prescriptions. More than half (55.6%) of the patients were adherents. Participants reported being more satisfied with their anti-glaucoma therapy in the domain of global satisfaction (62.89 ± 21.85) followed by medication effectiveness (62.67 ± 20.78) and convenience (60.16 ± 15.79) while medication side effects had the least score (17.17 ± 11.09). There is a statistically significant relationship between patient satisfaction with treatment and medication adherence at P= 0.001. Conclusions Combination therapy was the most frequently utilized anti-glaucoma agent. Most of the patients adhered to their medications and were satisfied with the treatment received.

This study evaluated 8 brands of 5 packets each of instant noodles for bacterial load, clinical status, and resistance of the isolates to conventional antibiotics, in addition to pH. These brands were cultured on plate count agar for bacterial enumeration while isolates were challenged on selective media for bacteria of clinical status. The antibiogram was determined using standard methods. The pH varied from acidic (4.92) as shown in GPJ 3 to closely neutral (6.94) as recorded in HWJ 2. TTJ1 had the lowest average bacteria count of 1.6 x 103 while BFJ5 with 6.3 x 105 counts was the highest. Prevalence of isolates of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa varied in the ratio 40:30:30. Of the 40 samples, 8 of the 16 Escherichia coli were resistant to gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and Augmentin, 7 of the 12 Staphylococcus aureus elicited resistance to ampicillin and cotrimoxazole while 8 of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa were resistant to meropenem, cotrimoxazole, Augmentin, and cephalexin. Presence of bacteria of clinical status, in counts that exceeded recommended safe limits for ready-to-eat noodles and higher numbers of resistant isolates to the antibiotics appropriated, could be attributed to product storage under sub-optimal conditions which portend a public health risk.

World Health Organization (WHO) classified Nigeria as a hyper-endemic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive nation with prevalence ≥ 8%. This study intends to add information that could strengthen established database to improve awareness and prevention of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We aimed to evaluate seroprevalence and trend of HBsAg among blood donors in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria over a five-year period. Data from records of 7,102 individuals aged ≥ 20 years old who donated blood to blood bank in this hospital from January 2012 to December 2016 were analysed for gender, age, number of donors per year and HBsAg status. Data analysis was done with Statistical Package for Social Sciences software. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Males were in the majority (6,547 [92.2%]). Age 30–39 years old was the major group (3,052 [43.0%]). Pooled HBsAg seroprevalence was 486 (6.8%). Females had the highest HBsAg seroprevalence across board with highest rate of 10 (19.6%) in year 2012 and pooled prevalence of 73 (13.2%). Age group of ≥ 50 years old had highest HBsAg seroprevalence 39 (8.5%) while age group of 20–29 years old had least 128 (5.8%). Stratified HBsAg positivity decreased steadily from year 2012 to year 2016. This location was HBV intermediate-endemic. There were age, gender and yearly seroprevalence of HBsAg related trends which could be leveraged upon in finding effective preventive measures against the disease. We recommend mass vaccination by government against HBV infection in addition to provision of sensitive blood investigational equipment.

Adherence is key to improving patient outcomes especially in those with chronic disease states. We assessed activities of pharmacists to improve adherence in hypertensive patients. A hard copy data collection instrument was used to collect information from 402 patients. Information included demographics, medication adherence, pharmacists’ activities in improving adherence and clinical outcomes. Google forms were used to collect data on demographics and activities done to improve patients’ treatment outcome among 152 pharmacists. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 and variables whose P≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. The mean age of patients was 53.71±0.12 years. Majority felt they were taking too many medications (281, 69.9%) or they were taking too many doses (293, 72.9%). Pharmacists never asked 257 (63.9%) questions about their drugs. Many (244, 60.7%) forgot to take their medications routinely. The mean age of pharmacists was 27.72 ± 0.49 years and 132 (86.8%) had a B. Pharm Degree as their highest level of education, 69 (45.4%) had no updated information on patients’ health, while 128 (84.2%) provided pharmaceutical patient care. Adherence to medications was poor especially among elderly patients. Patients agreed that pharmacists educated them on how their drugs work and on the right way to take their medicines. The main problem identified among pharmacists was their failure to update their clinical knowledge.

Perceptions of pharmacy students as future health care providers can enhance the health and pharmaceutical care (PC) needs of older adults. The objective of this study was to investigate pharmacy students' awareness and perceptions of the health and PC needs of older adults.A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pharmacy students in Southwest, Nigeria for four weeks using a 39-item structured questionnaire. Unpaired t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were performed. A P .05 was considered significant.Based on 422 completed questionnaires, 299 (70.9%) were females, 283 (67.1%) were 20 to 24 years, 123 (29.2%) were in 200 Level, 402 (95.3%) had heard of PC with their first source of information being pharmacy school, 352 (83.4%). Reliability of the instrument was 0.92 (Cronbach's alpha). Mean + SD of pharmacy students' perceived health and PC needs of older adults were 3.73 ± 1.176 and 4.21 ± 1.031, respectively. The majority, 355 (84.2%), agreed on the importance of health care providers understanding their geriatric patients' family circumstances and social environment and 381 (90.3%) perceived that such will strengthen their professional relationship with older adults.Pharmacy students were aware of PC and indicated positive attitudes towards caring for older adults but few had provided care. Reinforcement of PC training and emphasis on geriatric topics in pharmacy curriculum are reiterated.

Background- Virtual reality (VR) is an effective drug-free tool for management of pain. However, its use remains elusive in developing countries like Nigeria.Objectives: To characterize studies conducted on using virtual reality in managing pain. Methods: A comprehensive systematic review was conducted for studies done globally from 2000 to 2016. Databases (Google, Pubmed, BioMed Central, Mendeley) were searched to identify eligible studies. Search terms included: Virtual reality, Virtual patients, and management of pain using VR. Data extracted included: Title/authors of articles, objectives, study design, methods, population, age group, primary disease conditions, VR equipment, environments, display technology/ senses needed, country of study, effect of VR plus pharmacologic analgesia, and study outcomes. Results: Out of 3821 potentially relevant articles identified 24(0.63%) were eligible. Fourteen (58.3%) and 8(33.3%) studies were Randomized Control Trials, and Case Studies/Reports respectively. A total of 8(33.3%) and 3(12.5%) studies were on Burn pain and Phantom limb pain respectively. Seventeen (70.8%) studies had adults as target population. Thirteen (54.2%) studies were done in the USA, 19 (79.2%) were Immersive VR, 15(62.5%) had head mounted display as display technology, and 22 (91.67%) had positive outcomes. VR plus pharmacologic analgesia 8 (33.37%) had positive outcomes. No study was found for Nigeria. Conclusion: This review demonstrates wide range of characteristics for studies encountered and VR is shown as effective for reducing pain in different disease conditions even when combined with pharmacological analgesia. The absence of studies on management of pain using VR in Nigeria calls for creation of awareness among major stakeholders.

The rate of psychoactive substance (PAS) use in the adolescent group is increasing around the world. Drug abuse has a negative impact on students’ education especially that of secondary school students. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of psychoactive substance use and knowledge of the health consequences among secondary school students in Ogun State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 528 consenting students selected using random sampling method. Data obtained using a validated modified World Health Organization’s guidelines questionnaire were analyzed with SPSS 20, p-Value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Majority (78.8%) were within the age group 15-18 years, males were 61.4%. Alcohol (95.0%) ranked first of all the substances been consumed among the current PAS users. Age was highly significantly associated with PAS use. Average knowledge of health consequences of PAS use was 11.5%. There is need for continuous health educational intervention to boost the respondents’ knowledge about health consequences of uses of psychoactive substances. Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 19(2): 199-205, 2020 (December)

In the care of patients, assessment of the use of drugs is very imperative as it shows the quality of care delivered to patients by the caregivers. The study aimed to compare the prescription patterns of antipsychotics in two public healthcare facilities in Nigeria using a standardized World Health Organization instrument. The studies were conducted at the General Hospital, Offa (GHO), Kwara State, and the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri (FNPHMM), Borno State. Ethical approvals were obtained from the studied facilities. A total of 625 prescriptions in each of the facilities were selected by random sampling. Frequency distributions and student t-test were used. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 3.9 in the GHO, while 1.2 was recorded in the FNPHMM. Injections were prescribed in 14.4% and 18.7% of encounters in the GHO and the FNPHMM, respectively. One hundred percent (100.0%) of the drugs were prescribed by generic name in the GHO and 98.2% in the FNPHMM. The percentage of drugs from the National Essential Drug List was 72% in the FNPHMM and 100% in the GHO. The prescribing indicators assessed were found to be below standard in the FNPHMM while the GHO showed polytherapy.

Malaria is a major health concern in children aged less than five years old, globally. In Nigeria, it was estimated that 300,000 children die annually from malaria. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the clinical response of a brand of arthemether-lumefantrine (AL) for clearing parasitaemia in children aged less than five years old. This was a prospective study of the clinical and parasitological responses to the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) malaria using a popular dispersible brand of AL 20/120 mg. A hundred participants within 6–59 months with P. falciparum malaria were enrolled in the study and participants who could not complete the follow-ups were excluded. The drug was administered to participants following same dosage regimen on days 0, 1, 2 and followed-up on days 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 in which the participants were assessed clinically and parasitologically. Data was analysed using MS-Excel 2010 and SPSS version 18. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess clinical outcomes. The study showed that 73 participants completed the 28 days follow-up while 27 participants were lost to follow-up. Clinical outcome revealed no early treatment failure (ETF), one late clinical failure (LCF), 10 parasitological failures and 62 adequate clinical and parasitological response (ACPF). Clinical response was 84.9%, cumulative success and failure rate was 93.6% and 6.4%, respectively, on day 28. The clinical response of AL was efficacious. The failure rate of 6.4% could likely be as a result of reinfection within the period of follow-up.

The study into the outbreak of the blast disease in the oil palm plantation in Akamkpa local government of Cross River state was carried out with the aim of identifying the possible sources of contamination of the oil palm seedlings and also the physicochemical parameters of the soil samples. Fungi associated with the blast disease were isolated using the direct plating and bait methods while the physicochemical parameters of the soil were determined using standard methods. The symptoms of the blast disease in the palms begins with rotting of the tips of the roots and then further spreads into the media zone of the cortex resulting in the eventual death of the palm. Fungi isolated from different portion of the affected seedlings, water and soil samples include Pythium, Phytothora, Macrophomina, Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. The results of the soil physical properties of the soil samples showed the particle size analyses of the soils samples to range from 835 gkg1 to 840 gkg1 respectively. The soil texture was sandy loam with an acidic pH ranging from 5.3 to 5.8. The contents of organic matter ranged from 6.10g kg-1 to 14.25 g kg-1, total nitrogen 1.58 g kg-1 to 2.25 g kg-1, available phosphorus 5.08 mg kg-1 to 6.10 mg kg-1 and potassium 1.16 cmol kg-1 to 2.18 cmol kg-1. The result of this study has indicated that the source of water used for the watering of the oil palm nursery serve as the possible source of introduction of pathogenic pathogens to the oil palm seedlings.

Indigenous methods of food processing in Nigeria are influenced by a wide range of socioeconomic factors and indigenous knowledge practices which support mycotoxingenic fungal contamination of processed food. Some of the socioeconomic factors include level of education, methods of skill acquisition, methods of food vending in market places, methods of food handling and storage, hygienic practices and poor water supply. The uses of indigenous knowledge in food processing are important because its application serve as a source of livelihood improvements, sustainability of indigenous food and eradication of food shortage. The limitation of the application of indigenous knowledge in food processing encourages mycotoxins contamination of foods. This is as a result of the poor hygienic conditions of the processing utensils, processing environments and methods of packaging the processed food. Due to the absence of policies in monitoring the quality of indigenously processed foods in market places and the risk associated with indigenous methods of food processing, there is the need for government agencies to address these issues through policy assessment in the areas of operations, inspection and enforcement and training so as to effectively harness the benefits of indigenous knowledge in food processing for national development.

Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is the commonest female cancer in the developing nations. The virus behind CC is Human papillomavirus (HPV). In sub-Saharan Africa, high mortality arises from low public awareness and knowledge about the disease. Objective: This study assessed the effectiveness of educational intervention as a means to improve cervical cancer knowledge among health care students. Methodology: Year 4-5 medical and pharmacy students of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) took part in a quasi-experimental study. An anonymous pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data at pre-and post-intervention sessions for comparison after one and half hours of educational intervention lecture. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16. P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Age range 21-26 years was 85.0%, male to female: 1.1:1.2. Majority (63.1%) had heard of CC prior to the intervention, gender it affects (50.6%), stages of cervical cancer (26.3%). Infection with HPV (14.4%), genetics (61.9%), having many children (15.0%). Pap test is to detect early signs of CC (41.3%), pap test not needed after HPV vaccine (20.0%), healthy adult women have pap test every three years (21.3%), All the scores significantly increased after post-intervention. Conclusion: Educational intervention was successful in improving CC knowledge among participants.

Aim of study Cervical cancer is the 4th women killer disease in the world especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the disease is preventable if detected early many women stilldie from it. This study was to evaluate cervical cancer awareness knowledge and risk factors among health care students of Olabisi Onabanjo University Sagamu Campus Ogun State Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study carried out among Pharmacy and Medical 4th and 5th year students. Males were 127 50.8. Majority 226 90.4 of the respondents heard of cervical cancer those who knew it affects mainly female gender were 217 86.8. Those who knew the stages of cervical cancer were 81 32.4. While 96 38.4 heard of Pap test those who knew that Pap test is important for women of their age were 10 4.0and those who see it as necessary even if there has not been family history of cancer were 234 93.6. The following believed that the below listed factors could increase the chances of getting cervical cancer. They include infection with Human papillomavirus 222 88.8 weakened immune system 223 89.2 long-term use of contraceptive pills 186 74.4 and having many sexual partners 211 84-4. P lt 0.000. Awareness of cervical cancer and knowledge of its risk factors were appreciably high while that of Pap test was below average

Background: Diabetes and its associated complications take a toll on the elderly. It is known that medication burden could reduce patients’ adherence, which in turn impacts negatively on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of those suffering from chronic diseases. Studies have been conducted on HRQOL and its associated factors among diabetic patients but none has studied pill burden effects on HRQOL. This research evaluated pharmacist’s intervention on pill burden effects on the HRQOL of elderly diabetic patients. Methods: This 8-month randomized controlled study involved 170 elderly type 2 diabetic patients. Socio-demographics, the impact of the number and dosage frequency of drugs on adherence, and the influence of the pill burden on HRQOL scores were evaluated at baseline and at 4 and 8 months. Patients in the intervention group were educated about diabetes and its management and counselled on treatment adherence. Brisk walking was specially demonstrated to them at least 4 times during the study period. The control group received only the usual call reminders for appointment days. Results: At baseline, 58.8 and 64.7%, respectively, in the control and intervention groups responded “yes” (indicating a negative effect on their adherence) to >5 pills per prescription, while the figures were 55.3 and 15.3%, respectively, at 8 months (p = 0.711 and p = 0.000, respectively). Patients on 1–5 pills per prescription in the control group had the following physical functioning scores: baseline (44.2 ± 14.2) versus 4 months (47.2 ± 19.1) and 8 months (47.7 ± 16.1); p = 0.277 and p = 0.160. The physical functioning scores in the intervention group were: baseline (41.7 ± 16.1) versus 4 months (67.6 ± 23.1) and 8 months (92.5 ± 3.5); p ≤ 0.001. The same pattern of results was found for those on >5 pills per prescription. Conclusion: This study demonstrates pharmacists’ ability to improve the HRQOL of patients through continuous counselling, supply of relevant information, and monitoring of drug, exercise, and diet adherence. Intervention such as this could be beneficial to diabetic patients and others with chronic diseases.

Introduction: Several studies have explored the role of maternal parameters on pregnancy outcome; however, very few studies have examined the interaction between paternal race/ethnicity and educational status. Aim: To determine the interaction between paternal race/ethnicity and educational level and how this interaction influences pregnancy outcome among paternity acknowledged births in the USA. Methods: We utilized the US Vital Statistics records to collate paternal characteristics of paternally acknowledged births between 2015-2019. We conducted a multivariate analysis with an interaction term to determine the interaction between paternal race and education. We then ascertained how the interaction influences pregnancy outcomes across eight outcome measures. These outcome measures included infant mortality, breastfeeding, 5 min Apgar score, neonatal unit admission, neonates receiving assisted ventilation > 6 hours following delivery, cesarean section, mothers requiring blood transfusion, and admission to the intensive care unit. Results: There were a total of 4 555,334 paternity acknowledged pregnancies in the study period. About 23% of the women declined to breastfeed after delivery. Across all races/ethnicities, there was a significant association between paternal education, increased cesarean section rate, and increased uptake of breastfeeding. Having a Hispanic father was associated with the highest odds of breastfeeding (OR=1.78; 95% CI 1.76-1.79). Despite having a higher risk of NICU admission, Poor 5min- Apgar score, and assisted ventilation, there was no difference in neonatal mortality rate between White fathers and any other race/ethnicities. Conclusions: Paternal race and educational status significantly impact pregnancy outcomes among paternity acknowledged births in the United States. The study highlights the importance of including paternal parameters in algorithms designed to improve pregnancy outcomes.

Hypertension is a major challenge in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected people globally. A prospective, cross-sectional study comprising two hundred and eighteen HIV-infected patients was conducted in Antiretroviral Therapy Clinic of General Hospital, Offa between November 2015 and December, 2016. Patients’ blood pressure was evaluated using Omron automated blood pressure monitor following standard procedures. Dual weight and height balance was utilized to measure the weight and height of the subjects. Hypertension incidence among patients receiving combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) was 34%, while those that were yet to start cART was 9.6 %. In HIVinfected women on cART, occurrence of hypertension was high (75.5%) as compared to men (24.5%). The hypertension pervasiveness in HIV-infected patients on cART was 75.5% in women and 24.5% in men. Risk factors that were markedly linked with hypertension among patients on cART include body mass index (OR: 3.29,95% CI:1.21-2.27; p< 0.050), sedentary lifestyle (OR: 1.63, 95% CI:1.20-5.38; p < 0.043), age (OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.22-2.33; p< 0.004) and gender (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 0.85-2.41; p < 0.037). Patients on cART were found to have higher hypertension prevalence than cART-naive. The cART, however, is not a risk factor for hypertension.Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 21(1): 35-41, 2018

This paper presents a research work that was carried out to resolve challenges of traffic light system. This work employs the use of a microcontroller, an inductive loop which acts as the vehicle detector and LED’s (light emitting diodes) for simulating the red, yellow and green light in a traffic light. The inductive loop is embedded in pavement along the road which senses the presence of vehicle. When a vehicle passes across the loop, the magnetic field changes and the inductance of the coil is decreased resulting in a frequency change of the oscillator which is detected by the controller. The interrupt is set to make the traffic light allow the movement of vehicles on the lane with many vehicles on it according to information on the counter. This means that when the system discovers the lane with many vehicles by the number on the counter, the interrupt function comes into operation by interrupting the counting process and allowing the system to allow movement in that lane. Then the system resumes back to counting after this process is done. The test results show that the system can be physically and successfully implemented.

Diabetes complications contribute to reduction in health-related quality of life of patients and increased health resources usage. This study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of micro and macro complications among type 2 diabetic patients in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Nigeria. This was a retrospective study of case files of elderly type 2 diabetic patients from 50 years old who attended the endocrinology clinic from 2011-2012 and fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Relevant data on micro and macro vascular complications were assessed from the files. Mean age of study population was 63.9±9.6 years. Majority were females (61.7%). Above half of the patients (59.3%) had fasting blood sugar (FBS) level

Background: The increasing drug abuse globally has brought problems of increased violent crimes, transmittable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B viruses and tuberculosis.Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess substance abuse in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State.Material and Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria. A convenient sample size of 300 respondents (15-50 ± SD years) who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria was used for this study. Self-administered questionnaire were used to collect relevant information from the consented respondents. SPSS was used for data analysis while statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05.Results: Male to female ratio was 1.49:1.51 (p=0.944). While the singles (36.3%) were in the majority, the single parents were 30.3% and the separated were 22.7%. Of the studied population, 40.7% had secondary education while 71.7% were unemployed. Majority (94.3%) understood which drugs are considered illicit and 76% were involved in illicit drug use of which 49.3% used it for calmness and sleep. Coffee was reported as the most consumed psychoactive drug used by them and their parents (52.7 and 64.3% respectively). Marital problems (46.0%) is a key predisposing factor to the use of illicit drugs while peer influence (42.0%) lured these people into the act.Conclusions: High prevalence of substance abuse among these respondents depicts weakness on the part of regulatory authorities. The commonly abused drugs were coffee and alcohol while the common initiator was peer pressure. Parents should strive to be role models rather than being drunken menace.Keywords: Substance abuse, Parents drug use, Alcohol problems, Ogun state

Introduction:Hypertension is progressively becoming more prevalent in Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to assess the risk factors and occurrence of hypertension among Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria.Methodology:A descriptive longitudinal study on hypertension was conducted among Fulani herdsmen residing in rural communities of Ilorin East and Moro Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Nigeria, from the age of 18 years and above. Eight hundred and seventy–two (872) consenting subjects completed a standardized questionnaire. Blood pressure, weight and height were measured and recorded using standard calibrated equipment.Results:Of the 872 herdsmen, 351 (40.3%) were aged 18–30 years and 632 (72.5%) migrated from the North–West zone of Nigeria. Almost all (n=858, 98.4%) of the subjects were ignorant of hypertension. Overweight and obesity were uncommon among the subjects. The occurrence of hypertension was 17.3% with overall average systolic blood pressure (BP) of 128.8±12.3 mmHg and diastolic BP of 84.0±8.0 mmHg. Risk factors of hypertension were types of diet [OR 0.578; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.113–11.418, p< 0.028], smoking habit [OR 5.147; CI: 1.023–25.884, p < 0.017] and age [OR 2.656; CI: 0.682–8.556, p < 0.031].Conclusion: Majority of hypertensive herdsmen were not aware of their status, signifying a high incidence of undiagnosed and un-controlled BP among these subjects. Public health awareness on the risk factors of hypertension is essential to reduce the burden among this population. Further research is also necessary to measure the trends of hypertension among this populationBangladesh J Medicine Jul 2016; 27(2) : 48-54

Background: Breast cancer ranks as the fifth cause of death from cancer overall and is still the leading cause of cancer mortality in women. Objective: To assess knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and impact of practice duration among health professionals in a tertiary health institution in Ogun state. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive prospective study which assessed 162 female health professionals on their knowledge of breast cancer. The data was analyzed using SPSS package version 16.0. Results: The study population comprised doctors (9.3%), nurses (78.4%), Pharmacists, radiographers and lab scientists (12.3%) with mean age of 32.97 ± 0.92. The practice durations of the respondents ranged from 0 – 10 years (46.3%) and above 30 years (9.9%). The doctors demonstrated higher knowledge in most of the areas as compared to the other groups as well as in the overall mean knowledge while the nurses had the poorest knowledge across board. In regards to risk factor in breast cancer, Doctors had a higher knowledge (100%) than the other groups in response to the question: Early menarch and late menopause is a risk of developing breast cancer (p-value=0.001). Conclusion: Continuous education programme aimed at improving the risk factor knowledge among healthcare providers should be given more attention.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the knowledge of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment among female health professionals in a government health institution in Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. DESIGN: Descriptive study. SETTING: Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. SUBJECTS: One hundred and sixty two female health professionals. RESULTS: Study population comprised of doctors (9.3%), nurses (78.4%) and Pharmacists, radiographers and lab scientists (P/L/R) (12.3%) with mean age of 32.97 ± 0.92. The practice durations of the respondents ranged from 0 – 10 years (46.3%) and above 30 years (9.9%). The doctors and the P/L/R had 100% knowledge while the nurses had 96.9% as regards early diagnosis of breast cancer improving survival. The nurses had a higher knowledge (98%) in response to breast cancer can be treated surgically while the doctors had the least knowledge (86.6%), p value=0.021. Knowledge of these professional was also very satisfactory with years of practice as those of above 21years experience had higher knowledge when compared with lower years of experience. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that these female health professionals had a very satisfactory diagnostic and treatment knowledge which is higher than some earlier studies. This knowledge though commendable should be improved upon through consistent education of these professionals.