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Background and Aims: Anemia has been a common comorbidity in most chronic diseases, but has not been well monitored in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of anemia and its nexus with iron stores among T2DM patients in health facilities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Methods: This multicenter cross-sectional study recruited 213 T2DM out-patients attending the diabetic clinics at the Kumasi South Hospital and St. Michaels Hospital, Jachie Pramso, Ghana, for routine check-ups. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical data from study participants. Blood samples were collected to estimate hematological parameters and iron stores. Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess the difference in hematological parameters and iron stores between anemic and nonanemic patients. All p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Of the 213 T2DM participants, the prevalence of anemia was 31.9%. More females 145 (68.1%) were registered than males 68 (31.9%). Anemic patients had significantly lower levels of mean cell volume [79.30/fL vs. 82.60/fL, p = 0.001], mean cell hemoglobin [26.60/pg vs. 27.90/pg, p < 0.0001], and mean cell hemoglobin concentration [33.10/g/dL) vs. 33.80/g/dL, p < 0.0001] than those without anemia. Serum levels of ferritin (p = 0.1140), transferrin (p = 0.5070), iron (p = 0.7950), and total iron binding capacity (p = 0.4610) did not differ significantly between T2DM patients with or without anemia. Conclusion: Despite the high prevalence of anemia among the T2DM patients in our cohort, patients present with apparently normal iron stores. This unrecognized mild anemia must be frequently monitored among T2DM patients.

Background: Despite significant improvements in its management, preeclampsia continues to be one of the frequent causes of postpartum readmission. Increased awareness of the risk factors for postpartum readmission is required to reduce its incidence and related complications. This study determined the prevalence and associated risk factors for postpartum readmission among women with preexisting preeclampsia in a Ghanaian population. Methods: This hospital-based retrospective study was conducted at the obstetrics and gynaecology units of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. We reviewed the medical records including sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of preeclampsia patients. Statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 26.0 and GraphPad Prism version 8.0. p-Value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 208 preeclampsia patients were considered in this study. The rate of postpartum readmission for a hypertensive disorder among women with preeclampsia was 46%. After adjusting for multiple confounders in the multivariate logistic model, having a family history of hypertension [aOR = 3.512, 95% CI (1.669–7.394), p = 0.0028] was associated with increased odds for postpartum readmission. However, being nulliparous [aOR = 0.321, 95% CI (0.116–0.887), p = 0.0028] was independently associated with a reduced odd for postpartum readmission. Conclusion: The rates of postpartum readmission are significantly high among preeclampsia women. Our findings highlight the importance of continued efforts to improve the health outcomes of both mother and newborn, including heightened monitoring of at-risk patients in the Ghanaian population.

Hypertension (HTN) is the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, most individuals in developing countries are unaware of their blood pressure status. We determined the prevalence of unrecognized hypertension and its association with lifestyle factors and new obesity indices among the adult population. This community-based study was conducted among 1288 apparently healthy adults aged 18–80 years in the Ablekuma North Municipality, Ghana. Sociodemographic, lifestyle characteristics, blood pressure and anthropometric indices were obtained. The prevalence of unrecognized HTN was 18.4% (237 / 1288). The age groups 45–54 years [aOR = 2.29, 95% CI (1.33–3.95), p = 0.003] and 55–79 years [aOR = 3.25, 95% CI (1.61–6.54), p = 0.001], being divorced [aOR = 3.02 95% CI (1.33–6.90), p = 0.008], weekly [aOR = 4.10, 95% CI (1.77–9.51), p = 0.001] and daily alcohol intake [aOR = 5.62, 95% CI (1.26–12.236), p = 0.028] and no exercise or at most once a week [aOR = 2.25, 95% CI (1.56–3.66), p = 0.001] were independently associated with HTN. Among males, the fourth quartile (Q4) of both body roundness index (BRI) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) [aOR = 5.19, 95% CI (1.05–25.50), p = 0.043] were independent determinants of unrecognized HTN. Among females, the third quartile (Q3) [aOR = 7.96, 95% CI (1.51–42.52), p = 0.015] and Q4 [aOR = 9.87 95% CI (1.92–53.31), p = 0.007] of abdominal volume index (AVI), the Q3 of both BRI and WHtR [aOR = 6.07, 95% CI (1.05–34.94), p = 0.044] and Q4 of both BRI and WHtR [aOR = 9.76, 95% CI (1.74–54.96), p = 0.010] were independent risk factors of HTN. Overall, BRI (AUC = 0.724) and WHtR (AUC = 0.724) for males and AVI (AUC = 0.728), WHtR (AUC = 0.703) and BRI (AUC = 0.703) for females yielded a better discriminatory power for predicting unrecognized HTN. Unrecognized hypertension is common among the apparently healthy adults. Increased awareness of its risk factors, screening, and promoting lifestyle modification is needed to prevent t

Background and Aims: Dyslipidemia in diabetes mellitus has been linked to unhealthy lifestyle and bad eating habits. However, this association has not been well studied among rural and urban Ghanaian populations. In this study, we determined the prevalence, knowledge, and lifestyle-associated risk factors of dyslipidemia among Ghanaian type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in rural and urban areas. Methods: This comparative multicentre-cross-sectional study recruited 228 T2DM outpatients attending the St. Michael Hospital, Pramso (rural) and Kumasi South Regional Hospital (urban), Ghana for routine check-ups. Self-structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic, knowledge, and lifestyle characteristics. Fasting blood samples were taken to measure lipid profiles. Dyslipidemia was defined per the American Diabetes Association criteria. All p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was 79/228 (34.7%). Dyslipidemia was more prevalent among urban participants 43 (18.9%) than rural participants 36 (15.8%). Twenty-seven (11.7%) had adequate knowledge about the risk factors, complications, and management of diabetes. Eating supper after 7 p.m. [adjusted odds ratio = 3.77, 95% confidence interval (1.70–8.37), p = 0.001] significantly increased one's risk of having dyslipidemia by 3.8-fold compared to eating supper earlier (before 5 p.m.). Conclusion: Dyslipidemia is increasing among T2DM patients in both urban and rural areas and it's independently influenced by eating supper after 7 p.m. Most participants were ignorant of the risk factors, complications, and management of diabetes. Adjusting eating habits and increasing diabetes awareness programs to sensitize the general public can mitigate the increasing prevalence of dyslipidemia in both urban and rural areas.

Background: Contraceptive use has many advantages for personal growth and societal advancement, but there is still the problem of unmet needs for women, which highlights the gap between women's reproductive intentions and contraceptive use. This study investigated knowledge, perceptions, and factors that influence contraceptive use among married women living in a military base in Ghana. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 350 married women between the ages of 20 and 58 years at the Uaddara Barracks, Kumasi. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the background, knowledge, perceptions on contraceptive use, and contraceptive methods used by participants. Data was entered into an Excel sheet and analysed using R version 4.2.1. Results: Most of the participants were between the age range of 36 and 40 years (25.5%). Almost all study participants (97.4%), had heard about contraceptives with 80.6% showing a high level of knowledge on contraceptives. The majority of the women (84.6%) had previously used some form of contraceptives and 53.1% presently do. More than half of the participants (69.4%) had a positive perception of contraceptive use; 80.6% responded it was their own decision to use contraceptives, and 80.3% had the support of their husbands. Husbands' support of contraception resulted in a 5 times higher usage of contraceptives among women (aOR = 5.35; p < 0.001) while women who were married to military men were 45% (aOR = 0.45; p = 0.007) less likely to use contraceptive when compared to civilian wives. Demographic characteristics like being above 40 years (aOR = 0.25; p = 0.014), being a housewife (aOR = 0.42; p = 0.043) and working in the private sector (aOR = 0.33; p = 0.015) were significantly linked with less contraceptive use. Conclusion: The study showed that women used contraceptives at a rate that was much higher than the national norm at the Uaddara Barracks, demonstrating the beneficial influence men had on women's contr

Objectives: Micronutrients, especially calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are reported to reduce preeclampsia events via several factors such as endothelial cell control, optimal oxidative stress and a balanced angiogenic growth mediator. We evaluated the association of micronutrients with oxidative stress biomarkers, and angiogenic growth mediators in early-onset preeclampsia and late-onset preeclampsia. Methods: This case-control study recruited 197 preeclampsia (early-onset preeclampsia = 70 and late-onset preeclampsia = 127) as cases and 301 normotensive pregnant women as controls from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Samples were collected after 20 weeks of gestation for both cases and controls and estimated for Ca, Mg, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1, placental growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor-A, soluble endoglin, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, 8-epiprostaglandinF2-alpha and total antioxidant capacity. Results: Early-onset preeclampsia women had significantly lower levels of Ca, Mg, placental growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor-A and total antioxidant capacity but higher levels of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1, soluble endoglin, 8-epiprostaglandinF2-alpha, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1/placental growth factor ratio, 8-epiprostaglandinF2-alpha /placental growth factor ratio, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine/placental growth factor ratio and soluble endoglin/placental growth factor ratio than late-onset preeclampsia and normotensive pregnant women (p < 0.0001). Among the early-onset preeclampsia women, the first and second quartile for serum placental growth factor, first quartile for vascular endothelial growth factor-A and total antioxidant capacity and the fourth quartiles for serum sEng, serum sFlt-1, 8-epiPGF2 and 8-OHdG were independently associated with low Ca and Mg (p < 0.05). Among late-onset preeclampsia women, the fourth quartile for soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 was independently asso

Background: Visceral obesity and insulin resistance contribute to developing cardiometabolic syndrome (MetS). We investigated the predictive abilities of lipid accumulation product (LAP), waist circumference-triglyceride index (WTI), and triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index for MetS screening among the general Ghanaian adults. Methods: The final prospective analysis included 4740 healthy adults aged 30–90 years from three communities comprising Ejisu, Konongo, and Ashanti Akim Agogo in Ghana. Self-structured questionnaire pretested was used to collect sociodemographic, anthropometric, and clinical data. Blood samples were taken after fasting to measure glucose and lipid levels. LAP, WTI, and TyG were calculated from standard equations. MetS was defined by the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and multivariable logistic regression were utilized to evaluate the potential of the three indices in identifying MetS. Results: Of the 4740 participants, 39.7% had MetS. MetS was more common in females (50.3%) than in males (22.2%). Overall, LAP ≥ 27.52 yielded as the best index for MetS with the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) (0.866). At cut-off LAP point of ≥ 23.87 in males and ≥ 33.32 in females, an AUC of 0.951 and 0.790 was identified in MetS prediction, respectively. LAP was an independent risk measure of MetS for both males (45.6-fold) and females (3.7-fold) whereas TyG was an independent risk measure for females (3.7-fold) only. Conclusions: MetS is increasing among the general adult population. LAP and TyG are important sex-specific risk measures to screen for MetS among the general adult population in our cohort.

Background: Preeclampsia is a leading cause of foeto-maternal deaths especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the prevalence and risk factors of preeclampsia are scarce in the Central region of Ghana with previous study assessing individual independent risk factors. This study determined the prevalence and algorithm of adverse foeto-maternal risk factors of preeclampsia. Methods: This multi-centre prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to October 2022 at the Mercy Women’s Catholic Hospital and Fynba Health Centre in Central region, Ghana. A total of 1,259 pregnant women were randomly sampled and their sociodemographic, clinical history, obstetrics and labour outcomes were recorded. Logistic regression analysis using SPSS version 26 was performed to identify risk factors of preeclampsia. Results: Of the 1,259 pregnant women, 1174 were finally included in the study. The prevalence of preeclampsia was 8.8% (103/1174). Preeclampsia was common among 20–29 years age group, those who had completed basic education, had informal occupation, multigravida and multiparous. Being primigravida [aOR = 1.95, 95% CI (1.03–3.71), p = 0.042], having previous history of caesarean section [aOR = 4.48, 95% CI (2.89–6.93), p < 0.001], foetal growth restriction [aOR = 3.42, 95% CI (1.72–6.77), p < 0.001] and birth asphyxia [aOR = 27.14, 95% CI (1.80–409.83), p = 0.017] were the independent risk factors of preeclampsia. Pregnant women exhibiting a combination of primigravida, previous caesarean section and foetal growth restriction were the highest risk for preeclampsia [aOR = 39.42, 95% CI (8.88–175.07, p < 0.001] compared to having either two or one of these factors. Conclusion: Preeclampsia is increasing among pregnant women in the Central region of Ghana. Pregnant women being primigravida with foetal growth restriction and previous history of caesarean section are the highest risk population likely to develop preeclampsia with neonates more likely to suffer