Factors associated with suicidal ideation and behaviours are similar to those found in other studies but the rates of both suicidal ideation and attempts are towards the upper limit of rates for youth. This study suggests that there is an urgent need for Nigerian policymakers and health providers to review and address this issue.

This study assessed gender and rural/urban differences in height and weight, and the prevalence of stunting, underweight and overweight of school-going adolescents in south-west Nigeria, using 2007 WHO reference values for comparison. The influence of sexual maturity and the socio-demographic correlates of growth performance were also examined. In this cross-sectional study, 924 male (51.4%) and 875 female (48.6%) students (1799 in total) aged 10-19 years from eighteen schools in Ibadan (five rural, nine urban public and four urban private) were interviewed and examined. Although males were significantly taller than females (p<0.05), stunting was more pronounced for males, who were 7.5 cm shorter than the 2007 WHO reference, compared with females who were 3.5 cm shorter. Body mass index (BMI) for girls was also greater than for boys (p<0.05). Rural adolescents had lower heights and BMIs compared with those in urban areas. The mean height of male adolescents in rural schools fell below 2 SDs of the 2007 WHO reference between 14 and 17 years, while heights of males and females in private schools were similar to the median 2007 WHO standard. Low height-for-age was observed in 282 adolescents (15.7%), which, after multivariate analysis, was significantly associated with school type, gender, number of mother's children and puberty onset. Adolescents in rural schools were much more likely to be stunted than those in urban private schools (AOR 13.1; 95% CI 5.2-33.2) and males were three times more likely to be stunted compared with females (AOR 3.3; 95% CI 2.4-1.4). Low BMI-for-age was observed in 240 adolescents (18.9%), with correlates similar to stunting. Adolescents at the pre-puberty stage were twice as likely to have low BMI-for-age (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.6-2.5) than those with signs of puberty. There were 2.3% overweight adolescents, who were significantly more likely to be female, in private school and post-pubertal. Innovative interventions for Nigerian adolescents, especially rural inhabitants and males, are needed to reduce the prevalence of stunting and underweight.

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has a high proportion of premenopausal hormone receptor negative breast cancer. Previous studies reported a strikingly high prevalence of germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 among Nigerian patients with breast cancer. It is unknown if this exists in other SSA countries.Methods: Breast cancer cases, unselected for age at diagnosis and family history, were recruited from tertiary hospitals in Kampala, Uganda and Yaound e, Cameroon. Controls were women without breast cancer recruited from the same hospitals and age-matched to cases. A multigene sequencing panel was used to test for germline mutations.Results: There were 196 cases and 185 controls with a mean age of 46.2 and 46.6 years for cases and controls, respectively. Among cases, 15.8% carried a pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutation in a breast cancer susceptibility gene: 5.6% in BRCA1, 5.6% in BRCA2, 1.5% in ATM, 1% in PALB2, 0.5% in BARD1, 0.5% in CDH1, and 0.5% in TP53. Among controls, 1.6% carried a mutation in one of these genes. Cases were 11-fold more likely to carry a mutation compared with controls (OR ¼ 11.34; 95% confidence interval, 3.44-59.06; P < 0.001). The mean age of cases with BRCA1 mutations was 38.3 years compared with 46.7 years among other cases without such mutations (P ¼ 0.03).Conclusions: Our findings replicate the earlier report of a high proportion of mutations in BRCA1/2 among patients with symptomatic breast cancer in SSA.Impact: Given the high burden of inherited breast cancer in SSA countries, genetic risk assessment could be integrated into national cancer control plans.