BackgroundDiabetes is increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world, and ~80% of diabetics live in developing countries. Similar to the rest of sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia is experiencing a significant burden of diabetes, with increased prevalence, complications, and mortality, as well as life threatening disabilities. Reasons for poor glycemic control among type 2 diabetes patients are complex and multivariable. Hence, this study aimed to identify challenges and factors associated with poor glycemic control among type 2 diabetes patients.MethodA hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among type 2 diabetic patients attending the diabetic clinic of Nekemte Referral Hospital (NRH) from February 1 to April 30, 2018. Fasting blood glucose levels of the last three clinic visits were obtained and the mean fasting blood glucose measurement was used to determine the level of glycemic control. Analysis included both descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS version 20.0. Predictor variable P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsOut of the total 228 included type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients, 51.8% were males. The mean age of patients was 43±12.4 years and 154 (67.5%) were found to not be following their general dietary program correctly. Nearly one third, 73 (32%), of patients never attended diabetic education and 52 (22.8%) of the patients had greater than 10 years’ duration on treatment. The majority, 148 (64.9%), of patients had poor blood glucose control. Age 40–60 years (AOR=2.01, 95% CI=0.04–0.06, P=0.044), being illiterate (AOR=3.12, 95% CI=1.52–8.50, P=0.001), having informal education only (AOR=2.28, 95% CI=2.14–32.60, P=0.024), longer duration of diabetes treatment (>10 years) (AOR=3.94, 95% CI=1.51–27.83, P=0.012), inadequate physical exercise (AOR=3.19, 95% CI=1.05–19.84, P=0.019), and smoking (AOR=4.51, 95% CI=0.00–0.50, P=0.022) were independent predictors of poor glycemic control on multivariable logistic regression analysis.ConclusionNearly two-thirds of patients had poorly controlled diabetes. Age, exercise, level of education, duration of the treatment, and smoking were significantly associated with poor glycemic control. Health facilities should provide continuous education, and barriers of glycemic control should be explored with further research.

Introduction Despite its alarming spread throughout the world, no effective drug and vaccine is discovered for COVID-19 so far. According to WHO, the recovery time from COVID-19 was estimated to be 2 weeks for patients with mild infection, and 3 to 6 weeks for those with serious illnesses. A studies regarding the median recovery time and its predictors are limited globally and specifically in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the median time to recovery from COVID-19 and its predictors among COVID-19 cases admitted to WURH, Western Ethiopian. Methods This was a hospital-based retrospective cohort study conducted among 263 adult patients admitted with COVID-19 in WURH treatment center from March 29, 2020 through September 30, 2020. Epidata version 3.2 was used for data entry, and STATA version 14 for analysis. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was fitted to determine factors associated with recovery time. A variable with P-value ≤ 0.25 at bivariable Cox regression analysis were selected for multivariable Cox proportional model. Multivariable Cox regression model with 95% CI and Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) was used to identify a significant predictor of time to recovery from COVID-19 at P-value < 0.05. Results The mean age of patient was 36.8 (SD± 10.68) years. At the end of follow up, two hundred twenty seven observations were developed an event (recovered) with median time to recovery of 18 days with IQR of 10–27 days. The overall incidence rate of recovery was of 4.38 per 100 (95% CI: 3.84, 4.99) person-days observations. Being older age (AHR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.49), presence of fever on admission (AHR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.62), and comorbidity (AHR = 0.56, 95% CI, 0.34, 0.90) were found to have statistically significant association with recovery time. Conclusion and recommendations In general, the median recovery time of patients with COVID-19 cases was long, and factors such as older age group, presence of fever, and comorbidity was an independent predictors of delayed recovery from COVID-19. Intervention to further reduce recovery time at treatment center has to focus on patients those shows symptoms and with comorbidities.

Background: Early sexual initiationsexual activity that begun earlier than 18 years of ageis among risky sexual behaviors which may be associated with increased risks of adverse outcomes such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions. However, there is no nationally representative evidence on early initiation of sexual intercourse and its determinant factors among adolescent females in Ethiopia. Methods: Data were extracted from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) to assess early initiation of sexual intercourse and factors contributing to it in adolescent females. The analysis included a weighted sample of 3881 adolescent females aged 15-19 years. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted and the results were presented as adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at 95% confidence interval (CI), declaring statistical significance at a p-value <0.05 in all analyses.

Background: Diabetes and its complications including foot ulcer constitute a global public health challenge attributing to a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Foot ulcer is one of the long-term complication of diabetes mellitus which lead to infection and amputation of lower extremities. In Ethiopia, findings from few studies were inconsistent and there is a need to systematically pool existing data to determine the magnitude of foot ulcer in diabetics and factors contributing to it. Methods: We identified articles through electronic databases such as Medline, Hinari, Pub Med, Cochrane library, the Web of Science and Google Scholar. Accordingly, we identified 95 published and one unpublished article. Finally, eleven studies which fullfilled eligibility criteria were included in final systematic review and meta-analysis. Data were extracted using a standardized data extraction checklist and the analyses were conducted using STATA version 14. The Cochrane Q test statistic and I 2 tests were used to assess heterogeneity. Results: The overall magnitude of foot ulcer was 12.98% (95%CI: 7.81-18.15) in diabetic patients in Ethiopia. Subgroup analyses revealed highest prevalence in Addis Ababa (19.31% (95%CI: 2.7. 41.37)). Foot ulcer was significantly associated with rural residence (OR = 2.72, 95%, CI: 1.84-4.01)), presence of callus on the feet ((OR = 12.67, 95%, CI: 6.47-24.79)), a body mass index of ≥24.5 ((OR = 2.68, 95%, CI: 1.58-4.56)), poor self-care practice ((OR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.25-1.73)), type I diabetes mellitus ((OR = 0.42, 95%, CI: 0.22-0.79)), staying with DM for < 10 years ((OR = 0.23, 95%, CI: 0.11-0.50)), and age < 45 years ((OR = 0.44, 95%, CI: 0.21-0.92)). Conclusion: The prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers in Ethiopia is relatively low, although its trend is increasing from time to time. Socio-demographic factors, body weight, and healthcare practice contribute to the development of diabetic foot ulcers. Appropriate interventions towards patient self-care practice, lifestyle modification and follow-up are wanted to prevent diabetic foot ulcers.

Background: Even though the type, extent and reasons for self-medication practice (SMP) vary, globally self-medication (SM) is rising to relieve burdens on health services. However, inappropriate SMP results in economic wastes, damage of vital organs, incorrect therapy selection, risk of adverse drug reactions and development of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. These consequences have severe implications including legal, ethical and quality of health-care delivery. Temporal increment and high prevalence of SM among health professionals is also a major bottleneck for Ethiopia. Hence, the study aimed to assess the SM among health-care professionals (HCPs) in selected governmental hospitals of Western Ethiopia. Methods: An instiution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 338 HCPs using a pre-tested and self-adminstered questionnaries from March 1 to 25, 2018. Simple random sampling was used to select study participants and SMP (yes or no) was the outcome of the study variable. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) were calculated and all results were deemed to be statistically significant when p < 0.05. Results: Among the 338 participants, 184 (54.4%) were females and the mean age of the study participants was 25±3.23 years. About 154 (45.6%) of them had work experience of less than 5 years and 49.7% were nurses by profession. The prevalence of SM was 73.4% with 3 months of recall for SM. Familiarity with medicines and ailments (46.8%) and mildness of illness (40.7%) were the most common reasons to self-medicate. The most frequently reported ailments were headache (37.1%) and gastric pain (29.8%). Analgesics (44.4%) and antibiotics (42.7%) were the most commonly used self-medicated categories of drugs. Female sex (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =2.13, 95% CI: 1.43-8.66), age 20-29 years (AOR=4.53, 95% CI: 1.01-14.45) and work experience of <5 years (AOR= 3.01, 95% CI: 1.32-11.71) were significantly associated with SMPs. Conclusion: The study revealed a high prevalence of SMP among HCPs. Sex, age, and work experience were significantly associated with SMPs. Hence, the use of prescription drugs without prescription should be discouraged and appropriate health education should be provided by all concerned bodies on the proper use of drugs.