Background: Nephrotic syndrome is the most common glomerular disease affecting children, characterized by heavy proteinuria, edema, hypoalbuminemia, and hyperlipidemia. The mainstay treatment is with prednisolone, whose response is of prognostic significance. Steroid response rates vary across geographical regions, which may be due to the role of genetic and environmental risk factors among different ethnic groups. There is a paucity of data on response to treatment with prednisolone in pediatric patients with nephrotic syndrome in the Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia. Objectives: To assess the pattern of response to prednisolone in pediatric patients treated for nephrotic syndrome at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from 2014 to 2019. Methods: A record-based retrospective study was conducted at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital Mekelle City, Ethiopia. Data was collected and recorded on a predesigned form. Sixty-three patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria, whose data was entered, coded, and analyzed using the statistical software package (SPSS) version 20. Variables of interest included age, gender, blood pressure, presence of hematuria, acute kidney injury, biopsy, secondary causes of nephrotic syndrome, and response to steroid therapy. Data was presented in tables and graphs. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 1 - 17 years, with a median age of 3 years. Fifty-one patients (81%) were males, with a male to female ratio of 4.2:1. Hematuria was present in 66.7%, whereas hypertension was seen in 49.2% of the patients. Thirty-nine patients (61.9%) were responsive to prednisolone, 24 cases (38.1%) were resistant, 8 (20.5%) were steroid-dependent and 19 (48.7%) had relapses. Younger age (AOR 16.671, 95% CI: 1.645 - 168.904 P = 0.017) and high cholesterol values (AOR 1.013, 95% CI: 1.005 - 1.021 P = 0.01) were independent factors associated with steroid responsiveness. Conclusions: The steroid response rate in this study is similar to that in Asian and some African countries. Most patients in our hospital had atypical features of nephrotic syndrome. Younger age and high cholesterol levels were independent factors affecting steroid response.

Background Neuroradiological studies have greatly improved the knowledge and diagnoses of cerebral palsy with its underlying pathology, types and accompanying changes in brain morphology. However, there is no published study on cerebral palsy neuroimaging patterns in Ethiopia. Methods Retrospective chart and neuroimaging reviews were conducted among pediatric patients, who attended Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital between January 2016 and August 2019, fulfilling the study criteria. The magnetic resonance images and computed tomography scans reviewed by a neuroradiologist and/or pediatric neurologist were included. Data was collected using a structured checklist and analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 22. Results were represented using tables, graphs and images. Results The median age at neuroimaging was 2 years. There were more males (54.5%) than females (45.5%) with a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. Majority of the patients had magnetic resonance (81.8%) as opposed to computed tomography scans (18.2%). Most of the patients (69.7%) had been born at term with spastic quadriplegia (33.3%) found to be the leading type of cerebral palsy. 30.3% of the patients had normal neuroimaging studies whereas 69.7% had neuroimaging abnormalities. Anomalies included pathologies of the white matter (18.2%), basal ganglia (15.2%), cortex and lobes (27.3%), corpus callosum (6.1%), lateral ventricles (12.1%), cysts (18.2%) and cerebellum (3%), respectively. Other findings were seen in 45.5% of the patients. Conclusion Severe forms of cerebral palsy (spastic quadriplegia) were most common with majorly cortical and subcortical brain involvement.

Introduction. Cerebral palsy is the most common neurologic disorder of childhood with lifelong implications in majority of patients. Knowledge of the determinants of cerebral palsy is important for accurate mobilization of resources in obstetric, perinatal, and infant care besides implementation of prevention systems. In Ethiopia, however, this knowledge gap exists as there are no published studies on determinants of cerebral palsy in the country. Objective. To assess the determinants of cerebral palsy in pediatric patients attending Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital between April 2019 and August 2019. Methods. An unmatched case-control study was conducted among 50 pediatric cerebral palsy patients and 100 controls, pediatric patients without cerebral palsy or other motor or central nervous system illnesses, attending Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Ethiopia. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 27. Results. Significant factors were operative vaginal delivery (AOR: 9.49, 95% CI: 1.31–68.88), central nervous system infections (AOR: 0.02, 95% CI: 0–0.58), neonatal admissions (AOR: 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03–0.61), and unknown maternal education status (AOR: 18.64, 95% CI: 2.15–161.73). Conclusion. Operative vaginal delivery, central nervous system infections in infancy, neonatal hospital admissions, and unknown maternal education status were found to be significant determinants for cerebral palsy. This knowledge aids focused hospital and regional health bureau development and implementation of prevention strategies for cerebral palsy, besides improvement of obstetric and neonatal healthcare services, and provides baseline data to the scientific community for further research.