Children with asthma in Nigeria had marginally but significantly lower mean serum vitamin D levels when compared with their counterparts without asthma. However, serum vitamin D level does not seem to be associated with childhood asthma severity and control in these children with normal serum vitamin D levels.
Neurological disorders are common in childhood, with cerebral palsy (CP) being one of the leading causes of disability. [1,2] CP is a disorder of abnormal posture with scarcity of movement caused by lesions in an immature or developing brain with varying degrees of associated problems including seizure disorders, intellectual disabilities, communication difficulties, learning difficulties, visual impairment, bladder and bowel control problems and swallowing difficulties. [3] The prevalence of CP in well-resourced countries is between 1.5 to 2.5 per 1 000 live births while in Africa the prevalence is between 1.5 and 10 per 1 000 live births. [ 4-8] Reasons for this disparity have been attributed to poor government policies on healthcare, harmful traditional beliefs, higher rates of unsupervised deliveries and inadequate equipment to implement resuscitative procedure following complicated labour in many African countries. [9] CP can occur during the prenatal, perinatal or postnatal stages. [10] In some cases, the aetiology of CP is not known, however, some common identifiable causes include birth asphyxia, severe jaundice/ kernicterus, infections, neonatal seizures, prematurity and low birth weight. [5,10] Diagnosis of CP is made by clinical evaluation with or without cerebral imaging. Failure to identify aetiology in a child with a neurological condition does not exclude CP, provided the brain injury that resulted in the motor function deficits occurred before the child was older than three years of age. [10] Children with CP require lifelong healthcare, by a range of professional disciplines (including paediatrician, neurologist, orthopaedic surgeon, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist), using substantial human and financial resources. [11,12] Physiotherapy plays a major role in the management of children with CP. [13] The aims of physiotherapy intervention include: strengthening of the mother-to-child bonding, optimisation of functional skills, physical endurance and motor development, therein facilitating school participation via provision of mobility devices, advising and facilitating appropriate handling and positioning and preventing complications such as contractures and other deformities. Physiotherapy treatment approaches include neurodevelopmental therapy, sensory integration therapy, conductive education, constraint induced movement therapy, context focused therapy, advance neuromotor rehabilitation, biofeedback and physical activity training. [13,14] Despite the important rehabilitative role of physiotherapy in the management of children with CP in Nigeria, standardised protocols or guidelines are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the pattern of CP in children attending the paediatric physiotherapy clinics located in tertiary hospitals, Osun State, Nigeria, to inform the development of a standardised clinical guideline for the physiotherapy management of the children. Methods Study design and participants This was a hospital-based, cross-sectional, descr...
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a major cause of physical disability in childhood. Caregivers are often subjected to both stress and burden due to prolonged care. This article assesses levels, correlates, and predictive factors of stress and caregiver burden among primary caregivers of children with CP. A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three tertiary hospitals within the Osun State, Nigeria. Two hundred and nine caregivers were interviewed with both the Parental Stress Scale and Caregiver Difficulty Scale to assess for stress and burden of caregivers, respectively. Data were collected and analyzed using Statistical Program for Social Sciences for Windows version 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, United States) with alpha set at p < 0.05. Two hundred and nine children with CP aged 12 months to 12 years were seen during the 6-month period. Mothers constituted 87.1% of the total caregivers. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) stress seen in caregivers was 44.8 ± 10.1, while the mean (SD) caregiver burden was 45.2 ± 13.4. Both these scores were above the minimum score of 42, which signifies high psychosocial stress and burden. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess associations between clinical and sociodemographic and each of stress and caregivers' burden. Severity of CP and level of education were the most important predictors of stress, while severity of CP, level of education, and male child were the most important predictors of caregivers' burden. Caregivers' burden and stress are known to result in negative outcomes. Identifying factors that can predict caregivers' burden and stress could help develop an early intervention strategy to minimize these negative effects while promoting caregivers' psychosocial well-being.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.