BackgroundCritical illness is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Identifying patients with the highest risk of death could help with resource allocation and clinical decision making. Accordingly, we derived and validated a universal vital assessment (UVA) score for use in SSA.MethodsWe pooled data from hospital-based cohort studies conducted in six countries in SSA spanning the years 2009–2015. We derived and internally validated a UVA score using decision trees and linear regression and compared its performance with the modified early warning score (MEWS) and the quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score.ResultsOf 5573 patients included in the analysis, 2829 (50.8%) were female, the median (IQR) age was 36 (27–49) years, 2122 (38.1%) were HIV-infected and 996 (17.3%) died in-hospital. The UVA score included points for temperature, heart and respiratory rates, systolic blood pressure, oxygen saturation, Glasgow Coma Scale score and HIV serostatus, and had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.77 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.79), which outperformed MEWS (AUC 0.70 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.71)) and qSOFA (AUC 0.69 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.72)).ConclusionWe identified predictors of in-hospital mortality irrespective of the underlying condition(s) in a large population of hospitalised patients in SSA and derived and internally validated a UVA score to assist clinicians in risk-stratifying patients for in-hospital mortality. The UVA score could help improve patient triage in resource-limited environments and serve as a standard for mortality risk in future studies.

BackgroundLithium is an integral drug used in the management of acute mania, unipolar and bipolar depression and prophylaxis of bipolar disorders. Thyroid abnormalities associated with treatment with lithium have been widely reported in medical literature to date. These include goitre, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and autoimmune thyroiditis. This current review explores the varied thyroid abnormalities frequently encountered among patients on lithium therapy and their management, since lithium is still a fundamental and widely drug used in psychiatry and Internal Medicine.MethodsPubMed database and Google scholar were used to search for relevant English language articles relating to lithium therapy and thyroid abnormalities up to December 2012. The search terms used were lithium treatment, thyroid abnormalities, thyroid dysfunction, goitre, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, thyrotoxicosis, autoimmune thyroiditis, lithium toxicity, treatment of affective disorders and depression and side effects of antipsychotic drugs. Reference lists of the identified articles were further used to identify other studies.ResultsLithium affects normal thyroid functioning through multiple mechanisms. At the cellular level, it decreases thyroid hormone synthesis and release. It also decreases peripheral deiodination of tetraiodothyronine (T4) or thyroxine by decreasing the activity of type I 5’ de-iodinase enzyme. Hypothyroidism and goitre (clinically and/ultrasonographically detected) are the most prevalent thyroid abnormalities among patients on long term lithium therapy. Lithium induced hyperthyroidism is very infrequent. Lithium increases the propensity to thyroid autoimmunity in susceptible individuals due to its effect of augmenting the activity of B lymphocytes and reducing the ratio of circulating suppressor to cytotoxic T cells.ConclusionsThyroid function tests (serum thyroid stimulating hormone, free thyroid hormones-T4 and triiodothyronine [T3] concentrations and thyroid auto-antibodies) and assessment of thyroid size clinically and by thyroid ultrasonography ought to be performed among patients initiating lithium therapy at baseline and later annually. More frequent assessment of thyroid function status and size during the course of therapy is recommended among middle aged females (≥50 years), patients with a family history of thyroid disease and those positive for thyroid auto-antibodies (anti-thyroid peroxidase and TSH receptor antibodies).

BackgroundMalaria in pregnancy has been associated with maternal morbidity, placental malaria, and adverse birth outcomes. However, data are limited on the relationships between longitudinal measures of malaria during pregnancy, measures of placental malaria, and birth outcomes.MethodsThis is a nested observational study of data from a randomized controlled trial of intermittent preventive therapy during pregnancy among 282 participants with assessment of placental malaria and delivery outcomes. HIV-uninfected pregnant women were enrolled at 12–20 weeks of gestation. Symptomatic malaria during pregnancy was measured using passive surveillance and monthly detection of asymptomatic parasitaemia using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). Placental malaria was defined as either the presence of parasites in placental blood by microscopy, detection of parasites in placental blood by LAMP, or histopathologic evidence of parasites or pigment. Adverse birth outcomes assessed included low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and small for gestational age (SGA) infants.ResultsThe 282 women were divided into three groups representing increasing malaria burden during pregnancy. Fifty-two (18.4%) had no episodes of symptomatic malaria or asymptomatic parasitaemia during the pregnancy, 157 (55.7%) had low malaria burden (0–1 episodes of symptomatic malaria and < 50% of samples LAMP+), and 73 (25.9%) had high malaria burden during pregnancy (≥ 2 episodes of symptomatic malaria or ≥ 50% of samples LAMP+). Women with high malaria burden had increased risks of placental malaria by blood microscopy and LAMP [aRR 14.2 (1.80–111.6) and 4.06 (1.73–9.51), respectively], compared to the other two groups combined. Compared with women with no malaria exposure during pregnancy, the risk of placental malaria by histopathology was higher among low and high burden groups [aRR = 3.27 (1.32–8.12) and aRR = 7.07 (2.84–17.6), respectively]. Detection of placental parasites by any method was significantly associated with PTB [aRR 5.64 (1.46–21.8)], and with a trend towards increased risk for LBW and SGA irrespective of the level of malaria burden during pregnancy.ConclusionHigher malaria burden during pregnancy was associated with placental malaria and together with the detection of parasites in the placenta were associated with increased risk for adverse birth outcomes. Trial Registration Current Controlled Trials Identifier NCT02163447Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-017-2040-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThere is a documented increase of diabetes mellitus in Sub Saharan Africa, a region where tuberculosis is highly endemic. Currently, diabetes mellitus is one of the recognised risk factors of tuberculosis. No study has reported the magnitude of diabetes mellitus among tuberculosis patients in Uganda, one of the countries with a high burden of tuberculosis.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted among 260 consenting adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of tuberculosis admitted on the pulmonology wards of Mulago national referral and teaching hospital in Kampala, Uganda to determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and associated clinical factors. Laboratory findings as well as the socio-demographic and clinical data collected using a validated questionnaire was obtained. Point of care random blood sugar (RBS) testing was performed on all the patients prior to initiation of anti tuberculosis treatment. Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed if the RBS level was ≥ 200mg/dl in the presence of the classical symptoms of diabetes mellitus.ResultsThe prevalence of diabetes mellitus among the admitted patients with tuberculosis was 8.5%. Only 5 (1.9%) patients with TB had a known diagnosis of diabetes mellitus at enrolment. Majority of the study participants with TB-DM co-infection had type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=20, 90.9%).At bivariate analysis, raised mean ALT concentrations of ≥80 U/L were associated with DM (OR-6.1, 95% CI 1.4-26.36, p=0.032) and paradoxically, HIV co-infection was protective of DM (OR-0.32, 95% CI 0.13-0.79, P=0.016). The relationship between DM and HIV as well as that with ALT remained statistically significant at multivariate analysis (HIV: OR- 0.17 95%CI 0.06-0.51, p=0.002 and ALT: OR-11.42 95%CI 2.15-60.59, p=0.004).ConclusionThis study demonstrates that diabetes mellitus is common among hospitalized tuberculosis patients in Uganda. The significant clinical predictors associated with diabetes mellitus among tuberculosis patients were HIV co-infection and raised mean serum alanine transaminase concentrations.