African health sciences
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African health sciences · Mar 2013
Psychiatric morbidity among physically ill patients in a Ugandan Regional Referral Hospital.
Mental illness is a global health burden that remains poorly understood even by health care providers. It is important to get insight of the prevalence, clinical features and management of psychiatric morbidity in general practice in Uganda as it affects treatment outcome. ⋯ The psychiatric disorders on the general medical and surgical wards are highly prevalent and not recognized by staff on these wards despite their common occurrence. There is need for sensitisation of staff on recognition and management of psychiatric disorders in physical illness.
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African health sciences · Mar 2013
Psychological distress among adults admitted to medical and surgical wards of a Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.
Physical illness is commonly associated with psychological distress that may be a direct effect of the illness or an adjustment in coping with the physical illness or its treatment. Little is known about psychological distress of patients on general wards in developing countries. ⋯ There is a high level of psychological distress among the physically ill and it is often unrecognized and untreated.
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African health sciences · Mar 2013
Non communicable disease and risky behaviour in an urban university community Nigeria.
Most developing countries have only limited information on the burden of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) even though rapid transitions in these NCDs have been predicted. ⋯ The high burden of NCDs and risk behaviours in the face of limited self-perceived risk has been demonstrated and calls for urgent intervention.
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African health sciences · Mar 2013
Influence of indoor formaldehyde pollution on respiratory system health in the urban area of Shenyang, China.
The decoration of interior spaces can lead to dangerous levels of indoor formaldehyde pollution. Exposure to indoor air pollution may be responsible for nearly 2 million deaths per year in developing countries. ⋯ The prevalence of common respiratory system disorders was related both to formaldehyde pollution and insufficient ventilation after decorating.
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African health sciences · Mar 2013
Seasonal disease activity and serum vitamin D levels in rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis.
Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that plays essential roles in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, bone formation and mineralization homeostasis, also has a role in the maintenance of immune-homeostasis. ⋯ These results suggest that vitamin D does not have an important role in the seasonal disease activity of these diseases and that seasonal changes in disease activity may play an important role in evaluating Ankylosing Spondylitis patients rather than Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis patients and should be taken into account when examining these patients. These conclusions need to be validated in multicenter studies with high number of patients.