South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
-
Alcohol use in South Africa (SA) is increasing. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that SA is the third-largest drinking population in Africa, with the highest rate of fetal alcohol syndrome in the world. Internationally, parental drinking during childhood is a risk factor for poor child mental health, behavioural problems and weaker educational outcomes in middle childhood. However, parental alcohol use in Africa is under-researched, and much of the literature on maternal alcohol consumption is restricted to clinical and pregnancy samples. ⋯ While HD rates were low, maternal/caregiver alcohol use negatively impacted on parenting and children's behavioural/cognitive outcomes. International evidence suggests that integrated approaches engaging parents and families may be more effective for parent-child outcomes than individual psychiatric or medical care for the parent on their own.
-
Comparative Study
Increase in blood pressure over a 7-year period in a mixed-ancestry South African population.
An increase in the prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) has been reported globally and in the South African (SA) population. ⋯ A rightward shift in absolute BP translated into a significant increase in the prevalence of hypertension over time in this population. The predominant increases in screen-detected hypertension suggest that the deteriorating profile was not matched by efforts to detect and manage individuals with higher-than-optimal BP levels.
-
For more than 70 years the default therapy for anaemia and blood loss was mostly transfusion. Accumulating evidence demonstrates a significant dose-dependent relationship between transfusion and adverse outcomes. This and other transfusion-related challenges led the way to a new paradigm. ⋯ Improving the management of anaemia will firstly improve public health, secondly relieve the pressure on the blood supply, and thirdly improve the productivity of the nation's workforce. While high-income countries are increasingly implementing PBM, many middle- and low-income countries are still trying to upscale their transfusion services. The implementation of PBM will improve South Africa's health status while saving costs.
-
Genomic research has been identified in South Africa (SA) as important in developing a strong bio-economy that has the potential to improve human health, drive job creation and offer potential solutions to the disease burden harboured by low- and middle-income countries. Central to the success of genomic research is the wide sharing of biological samples and data, but the true value of data can only be unlocked if there are laws and policies in place that foster the legal and ethical sharing of genomic data. ⋯ We argue that a purposive interpretation of the legislation would permit broad consent for the processing of personal information for research. Although there are ongoing debates surrounding the ethical use of broad consent in Africa, the objective of this article is not to engage with the ethics of broad consent itself, but rather to focus on the legal status of broad consent for genomic data sharing under POPIA.
-
Frailty is a state characterised by diminished physiological reserve that leaves an individual vulnerable to external stressors and delays recovery. Frailty assessments are proving to be more valuable in predicting poor perioperative outcomes than other well-known perioperative risk assessment tools. Very few studies using validated frailty assessment tools have been done to assess the prevalence of frailty in South Africa (SA), and none have assessed the intraoperative implications of frailty in a surgical population. ⋯ The prevalence of frailty was high among surgical patients. Consistent with other studies, frailty was associated with older age and multiple comorbidities. The association between frailty and intraoperative complications found in this study may indicate and help inform areas of further research.