scholarly journals Oropharyngeal meningococcal carriage in children and adolescents, a single center study in Buenos Aires, Argentina

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247991
Author(s):  
Angela Gentile ◽  
Maria Paula Della Latta ◽  
Mercedes Bloch ◽  
Luisina Martorelli ◽  
Barbara Wisner ◽  
...  

Background Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) pharyngeal carriage is a necessary condition for invasive disease. We present the first carriage study in children in Buenos Aires, Argentina, considering 2017 as a transition year. Aims: to assess the rate of Nm carriage, to determine genogroup, clonal complex and outer membrane protein distribution, to determine carriage risk factors by age. Methods Cross-sectional study including children 1–17 yrs, at Ricardo Gutiérrez Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires 2017. Oro-pharyngeal swabs were taken and cultured within a short time after collection. Genogroup was determined by PCR and clonal complex by MLST. Categorical variables were analyzed. Results A total of 1,751 children were included. Group 1: 943 children 1–9 yrs, 38 Nm were isolated; overall carriage 4.0%. Genogroup distribution: B 26.3%, W 5.3%, Y 2.6%, Z 5.3%, other groups 7.9% and capsule null (cnl) 52.6%. Participating in extracurricular activities was the only independent predictor of Nm carriage. Group 2: 808 children 10–17 yrs, 76 Nm were isolated; overall carriage 9.4%. Genogroup distribution: B 19.7%, C 5.3%, W 7.9%, Y 9.2%, Z 5.3%, other groups 7.9% and cnl 44.7%. Independent predictors of carriage: attending pubs/night clubs and passive smoking (adjusted OR: 0.55, 95%CI = 0.32–0.93; p = 0.025). Conclusions Overall carriage was higher in 10–17 yrs. The isolates presenting the cnl locus were prevalent in both age groups and genogroup B was the second most frequent.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. S553-S553
Author(s):  
Angela Gentile ◽  
Maria Paula Della Latta ◽  
Barbara Wisner ◽  
Mercedes Bloch ◽  
Luisina Martonelli ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Neisseria meningitides (Nm) cause different types of invasive infections.Nm pharyngeal carriage is a necessary condition for invasive meningococcal disease. In 2017 Argentina introduced a tetravalent meningococcal conjugated vaccine (MenACYW) to the National Immunization Program.Aims To assess the rate of Nm carriage in healthy children and adolescents attending a public hospital in Buenos Aires city, to determine genogroup and clonal complex distribution,to describe genogroup distribution of Nm isolated from ID in Argentina, during the same period. Methods Between March and December 2017, a single-center, cross-sectional study was performed among 1,751 children 1–17 years old attending Ricardo Gutiérrez Children Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From oro-pharyngeal swabs, genogroup and clonal complex (CC) were identified. We analyzed Nm ID genogroups data reported to the Regional Surveillance Program (SIREVA II) in the same year. at the same period were relevated. Results 114Nm were isolated from the carriage study, with an overall carriage of 6.5%.Genogroups distribution: B 25(21.9%), W 9(7.8%), Y 7(6.1%), Z 6(5.2%), C 4(3.5%), non-groupable 9(7.8%) and non-capsulated (NC)54 (47.3%). 105 Clonal complex (CC) were determined: Genogroup B isolates belonged to ST-41/44, ST-35, ST-32 and ST-865. Genogroup W was associated to ST-11 and ST-35. SIREVA reported 76 strains of Nminvasive infections in 2017, 53.9% meningitis, 11.8% meningitis and sepsis, 22.4% sepsis, and 11.8% others. Genogroupsdistribution: B59.2% (45), W 23.6% (18), C 10.5% (8), Y 6.5% (5). Conclusion Genogroup B is the most frequent cause of ID followed by W in our country. In the pharyngeal carriage study we found that NmNC was prevalent and genogroup B was the most frequent among the encapsulated.Genogroup B CCs detected in our carriage study coincided with those found previously in ID in Argentina. Genogroup W carriage was low and hypervirulent CC ST-11 was detected. Although genogroup Z does not cause ID in our country it was found in carriage. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hairong Gong ◽  
Guoping Lu ◽  
Jian Ma ◽  
Jicui Zheng ◽  
Fei Hu ◽  
...  

Background: Child unintentional injuries have become a hot topic worldwide, and substantial regional disparities existed in causes and characteristics. To date, limited data are available to investigate the causes and characteristics of child unintentional injuries from hospitals for children in China.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2017 and December 2018 in Shanghai, China. Patients aged <18 years with an unintentional injury presented to the emergency department were enrolled. Demographic information, Pediatric Risk for Mortality III score, and outcome variables were retrieved from electronic health records (EHRs). Frequencies and proportions of categorical variables and means and SDs of continuous variables are presented. Chi-square test and Student's t-test were used for the comparison between groups, as appropriate. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate potential risk factors for admission to the hospital.Results: A total of 29,597 cases with unintentional injuries were identified between January 2017 and December 2018, with boys vs. girls ratio of 1.75. Preschool children account for approximately two-thirds of unintentional injuries in the emergency department. A distinctive pattern of mechanisms of unintentional injuries between gender was documented, and sports injury was significantly higher in boys than in girls (10.2 vs. 7.8%). Compared with Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) Grade 3 patients, Grade 2 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.99, 95% CI = 1.93–4.63, P < 0.001] and Grade 1 (OR = 74.85, 95% CI = 12.93–433.14, P < 0.001) patients had higher risk of inhospital admission. For causes of injuries, compared with falling, foreign body and poison had a lower risk of inhospital admission, while transport injury (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.07–1.59, P = 0.008) and high fall injury (OR = 2.58. 95% CI =1.48–4.49, P < 0.001) had a significantly higher risk of admission.Conclusions: There was a significant relationship between age-groups and unintentional injuries between gender, with decreased injuries among girls growing up older. Preventive measures should be taken to reduce transport injury and high fall injury, which had a significantly higher risk of admission.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 29538
Author(s):  
Caio Henrique Rangel Silva ◽  
Vanessa de Albuquerque Cítero ◽  
Daniel Pereira Coqueiro ◽  
Noemi Peres Honorato

AIMS: To identify the sociodemographic characteristics and the presence of minor symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients on hemodialysis.METHODS: Cross-sectional study, carried out in the hemodialysis units of the Santas Casas de Misericórdia in Marília and Tupã, São Paulo state, Brazil, with 65 hemodialytic patients, ranging from 20 to 86 years. Initially, the mental state of the participants was evaluated in order to ensure they had conditions to understand the research objectives and to respond to the evaluation instruments. Following, the subjects answered to the socio-demographic and clinical questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The data were organized using relative and absolute frequencies for the categorical variables, and measures of central tendency and dispersion for the quantitative variables. In order to compare the mean scores according to the studied variables, unpaired Student's t test and Analysis of Variance were used in addition to Mann Whitney U-Test and Kruskal-Wallis test when the distribution did not present normality. The adopted level of significance was 5% (p<0.05).RESULTS: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for minor symptoms identified 42 patients with anxiety and 45 with depression. The anxiety mean scores were statistically higher in the female (10.23±4.51) than in the male (8.32±3.68) patients (p=0.034). Patients aged 31 to 41 years and 42 to 52 years had higher depression scores (12.20±1.48 and 11.16±2.50 respectively) when compared to patients aged over 52 years (9.23±3.63) and aged 20 to 30 years (5.50±2.12) (p=0.017). Patients who underwent psychotherapeutic treatment had lower scores of anxiety (1.00±1.41) compared to those who had already undergone psychotherapeutic treatment and those had never been under treatment (9.27±3.92 and 12.75±3.40 respectively) (p=0.020).CONCLUSIONS: According to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, women had higher anxiety mean scores than men. The lowest scores for anxiety and depression were present in the younger and older age groups of women, and those who underwent psychotherapy presented even lower scores. Clinical management in psychotherapy can be a positive contribution to ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression, improving the patients' ability to cope with hemodialysis.


2014 ◽  
pp. 90-93
Author(s):  
Van Tuan Nguyen ◽  
Tam Vo ◽  
Bui Bao Hoang

Elevated serum Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) levels have been linked to tissue fibrosis including chronic kidney disease. Objectives: (1) Investigate serum TGF-beta1 levels in healthy adult people and (2) Examined the relation between serum TGF-beta1 level and gender, age, body mass index (BMI). Method: A cross-sectional study. TGF-beta1 were quantified by ELISA. Results: Levels of serum TGF-beta1 in healthy people were 13,45 ± 7,17 ng/mL mL (0,59 - 33,10 ng/mL). There are no difference of serum TGF-beta1 levels between men and women, between the age groups (<40 years, 40 to < 60 years and ≥ 60 years), between BMI groups < 23 and BMI group ≥ 23. Key words: TGF-beta1, healthy people


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanda Chalela

BACKGROUND ABSTRACT Introduction a study on prevalence of ITN use was carried out in Buchi community Kitwe Zambia from August to October 2019 OBJECTIVE Prevalence of ITN in BUchi METHODS Methodology: This was a cross sectional study design. A structured questionnaire was used to ascertain ownership and utilization and oral interviews, 200 households were targeted 844 individual covered across the 200 households. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 23. RESULTS ABSTRACT Introduction a study on prevalence of ITN use was carried out in Buchi community Kitwe Zambia from August to October 2019 Methodology: This was a cross sectional study design. A structured questionnaire was used to ascertain ownership and utilization and oral interviews, 200 households were targeted 844 individual covered across the 200 households. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 23. Findings: household ownership of at least an ITN was 52% and individual utilization at 37.6%, with 0.825 ITN/households and 0.195ITN /individual. Malaria prevalence of 52.4% /household and a 12.4% of the population. With 47.6% malaria patient coming from households with ITN and 60% of households with ITN have insufficient coverage.61% of malaria patient were female and 31 % male. however there was no significant relation between Gender and malaria prevalence in study area (p value was >0.05). Malaria cases distribution with age groups, 0-15yrs old represented 49.5%, 16-30 yrs., was at 27.6% and the over 30 yrs. case were at 22.9% .use of other preventive measures 23% used mosquito repellent ,others methods 1% with those not using any other methods 76%. CONCLUSIONS Conclusion The study showed clearly that malaria still poses a problem .the prevalence rate of malaria was still high 12.4% of the population and 52.4% of households. With high prevalence of malaria of 49.5% for 0-15yrs.the difference between ownership 52% and Utilization 37.6% showed that even household with ITN, the ITN were not sufficient.60% of households with ITN, the ITN were not sufficient for all occupants


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajad Vahedi ◽  
Amin Torabipour ◽  
Amirhossein Takian ◽  
Saeed Mohammadpur ◽  
Alireza Olyaeemanesh ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Unmet need is a critical indicator of access to healthcare services. Despite concrete evidence about unmet need in Iran’s health system, no recent evidence of this negative outcome is available. This study aimed to measure the subjective unmet need (SUN), the factors associated with it and various reasons behind it in Iran. Methods We used the data of 13,005 respondents over the age of 15 from the Iranian Utilization of Healthcare Services Survey in 2016. SUN was defined as citizens whose needs were not sought through formal healthcare services, while they did not show a history of self-medication. The reasons for SUN were categorized into availability, accessibility, responsibility and acceptability of the health system. The multivariable logistic regression was used to determine significant predictors of SUN and associated major reasons. Results About 17% of the respondents (N = 2217) had unmet need for outpatient services. Nearly 40% of the respondents chose only accessibility, 4% selected only availability, 78% chose only responsibility, and 13% selected only acceptability as the main reasons for their unmet need. Higher outpatient needs was the only factor that significantly increased SUN, responsibility-related SUN and acceptability-related SUN. Low education was associated with higher SUN and responsibility-related SUN, while it could also reduce acceptability-related SUN. While SUN and responsibility-related SUN were prevalent among lower economic quintiles, having a complementary insurance was associated with decreased SUN and responsibility-related SUN. The people with basic insurance had lower chances to face with responsibility-related SUN, while employed individuals were at risk to experience SUN. Although the middle-aged group had higher odds to experience SUN, the responsibility-related SUN were prevalent among elderly, while higher age groups had significant chance to be exposed to acceptability-related SUN. Conclusion It seems that Iran is still suffering from unmet need for outpatient services, most of which emerges from its health system performance. The majority of the unmet health needs could be addressed through improving financial as well as organizational policies. Special attention is needed to address the unmet need among individuals with poor health status.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 357
Author(s):  
Rafael López Cordero ◽  
Francisca Ruiz Garzón ◽  
Lourdes Medina Martínez ◽  
María del Carmen Olmos-Gómez

The current trend of secularization seems to be leading to a gradual withdrawal of religion from public spaces. However, in an increasingly internationalized world, it is becoming more and more important to study the roles of religion and religiosity and their potential in relation to dialogue and social conflicts and tensions. Education is a vital field within which to address this religious issue and create an educational dialogue in order to promote coexistence. By following a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study, based on a quasi-experimental methodology with a social–analytical character, our aim is to assess the existing connections between religion, interrelation and opinion in Spanish children and adolescents. Special attention is paid to the interaction between age and beliefs. We carried out our study with the use of a questionnaire distributed to eleven secondary schools, with students aged between 11 and 16 years old, in three regions of southern Spain (Andalusia, Ceuta, and Melilla) characterized by high religious diversity and multiculturalism. The multivariate analysis carried out in this study identifies the effects of variance on the influence of age and religion, highlighting the interaction between the two. It is observed that the youngest students are those who express their opinions about religion the least, while those belonging to younger age groups and majority religions are those who express a greater religious coexistence, with Muslims externalizing their religious condition the most.


Author(s):  
Kate Emond ◽  
Melanie Bish ◽  
Michael Savic ◽  
Dan I. Lubman ◽  
Terence McCann ◽  
...  

Mental-health-related presentations account for a considerable proportion of the paramedic’s workload in prehospital care. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the perceived confidence and preparedness of paramedics in Australian metropolitan and rural areas to manage mental-health-related presentations. Overall, 1140 paramedics were surveyed. Pearson chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used to compare categorical variables by sex and location of practice; continuous variables were compared using the non-parametric Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Perceived confidence and preparedness were each modelled in multivariable ordinal regressions. Female paramedics were younger with higher qualifications but were less experienced than their male counterparts. Compared to paramedics working in metropolitan regions, those working in rural and regional areas were generally older with fewer qualifications and were significantly less confident and less prepared to manage mental health presentations (p = 0.001). Compared to male paramedics, females were less confident (p = 0.003), although equally prepared (p = 0.1) to manage mental health presentations. These results suggest that higher qualifications from the tertiary sector may not be adequately preparing paramedics to manage mental health presentations, which signifies a disparity between education provided and workforce preparedness. Further work is required to address the education and training requirements of paramedics in regional and rural areas to increase confidence and preparedness in managing mental health presentations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizuki Sata ◽  
Renzhe Cui ◽  
Chifa Chiang ◽  
Singeru Travis Singeo ◽  
Berry Moon Watson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aimed to describe the status of alcohol consumption and drug use among young adults as well as their determinants. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of 356 young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) living in Palau in 2013. The prevalence of self-reported alcohol and marijuana usage were compared within and between sexes, age groups, ethnicities, and education levels. Results The proportion of current drinking was higher in people aged 21–24 than in those aged 18–20 (73.2% vs. 60.9%, p = 0.09 in men and 48.3% vs. 30.0%, p = 0.02 in women), while that of marijuana use did not differ between the age groups. The proportions of current drinking and marijuana use were higher in Palauan than in other ethnicities (current drinking: 70.6% vs. 40.6%, p = 0.005 in men and 38.8% vs. 16.6%, p = 0.04 in women; lifetime marijuana use: 80.0% vs. 52.9%, p = 0.02 in men and 56.1% vs. 30.6%, p = 0.09 in women). The proportion of frequent (3 times or more) marijuana users was higher for the lower educated than for the higher educated (62.5% vs. 32.1%, p < 0.001 in men and 33.9% vs. 24.4%, p = 0.12 in women). Conclusions Sex, age, ethnicity, and education were significant determinants of alcohol and marijuana use.


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