Grema Bukar

Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital · Department of Family Medicine

Background Microalbuminuria is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease and a predictor of end organ damage, both in the general population and in persons with HIV (PWH). Microalbuminuria is also an important risk factor for mortality in PWH treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). In the ongoing R enal R isk R eduction (R...

Background: Obtaining informed consent (IC) before a surgical procedure is the cornerstone of medical practice. The practice of IC continues to evolve as litigations increase. Most studies on patients' perspectives of IC are either old or were done in southern Nigeria. This study assessed the surgical patients' IC experience in a tertiary hospital...

Background: Depression is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. Several studies have shown that depression in resident doctors is more common than that in the general population. However, data on the prevalence of depression among resident doctors in Nigeria is limited. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the p...

Background: Depression is a common mental health problem in the geriatric population associated with significant morbidity (including decreased physical, cognitive and social functioning) and mortality. Although patients differ in their presentations, certain social and demographic characteristics are common to the elderly population with depressio...

Background: Depression is a common psychological disorder in women with infertility, which causes significant morbidity and mortality. Little attention is currently given to depression by health care providers who manage infertility, and there is a scarcity of studies on depression among women with infertility in northern Nigeria. Objective This s...

Introduction: facemask use is well recognized as an effective public health strategy for preventing COVID-19. However, facemask can only provide enough protection if people recognize its importance and learn how to use it properly. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of patients or caregivers regar...

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and predictors of non-adherence to clinic appointments in adult patients with poorly controlled hypertension. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: A primary care setting (family medicine clinic) overseen by family physicians in Kano, Nigeria. Participants: Two hundred and thirty-four rand...

Context: Nutritional and functional impairments are assumed to be inevitable consequences of aging and they attract little attention in the primary care setting. Aim: To determine the association between malnutrition and functional status of the elderly to advocate for their routine screening in the primary care clinics and similar settings. Sett...

Context: Nutritional and functional impairments are assumed to be inevitable consequences of aging and they attract little attention in the primary care setting. Aim: To determine the association between malnutrition and functional status of the elderly to advocate for their routine screening in the primary care clinics and similar settings. Settin...

It assessed the association between nutritional status and morbidity patterns of the elderly

It assessed the influence of functional impairment on malnutrition of the elderly

It assessed the nutritional status and its association with the morbidity patterns of the elderly patients of a family medicine clinic in the northwestern region of Nigeria.

Context: Nutrition is a significant factor in determining the health of older people because it affects almost all organs and systems, which could lead to varieties of diseases and premature death. Aim: To determine the nutritional status and its association with the morbidity patterns of elderly patients. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional h...

Introduction: Existing evidence suggests that barotitis media (BM) is common among air travellers, and it has the potential to cause severe discomfort and sometimes permanent hearing and balance deficits. It has not been studied in Nigeria. Objective: This study aimed to assess the pre-air travel health-seeking behaviour, prevalence of BM, knowle...

Background: Globally, multimorbidity has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In resource-poor settings, the elderly bears the highest burden of chronic illnesses. Poor outcomes associated with multimorbidity in the elderly are well reported. However, the relationship between multimorbidity and functional status in elderly patients in...

Background: Hypertension is a common medical condition but largely undiagnosed, untreated, poorly controlled, and undertreated in low- and middle-income countries. Studies have reported missed hypertension during triage in Emergency Departments; however, little is known about missed elevated blood pressure (EBP) during triage in primary care settin...

Background: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is a recognized risk factor for noncommunicable diseases. Evaluating health‑care workers’ PA is crucial because PA impacts their health, and they are important health promotion agents. Hence, this study assessed the PA profile of medical practitioners in Kano, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was...

Background: Contraceptive non-use has great influence on maternal health and mortality in Northern Nigeria. Contraception counselling improves utilization, compliance to and efficiency of contraceptive methods. This study aimed at determining the effect of antenatal couple counselling on postpartum uptake of contraception among antenatal clients an...

Background: The lofty objectives of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) are not only predicated on healthy graduates of tertiary institutions but also graduates who are confident in making informed health‑related decisions. Therefore, Corp members’ awareness, knowledge, and perception of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and its progr...

Consumer satisfaction surveys are important measures of service quality worldwide. They form bases for policy decisions that improve how services are rendered. However, behind these survey findings are important considerations of how surveys progress from conceptualization to outcome data. This case study illustrates the practicalities of how a hos...

Background: Hypertension remains the leading risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality globally. Unhealthy lifestyle and non-adherence to medication are believed to constitute serious obstacles to achieving blood pressure control among hypertensive patients. Aim: This study aimed to determine the effect of home visits on lifestyle modi...

Objective: To assess the proportion of caregivers of children and patients who received malaria prevention counseling from their healthcare provider at the time of outpatient malaria treatment. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 353 randomly selected adult patients and caregivers of children attending the general and pa...

INTRODUCTION: Microalbuminuria has been studied in some acute and chronic illnesses such as urinary tract infection (UTI), heart failure, and diabetes mellitus, but nothing much has been said about children with malaria and pneumonia which are most common in the tropics. Therefore, this study seeks to establish how common microalbuminuria is among...

Introduction: Elevated blood pressure (BP)/hypertension contributes significantly to global morbidity and mortality. It is a silent killer; therefore, earlier diagnosis is imperative. A simple instrument called sphygmomanometer measures BP. Getting an accurate and precise reading is essential for making the diagnosis. Our study sorts to determine i...

Background: Knowledge of breast cancer and uptake of its prevention practices (particularly, regular breast self-examination) are crucial to both the prevention of the disease, and the reduction of its high burden in the developing countries. Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of breast cancer and practice of breast self-examination amon...

Background: Prepayment health-care financing mechanisms are recommended for achieving universal health coverage (UHC) as it prevents catastrophic health-care expenditure and poverty. This preference is due to the inadequacies of the out-of-pocket model in many low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. However, it took Nigeria several decade...

INTRODUCTION: Among common determinants of survival include the ability to effectively execute the basic life support drill during resuscitation. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among medical trainees who are in their clinical years in our tertiary hospital with the aim of identifying kn...

Background: Chronic illnesses are the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Although, the global epidemics of chronic illnesses have been strongly linked to population ageing, elderly patients with functional families are known to have better chances of survival and better ability to recover from illness. This study was conducted to assess family func...

Background: In spite of over a decade of operations, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of Nigeria has continuously been criticized for its quality of services. Healthcare consumer satisfaction surveys (an important measure of service quality worldwide) in this domain have presented differing accounts of satisfaction with the services of t...

Objective: To assess emergency department utilization at a semi-urban (resource-limited) Nigerian hospital. Methods: A systematic random sampling technique was adopted. A proforma was used to obtain general information such as age, gender, mode of transfer, time of presentation, symptom duration, diagnoses, treatment duration, treatment outcome (tr...

Introduction: Hand washing has been proven to reduce the risk of acquiring infection; this is why every 15th October is being set aside as Global Hand washing Day, which aims at improving global awareness on the importance of hand washing. Materials and Methods: The study was cross‑sectional, parents/caregivers were consecutively recruited over 8 m...

Background: Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease that accounts for preventable morbidity and mortality, especially in resource‑limited settings. This review aimed at examining the snake and human behaviors that facilitate snake‑human encounters and highlighting the primary preventive measures for snakebite and the resultant envenomi...

Cervical cancer is an important public health problem whose prevention should be integrated in all existing primary health care and women's health programmes in Nigeria and other developing countries. Cervical cancer is the second most common female malignancy in the world and it is the leading cause of cancer related deaths among women in developi...

Introduction: Menstruation is a normal physiologic phenomenon which is indicative that a woman is ready for her reproductive roles. Adolescents are often uninformed and inexperienced on most health‑related issues including menstruation. This study therefore hopes to determine the common menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent females. Material...

Background: Older reports estimate that malaria accounts for 60% of outpatient clinic encounters in Nigeria. However, current estimates suggest that malaria control programs have considerably reduced malaria‑related morbidity and mortality on a global scale. The extent to which these programs impacted malaria prevalence in endemic countries such as...

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) aims at universal health coverage through access to high-quality health-care to all enrolees. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to incorporate feedbacks from periodic patient-surveys into service improvement plans. This study therefore, assessed satisfaction and utilization of health-care services by...

Background: Snakebite envenoming is a neglected public health concern requiring the efforts of all stakeholders in reducing its morbidity and mortality. To identify potential strategies for intervention, this study seeks to explore factors that could potentially affect snakebite envenoming reduction among those affected by the disease. Materials a...

Snakebite envenoming causes considerable morbidity and mortality in rural, agrarian, and poor‑resourced communities of Sub‑Saharan Africa and Asia. Echis ocellatus (carpet viper) is responsible for most injuries and deaths in Northern Nigeria. Tissue necrosis and hemorrhage are the key features of this snake species. While bleeding can occur into v...

Introduction: Typhoid ileal perforation is a very serious complication of typhoid fever and remains a significant surgical problem in developing countries like Nigeria, where it is associated with higher mortality and morbidity, due to lack of adequate clean drinking water, poor sanitation and lack of access to health facilities in remote areas and...

Background: The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of Nigeria was designed to eliminate known cultural, physical, and resource-related barriers to quality health-care access. Although choice of primary health-care facility (PHF) remains in the domain of the scheme enrollees, little is known about factors influencing their choice. Hence, the st...

Introduction: Given the scope of the cervical dysplasia problem in our country, coupled with the difficulties that have been encountered in many of our health centres when attempting to implement cytology-based screening programmes, there is the need to find an alternative, low-resource screening option. Material and Methods: this study was cross s...

Background Snakebite envenoming causes considerable morbidity and mortality in northern Nigeria. The clinician’s knowledge of snakebite impacts outcome. We assessed clinicians’ knowledge of snakebite envenoming to highlight knowledge and practice gaps for possible intervention to improve snakebite outcomes. Methods This was a cross-sectional multi...

Background: Globally, cervical cancer affects approximately 528,000 women each year, with about 80% of them occurring in developing countries. Developed countries have successfully reduced the incidence of cervical cancer by 70% through organized cervical screening programs. Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the level of Pap smear awaren...

Introduction: Menstruation is a normal physiologic phenomenon which is indicative that a woman is ready for her reproductive roles. Adolescents are often uninformed and inexperienced on most health-related issues including menstruation. This study therefore hopes to determine the common menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent females. Material...

Introduction: Given the scope of the cervical dysplasia problem in our country, coupled with the difficulties that have been encountered in many of our health centres when attempting to implement cytology-based screening programmes, there is the need to find an alternative, low-resource screening option. Material and Methods: this study was cross s...

Venomous snakebite is a medical emergency encountered worldwide, especially in resource‑limited communities. It usually leaves victims at the mercy of traditional care, whose effectiveness have come under scrutiny over time. Several of these traditional/first aid practices have also been reported over time. Controversies over their efficacy often r...

Background: Patient satisfaction plays a key role in health-care reforms and service delivery. It is determined by patient’s perception of the structural, interpersonal, and technical components of care. With current efforts toward universal coverage, government-owned National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)-accredited health facilities may need to...

Introduction: Consumer satisfaction is one of the driving goals of goods and service production. Patient satisfaction surveys, as a means of periodic evaluation of the quality of services offered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) accredited facilities, is necessary to ensure that the goals of the scheme are achieved and sustained. Mate...

Background: Nigeria is not insulated from the global threat of Zika virus disease (ZVD) because of international travel and the presence of Zika-virus-carrying mosquitoes in the country. A paucity of studies exists concerning knowledge of ZVD among atrisk populations. Thus, the necessity for assessment of knowledge of ZVD among reproductive-age wom...

Introduction: Undergraduate medical education requires the studying of a wide range of medical specialties to produce the future workforce of the healthcare system. Family medicine (FM), a relatively new specialty in Nigeria, aims at supplying doctors capable of providing comprehensive healthcare for the majority of the population. However, many Ni...

Background: Despite global control efforts, malaria still accounts for preventable morbidity and mortality in Africa. Reported knowledge of its preventive measures appears high, but disparity exists between knowledge and uptake of preventive practices in Nigeria. It becomes necessary to evaluate adherence to use of insecticide-treated nets (ITN) an...

Introduction: Undergraduate medical education requires the studying of a wide range of medical specialties to produce the future workforce of the healthcare system. Family medicine (FM), a relatively new specialty in Nigeria, aims at supplying doctors capable of providing comprehensive healthcare for the majority of the population. However, many Ni...

Background: Nigeria is not insulated from the global threat of Zika virus disease (ZVD) because of international travel and the presence of Zika-virus-carrying mosquitoes in the country. A paucity of studies exists concerning knowledge of ZVD among at risk populations. Thus, the necessity for assessment of knowledge of ZVD among reproductive-age wo...

Snakebite remains a public health problem in rural communities of tropical Africa and Asia. Globally, rare snakebite presentations are increasingly been reported presumably from the intensity of efforts by researchers in this domain to showcase this recently classified neglected tropical disease. Most venomous snakebite morbidity and mortality in N...

Background: The health status of workers and their families affects workplace productivity. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) objective of improving healthcare accessibility to Nigerians has increased service utilisation but may pose new challenges to existing facilities. This study was undertaken to describe the pattern of clinic utilisa...