ObjectiveTo assess the sex difference in the prevalence of COVID-19 confirmed cases.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.SettingPubMed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched for related information. The authors developed a data extraction form on an Excel sheet and the following data from eligible studies were extracted: author, country, sample size, number of female patients and number of male patients. Using STATA V.14 for analysis, the authors pooled the overall prevalence of men and/or women using a random-effect meta-analysis model. The authors examined the heterogeneity in effect size using Q statistics and I2 statistics. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Publication bias was also checked.ParticipantsStudies on COVID-19 confirmed cases were included.InterventionSex (male/female) of COVID-19 confirmed cases was considered.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome was prevalence of COVID-19 among men and women.ResultsA total of 57 studies with 221 195 participants were used in the analysis. The pooled prevalence of COVID-19 among men was found to be 55.00 (51.43–56.58, I2=99.5%, p<0.001). Sensitivity analysis showed the findings were not dependent on a single study. Moreover, a funnel plot showed symmetrical distribution. Egger’s regression test p value was not significant, which indicates absence of publication bias in both outcomes.ConclusionsThe prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 was found to be higher in men than in women. The high prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption contributed to the high prevalence of COVID-19 among men. Additional studies on the discrepancies in severity and mortality rate due to COVID-19 among men and women and the associated factors are recommended.

Background Hypoxic perinatal brain injury is caused by lack of oxygen to baby’s brain and can lead to death or permanent brain damage. However, the effectiveness of therapeutic hypothermia in birth asphyxiated infants with encephalopathy is uncertain. This systematic review and meta-analysis was aimed to estimate the pooled relative risk of mortality among birth asphyxiated neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in a global context. Methods We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to search randomized control trials from electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and meta register of Current Controlled Trials (mCRT)). The authors extracted the author’s name, year of publication, country, method of cooling, the severity of encephalopathy, the sample size in the hypothermic, and non-hypothermic groups, and the number of deaths in the intervention and control groups. A weighted inverse variance fixed-effects model was used to estimate the pooled relative risk of mortality. The subgroup analysis was done by economic classification of countries, methods of cooling, and cooling devices. Publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot and Eggers test. A sensitivity analysis was also done. Results A total of 28 randomized control trials with a total sample of 35, 92 (1832 hypothermic 1760 non-hypothermic) patients with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy were used for the analysis. The pooled relative risk of mortality after implementation of therapeutic hypothermia was found to be 0.74 (95%CI; 0.67, 0.80; I2 = 0.0%; p<0.996). The subgroup analysis revealed that the pooled relative risk of mortality in low, low middle, upper-middle and high income countries was 0.32 (95%CI; -0.95, 1.60; I2 = 0.0%; p<0.813), 0.5 (95%CI; 0.14, 0.86; I2 = 0.0%; p<0.998), 0.62 (95%CI; 0.41–0.83; I2 = 0.0%; p<0.634) and 0.76 (95%CI; 0.69–0.83; I2 = 0.0%; p<0.975) respectively. The relative risk of mortality was the same in selective head cooling and whole-body cooling method which was 0.74. Regarding the cooling device, the pooled relative risk of mortality is the same between the cooling cap and cooling blanket (0.74). However, it is slightly lower (0.73) in a cold gel pack. Conclusions Therapeutic hypothermia reduces the risk of death in neonates with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Both selective head cooling and whole-body cooling method are effective in reducing the mortality of infants with this condition. Moreover, low income countries benefit the most from the therapy. Therefore, health professionals should consider offering therapeutic hypothermia as part of routine clinical care to newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy especially in low-income countries.

BackgroundOverweight and obesity are emerging public health problems in Ethiopia. However, primary study findings on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Ethiopia are inconsistent. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults in Ethiopia.MethodsStudies that looked at overweight and obesity among adults were searched from four international databases. The search involved articles published from 1 January 2010 to 10 March 2020. The Cochran’s Q χ2 and the I2 test statistics were used to check heterogeneity among the studies. The funnel plot and Egger’s regression tests were also used to assess the presence of publication bias. Subgroup analysis was performed by residence, study setting, sample size and year of study. Sensitivity analysis was also done to assess the effect of a single study on the pooled estimates. Data analysis was done using STATA V.14 software program.ResultsA total of 16 studies with 19 527 study participants were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The estimated pooled prevalence of overweight among adults in Ethiopia was 20.4%, and after adjustment for publication bias with the trim-and-fill analysis, the estimated prevalence rate was changed to 19%. Besides, the estimated pooled prevalence of obesity was 5.4%. The prevalence of overweight was higher, 22.6% in studies published since 2015, 22.4% in studies conducted only in urban settings and 24.4% in studies with small sample size (≤384 participants). Similarly, the prevalence of obesity was 6.9% in studies published since 2015, 6.2% in studies conducted only in urban settings, 6.4% in institution-based settings and 9.6% in studies with small sample size.ConclusionThe prevalence of overweight and obesity is high in Ethiopia compared with previous studies. This needs large scale awareness creation campaigns and situation-based and context-specific prevention strategies.

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Background In Ethiopia, uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition is managed through the outpatient therapeutic program at health posts level. This brings the services for the management of Severe Acute Malnutrition closer to the community by making services available at decentralized treatment points within the primary health care settings. So far, evidence of the treatment outcome of the program is limited. Objective The main aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of treatment outcomes of severe acute malnutrition and associated factors among under-five children at outpatient therapeutic feeding units in Gubalafto Wereda, Ethiopia, 2019. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study conducted on 600 children who had been managed for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) under Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP) in Gubalafto Wereda from April to May/2019. The children were selected using systematic random sampling from 9 health posts. The structured, pre-tested, and adapted questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was entered by using EPI-data Version 4.2 and exported to SPSS version 24.0 for analysis. Bivariate and Multivariate regression was also carried out to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. Results A total of 600 records of children with a diagnosis of severe acute malnutrition were reviewed. Of these cases of malnutrition, the recovery rate was found to be 65%. The death