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Background: Adolescence constitutes a vulnerable age group where the actual prevalence of sexual abuse may remain largely unknown due to lack of knowledge, delay in and lack of reporting of such incidences. Objectives: To determine the knowledge and history of sexual abuse in adolescents and the associated factors.  Methods: A self-administered pretested questionnaire was used to collect data from children aged 10 to 19 years at an adolescent summer camp.  Results: Two hundred and seventy-six adolescents participated in this research out of which 41.3% had correct knowledge of sexual abuse, and 12.0% claimed they had been sexually abused.  Among the 33 respondents with a history of sexual abuse, 39.4% (13/33) had correct knowledge of sexual abuse.  Gender had a significant association with a history of sexual abuse (p = 0.008). Layered by age group, gender had a significant association with being sexually abused in mid-adolescence (p = 0.029) but not in late adolescence (p = 0.445). Age category had no significant association with being sexually abused. Conclusion: The knowledge of sexual abuse was inadequate among adolescents. A high proportion claimed to have been previously sexually abused and interestingly, had insufficient knowledge of sexual abuse There is a need to educate adolescents on sexual abuse to empower them to protect themselves and get help as appropriate.

Background: Adiponectin is an excellent insulin sensitizer. It also possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic properties that play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of cardio-metabolic disorders. Evaluating adiponectin distribution in children and factors that modulate its blood level is critical for advancing knowledge in its future role in managing associated non-communicable diseases. Aim: To investigate the adiponectin profile in apparently healthy pre-pubertal Nigerian school children. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study comprising 125 randomly recruited pupils from eight primary schools in Nnewi located in Anambra State, Nigeria. Anthropometric values were taken and venous blood samples assayed for adiponectin using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Analysis of data was done with SPSS software version 22 and R programming software. The level of significance set at P < 0.05. Results: We enrolled a total number of 125 children, which comprised of 68 (54.4%) males and 57 (45.6%) females with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. The mean age of all the subjects was 7.7 ± 2.0 years. The mean serum adiponectin level of all the participants was 4.67 ± 2.2 ng/mL with a range of 1.9 ng/mL to 10.0 ng/mL. Adiponectin was slightly higher in females than males (4.93 ± 2.4 ng/mL vs 4.45 ± 2.0 ng/mL, respectively; P = 0.223). In males, an inverse relationship was observed between adiponectin and increasing age, whereas in females, a positive correlation was noted (P = 0.637 vs P = 0.639, respectively). The body mass index (BMI) correlated negatively with adiponectin in all the subjects and across both the genders, but these were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Adiponectin varies with sex, age and BMI in pre-pubertal Nigerian children with normal BMI. Further local studies are needed to elucidate its role in the management of associated disease states.

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