Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a common cause of Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and microalbuminuria is a predictor of CKD.
Aims: To determine the prevalence of microalbuminuria (MA) in SCD patients as well as the clinical correlates of MA in these individuals.
Study Design: A hospital-based cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State and Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, between May 2016 to April 2017
Methodology: This cross-sectional study involved a total of 100 individuals with SCD. Blood and urine samples were obtained for haematology, chemistry and urine albumin/ creatinine ratio (UACR).
Results: All the 100 studied subjects completed the study. The SCD group comprises both HbSS (86%) and HbSC (14%) subjects. The percentage of individuals with MA in the SCD subjects was 61%. The mean age of individuals with MA was 30.5(11.3) years compared to mean age of 25.3(6.8) years in those without MA (p= 0.012). In SCD subjects with microalbuminuria, eGFR was found to be significantly lower (p=0.044). The reticulocyte index, serum aspartate aminotransferase and serum albumin are the clinical correlates associated with MA in individuals with SCD.
Conclusions: MA is prevalent among subjects with SCD and should be a routine method of detecting early onset of sickle cell nephropathy.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common chronic disorder that decreases the quality of life of patients. It is an underdiagnosed medical condition in Nigeria. This study aimed to describe the clinical presentations and validate the sleep apnea screening questionnaires with a home sleep study for the diagnosis of patients with suspected OSA seen in Lagos. This was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out on adult patients with suspicion of OSA referred to the Respiratory Clinic of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. A proforma was used to obtain information and also data from home polysomnography was obtained for each patient. We selected 22 patients. The commonest presentations include snoring (20 or 90.9%), daytime somnolence (16 or 72.7%) and choking while sleeping (12 or 54.5%). The commonest comorbidities were hypertension (16 or 72.7%) and obesity (6 or 27.3%). The STOP-Bang score identified more patients with a high clinical probability for OSA than the Epworth score (20 and 12 patients respectively). Polysomnography showed evidence of sleep apnea in most suspected patients with severity ranging from mild, to moderate to severe disease (3 or 13.6%, 3 or 13.6%, and 10 or 45.5% respectively). The use of combined Epworth and STOP-Bang questionnaires combination is great tool in identifying patients with suspected cases of OSA based on clinical presentations that will eventually benefit in a resource-limited environment like Lagos. There should be increased awareness of the use of this readily available and cheap questionnaire among physicians in Lagos for ease of OSAS diagnosis for many patients.
Background: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare disorder that presents in women of childbearing age. The affected patients present with spontaneous pneumothorax, chylothorax, hemoptysis, and slowly progressive dyspnea. There are poor awareness, knowledge, and records about this disease in Nigeria.
Case presentation: We report a case of pulmonary LAM in a 43-year-old woman who presented with progressive shortness of breath with recurrent hemoptysis and pneumothorax. Her imaging and Vascular endothelial growth factor level were in keeping with LAM. The typical features in the current case include the patient's age, gender, radiologic features, and VEGF- D value.
Conclusion: There is a need for a high index of suspicion for LAM in women of child-bearing age with cystic lung diseases. There is also a need for registries for rare lung diseases in Africa.
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