Multilevel ordinal model for CD4 count trends in seroconversion among South Africa women

Exploring functional abilities and competing risks among stroke patients: a longitudinal and survival analysis study at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Ethiopia

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to evaluate competing risks and functional ability measures among patients who had a stroke.

DESIGN

A joint model comprising two related submodels was applied: a cause-specific hazard submodel for competing drop-out and stroke-related death risks, and a partial proportional odd submodel for longitudinal functional ability.

SETTING

Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, Ethiopia.

PARTICIPANTS

The study included 400 patients who had a stroke from the medical ward outpatient stroke unit at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, who were treated from September 2018 to August 2021.

RESULTS

Among the 400 patients who had a stroke, 146 (36.5%) died and 88 (22%) dropped out. At baseline, 14% of patients had no symptoms and/or disability while 24% had slight disability, and 25% had severe disability. Most patients (37.04%) exhibited moderate functional ability. The presence of diabetes increased the cause-specific hazard of death by 3.95 times (95% CI 2.16 to 7.24) but decreased the cause-specific hazard of drop-out by 95% (aHR 0.05; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.46) compared with non-diabetic patients who had a stroke.

CONCLUSION

A substantial proportion of patients who had a stroke experienced mortality and drop-out during the study period, highlighting the importance of considering competing risks in stroke research. Age, diabetes, white cell count and stroke complications were significant covariates affecting both longitudinal and survival submodels. Compared with stand-alone models, the joint competing risk modelling technique offers comprehensive insights into the disease's transition pattern.

Individual and community-level determinants of childhood vaccination in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

Vaccines are one of our most important tools for preventing outbreaks and keeping the world safe. Most unvaccinated children live in the poorest countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the determinants of vaccination coverage among children aged12-23 months in Ethiopia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional secondary data were obtained from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data (EDHS). A total of 1929 children were included. A Multilevel Proportional Odds Model was used to identify the individual and community-level factors associated with child vaccination.

RESULT

Among 1, 929 children, only 48.6% (95% CI: 46.3 to 50.8%) were fully vaccinated while 37.8% (95% CI: 35.7 to 40.1%) were partially vaccinated.. The multilevel ordinal logistic regression model reveled that housewife mother (AOR =1.522, 95%CI: 1.139, 2.034), institutional delivery (AOR =2.345, 95%CI: 1.766, 3.114),four or above antenatal care visits (AOR = 2.657; 95% CI: 1.906, 3.704), children of mothers with secondary or higher education (AOR = 2.008; 95% CI: 1.209, 3.334),Children whose fathers primary education (AOR = 1.596; 95% CI: 1.215, 2.096), from the rich households (AOR = 1.679; 95% CI: 1.233, 2.287) were significantly associated with childhood vaccination.

CONCLUSION

Child vaccination coverage in Ethiopia remains low. Therefore, there is a need to increase child vaccination coverage by promoting institutional delivery and prenatal care visits, as well as maternal tetanus immunization. Besides, public initiatives needed to improve child vaccination coverage, women's and husband's education, poor women, and further advancement of health care services for poor women, housewife women, women living in remote areas should be made to maintain further improvements in child vaccination. Furthermore, policies and programs aimed at addressing cluster variations in child vaccination need to be formulated and their implementation must be strongly pursued.