Background. Malaria during pregnancy remains a major public health concern in tropical and subtropical countries. Moreover, malaria is increasingly associated with unwanted pregnancy outcomes such as an increased risk of abortion, stillbirth, premature delivery, and low-birthweight infants. Since pregnant women are most vulnerable to malaria, implementation of the appropriate prevention and control measures among this group is very important. Therefore, the current review was designed to assess the prevalence of both symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria among pregnant women in Ethiopia.Method. In this systematic review and meta-analysis we have followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. The databases used were PubMed, Google Scholar, HINARI, and Science Direct literature. Search terms used were “prevalence”, “malaria”, “pregnant women”, and “Ethiopia”. Joanna Briggs Institute Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) was used for critical appraisal of studies. The meta-analysis was conducted using STATA 14 software. The pooled meta-logistic regression was computed to present the pooled prevalence with a 95% confidence interval (CI).Result. Among a total of 10207 studies, seven studies were included in this analysis. The estimated pooled prevalence of malaria among pregnant women in Ethiopia was 12.72% (95% CI: 7.45, 17.98). In subgroup analysis, the prevalence of malaria showed a significant variation between asymptomatic and symptomatic cases, which was 7.83% (95% CI: 2.23, 13.43) and 17.97% (95% CI: 7.31, 28.92), respectively.Conclusion. The current systematic review and meta-analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was found to be relatively higher compared with the general population. Therefore, the existing prevention and control measures should be strengthen.

Background: Atherosclerotic vascular diseases are a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality. Dyslipidemia, a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, remains poorly understood among adult cardiac patients in in the study area. This study aims to determine the prevalence of dyslipidemia and identify associated factors in this population. Methods: Hospital-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted from May to August 2021. A total of 319 participants (153 cardiac cases, 166 healthy controls, aged ≥ 18) were included in the study. Socio-demographic, anthropometric, behavioral, and clinical data were collected using the WHO STEPS survey instrument through systematic sampling. Overnight fasting blood samples were obtained, and serum lipid profiles were analyzed using a COBAS 6000 analyzer. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 20.0, employing bivariable and multivariable logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia, encompassing at least one lipid abnormality, was 80.3% among 256 participants. Among cardiac cases, the prevalence rates were as follows: 72.5% for low HDL-cholesterol, 12.4% for hypercholesterolemia, 9.8% for elevated LDL-cholesterol, and 30.1% for hypertriglyceridemia. In controls, corresponding rates were 69.9%, 9.6%, 7.2%, and 32.5%. Significant factors linked to low HDL- cholesterol were female gender (AOR: 2.8, 95% CI 1.7–4.7) and obesity (AOR: 2.8, 95% CI 1.1–7.5). Abdominal obesity was associated with hypercholesterolemia (AOR: 5.2, 95% CI 1.9–14.3) and elevated LDL-cholesterol (AOR: 5.1, 95% CI 1.6–15.8). High blood pressure, overweight, and abdominal obesity were significantly linked to hypertriglyceridemia (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Dyslipidemia was high among the study participants. Overweight, obesity, central adiposity, and high blood pressure were significantly associated with dyslipidemia in cardiac patients. This alarms the need for lipid profile assessment for patients periodically, with treatment follow-up to monitor any rising patterns and cardiovascular-related risks.

Background. The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of hyperglycemia/insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, and all-cause mortality. The burden of metabolic syndrome is emerging alarmingly in low- and middle-income countries such as Ethiopia; however, there is lack of comprehensive estimation. This study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Ethiopia. Methods. This systematic review and meta-analysis included original articles of observational studies published in the English language. Searches were carried out in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Africa Journals from conception to August 2020. A random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Ethiopia. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I² statistic. Subgroup analysis was also conducted based on sex/gender and study subjects. Eggers test was used to assess publication bias. Results. Electronic and gray literature search retrieved 942 potentially relevant papers. After removing duplicates and screening with eligibility criteria, twenty-eight cross-sectional studies were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Ethiopia was found to be 34.89 (95 CI: 26.77, 43.01) and 27.92 (95 CI: 21.32, 34.51) by using NCEP/ATP III and IDF criteria, respectively. The weighted pooled prevalence of metabolic syndrome was higher in females 36.74 (95 CI: 20.72, 52.75) and 34.09 (95 CI: 26.68, 41.50) compared to males 22.22 (95 CI: 14.89, 29.56) and 24.82 (95 CI: 18.34, 31.31) by using IDF and NCEP/ATP III criteria, respectively. Subgroup analysis based on the study subjects using NCEP/ATP III showed that the weighted pooled prevalence was 63.78(95 CI: 56.17, 71.40), 44.55 (95 CI: 30.71, 52.38), 23.09 (95 CI: 19.74, 26.45), 20.83 (95 CI: 18.64, 23.01), and 18.45 (95 CI: 13.89, 23.01) among type 2 diabetes patients, hypertensive patients, psychiatric patients, HIV patients on HAART, and working adults, respectively. The most frequent metabolic syndrome components were low HDL-C 51.0 (95 CI: 42.4, 59.7) and hypertriglyceridemia 39.7 (95 CI: 32.8, 46.6). Conclusions. The findings revealed an emerging high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Ethiopia. Therefore, early intervention is required for the primary prevention of the occurrence of metabolic syndrome and the further reduction of the morbidity and mortality related to it.

Background. Malaria is one of the most public health important and life-threatening parasitic infections caused by the protozoan parasite. Since children are immunologically naive to the malaria parasite, they are the main vulnerable groups. During malaria infection, they might have a complication of anemia, cerebral malaria, coma, respiratory distress, and a decrease in cognitive and behavioral improvement. Therefore, this review was aimed at determining the pooled prevalence of malaria among children in Ethiopia. Methods. The current systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted based on the guideline of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement guideline. Electronic bibliographic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct were used for searching relevant literature. Besides, the Joanna Briggs Institute Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI) was used for critical appraisal of studies. Using the STATA 14 software, the pooled Meta logistic regression was computed to present the pooled prevalence with a 95 confidence interval (CI). Result. The overall estimated pooled prevalence of malaria among children in Ethiopia was 9.07 (95 CI: 6.32, 11.82). Subgroup analysis based on malaria signs and symptoms showed that the pooled prevalence of malaria among asymptomatic and symptomatic children was 6.67 (95 CI: 0.36, 12.98) and 27.17 (95 CI: 18.59, 35.76), respectively. Conclusion. The findings revealed a high prevalence of malaria among children in Ethiopia. As a result, still there is a need of improving and rechecking the existing malaria prevention and control measures of the country.

Errors in the total testing process in the clinical chemistry laboratory at the University of Gondar Hospital, northwest Ethiopia

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of HIV among pregnant women in Ethiopia. PubMed, EMBASE, Science Direct and Google scholar databases were searched to retrieve 15 relevant articles based on the inclusion criteria. A total of 13,746 participants were included in the original studies and considered in this analysis. Among subjects, 717 were infected with HIV only, and 12 were HIV-HBV co-infected pregnant women. In this meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of HIV among pregnant women in Ethiopia was 5.74% (95% CI 3.96–7.53%). Regional analysis showed that 9.50% (95% CI 7.76–11.23%) in Amhara, 4.80% (95% CI 3.12–6.49%) in Addis Ababa, 2.14% (95% CI − 0.54 to 4.82%) in SNNP and 4.48% (95% CI 2.56–6.41%) in Oromia region. Besides, six studies reported HIV-HBV co-infection and the pooled prevalence was 0.68% (95% CI 0.27–1.08%) among pregnant women in Ethiopia.