Background: Diabetes mellitus, which has a wide range of effects on the physical, social and psychological aspects of the well-being of a person, is a common and challenging chronic disease that causes a significant rate of morbidity and mortality. However, studies in our country, by and large, focused on the impact of the disease in terms of mortality and morbidity alone. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and associated factors of diabetic patients at the University of Gondar referral hospital, Ethiopia.Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Gondar referral hospital from April to May 2017. A generic World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was used to measure the HRQOL. The data were analyzed by Stata version 12. Multiple Linear Regression analysis withP-value 0.05 was used to measure the degree of association between HRQOL and independent variables.Results: A total of 408 patients with Diabetes Mellitus were included in the study. The HRQOL scores for physical, psychological, social and environmental domains were 50.9, 54.5, 55.8 and 47.3, respectively. Diabetes-related complications had a significant association with all except the psychological domain. Higher HRQOL was associated with exercising, following the recommended diet, foot care, sensible drinking and the absence of co-morbidities. However, old age, unemployment and being single and widower had a significant association with lower HRQOL.Conclusion: The environmental and physical domains of HRQOL scores were the lowest compared to the social and psychological domains. Old age and living in rural area had a significant association with a lower HRQOL, whereas the absence of diabetes-related complications, exercising, general diet and foot care had a significant association with better HRQOL of patients. Therefore, strong advice on the recommended lifestyle is important, and old patients and rural dwellers should get due attention. In addition, the prevention of diabetes-related complications is important to improve the patient HRQOL which is an important outcome measurement from the patient’s perspective related to the impact of the disease. Therefore, including HRQOL assessment as part of routine management is necessary.

Objective: Diabetes, a rising global health problem, requires continuous self-care practice. There are limited studies about self-care practice, and most of the studies conducted in Ethiopia focused on some parts of the recommended self-care practices. Therefore, this study aimed to assess diabetes self-care practice and associated factors among diabetic patients attending at University of Gondar Referral Hospital, Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. Results: The study revealed that 51.86% (95% CI 46.95–56.72%) of the patients have poor self-care practice. Unable to read and write (AOR = 3.36; 95% CI 1.42–7.90), primary level of education (AOR = 2.62; 95% CI 1.20–5.70), living in rural area (AOR = 3.33; 95% CI 1.61–6.88), having strong social support (AOR = 0.31; 95% CI 0.15–0.62), having diabetes related complication (AOR = 2.20; 95% CI 1.12–4.30), and poor socio-economic status (AOR = 2.16; 95% CI 1.17–3.98) were factors significantly associated with poor self-care practice of patients with diabetes. The study indicates that the prevalence of poor self-care practice was high. Education, residence, socio-economic status, complication and social support were significantly associated with poor self-care practice. Therefore, strategies should be developed to support patients with information, glucometer, and enhance patient’s social support.

Purpose: Non-communicable diseases impose a significant social, economic and health burden. Hypertension, the leading contributor to the global burden of disease and a growing public health problem worldwide, is one of the most serious non-communicable diseases. In Ethiopia, empirical evidence on the economic burden of hypertension is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the cost of hypertension and associated factors at the University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital, northwest Ethiopia. Patients and Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 442 adult hypertensive patients using a semi-structured questionnaire to estimate the direct and indirect costs of hypertension. The human capital approach was used to calculate indirect costs. A generalized linear model was fitted to identify factors associated with the cost of hypertension at a 95% confidence level and < 0.05 p-value. Results: A total of 442, 56.3% female and 64.3% stage one hypertension patients were included. The total cost of hypertension was ETB 2510.32 ($91.72) ± 2152.80 (78.65) per patient per year; The direct medical and non-medical cost constituted 60.81% and 12.17% of the total cost of hypertension, respectively. Hospitalized (exp(b)=1.87, p< 0.001), using multidrug (exp(b)=1.32, p< 0.000), high socioeconomic status (exp(b)=1.41,p< 0.000), college and above education(exp(b)= 1.35, p< 0.016), government employment (exp(b)= 1.30, p< 0.012), retirement (exp(b)= 0.71, p< 0.001) and co-morbidity (exp(b)= 1.20, p< 0.004) were factors significantly associated with the cost of hypertension. Conclusion: The total cost of illness of hypertension is high, and direct medical cost has the highest component of the total cost of illness. Hospitalization, using multidrug, co-morbidity, attending college and above education, highest socioeconomic status and government employment were factors significantly associated with the high cost of hypertension. Therefore, prevention and early detection of complications and co-morbidity are essential to reduce hospitalization and the number of drugs to reduce the direct medical and indirect costs.

Introduction: Evidence on a patient-centered assessment of outcome among patients with stroke is limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and associated factors in Ethiopia’s tertiary level hospitals.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at three tertiary level hospitals (Felege Hiwot comprehensive specialized hospital, University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital, and Dessie referral hospital) from April 1 to May 31, 2019. A total of 180 patients with stroke were included, and a consecutive sampling method was employed to recruit the participants. RAND 36-Item Health Survey was used to measure the HRQOL. A generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log-link function was used to investigate potential predictors, and variables with aPvalue of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results: Out of the participants, 50.56% were female. The average age and average duration of illness were 59.04 (12.71) and 1.5 (1.46) years, correspondingly. The physical health domain score was higher than the mental health domain score. Education (P= 0.041), social support (P= 0.050), disability (P<0.001), co-morbidity (P= 0.011), depression (P= 0.015) and income (<1000 ETBP= 0.002; 1000–4000 ETBP= 0.009) were associated with physical health domain. Whereas, ischemic stroke (P= 0.014), education (P= 0.020), disability (P<0.001), and depression (P<0.001) were associated with the mental health domain.Conclusion: The HRQOL of the patients was low. Social support and lower disability status were associated with higher HRQOL, whereas disability and depression were associated with higher HRQOL. Therefore, attention should be given to strengthening social support; health professionals should focus on reducing disability/physical dependency and depression, as these are vital factors for improving HRQOL.

Purpose: Diarrhea is a common childhood illness and one of the leading causes of death in young children globally. In Ethiopia, a significant number of deaths and hospitalizations in under-five children are related to diarrheal diseases. Inappropriate feeding during diarrhea leads to a double burden of diarrhea recurrence and malnutrition among children. However, empirical evidence is limited in Ethiopia. Thus, this study was aimed to assess feeding practices and associated factors during diarrheal disease among children aged less than five years in Ethiopia. Patients and Methods: The study used the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2016 data. A two-stage stratified sampling technique was applied to identify 917 under five years children. Generalized linear mixed model analyses were computed, and a P value of less than 0.05 and an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to identify statistically significant factors with feeding practices. Results: The majority (92.5%) of mothers were married. Out of the participants, (54.1%) of children were male; 55.6% of them were in the age group of 6– 23 months. The appropriate feeding practices for children aged less than five years who had diarrhea was 15.4% (95% CI: 13.7%-18.2%). Mothers aged 25– 34 years (AOR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4– 0.9), agricultural occupation of mothers (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.3– 3.6), mothers attended four and more antenatal visit (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.3– 4.32) and mothers who had a postnatal checkup within two months of birth (AOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1– 3.2) were factors statistically associated with child feeding practices during diarrhea. Conclusion: Less than one-fifth of under-five children practiced appropriate feeding during diarrheal disease. Working in agriculture and attending antenatal care and postnatal checkup within two months were positively influencing feeding practice. Therefore, the government of Ethiopia needs to strengthen the existing maternal and child health services.