Background: Consuming diversified food during the adolescent period is essential to build a healthy and active mind for their later life. Food prices increased in the local market due to fewer production of crops. Thus, exploring the dietary diversity of adolescents in this area is crucial to estimate diet quality. So the aim of the study was to identify determinant factors of dietary diversity. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescent students in Woldia town. A total of four hundred eleven students were included in the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the participants. The outcome variable was dietary diversity; it was calculated by summing of the number of food group consumed by individuals in the given reference period. Bivariable and multivariable logistic analysis was done. The odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was computed to measure an association. A variable with a P-value less than 0.05 is considered a significant factor. Results: The proportion of inadequate dietary diversity was 49.1% (95% CI 44.5–53.8). Being female (AOR =5.53, 95% CI 3.447–8.859), secondary and above mothers’ education level (AOR=0. 27, 95%CI 0.153–0.477), living in a family size five and above (AOR= 2.09, 95CI% 1.31–3.34), and poor knowledge about nutrition (AOR=4.56, 95% CI 2.727–7.639) were significantly associated with inadequate dietary diversity. Conclusions and recommendations: Inadequate dietary diversity was associated with sex, knowledge of nutrition, maternal education level, and family size. It is better to design a nutrition intervention program that focus on nutrition education to scale up diversified food consumption among adolescents.

Background: The global older adult population is expected to increase from 524 million in 2010 to 1.5 billion by 2050, mainly in developing countries. Age-related diseases, comorbidities, and polypharmacy make appropriate prescribing crucial. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of polypharmacy, drug–drug interaction, and potentially inappropriate medication use and its factors in an Ethiopian hospital.Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study on 236 patients aged 65 and above at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (Jan 2022–Apr 2023) used the 2023 Beers Criteria and START/STOP V.3 to identify potentially inappropriate medications. Polypharmacy and potential drug–drug interactions were assessed using Micromedex®, with descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression performed in SPSS version 26.Result: Of the 236 patients in this study, 94 (39.8, 95% CI: 35.7–44.5%) were prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate medication per the STOPP/START criteria, with 81 (34.3%) identified by STOPP and 13 (5.5%) by START. According to the Beers Criteria, 108 patients (45.7, 95% CI: 40.1–51.0%) received at least one potentially inappropriate medication. Polypharmacy was observed in 80 patients (33.9, 95% CI: 29.1–38.5%), and potential drug–drug interactions were identified in 111 patients (47.0%). Being female (AOR: 2.93), age ≥75 (AOR: 1.52), and polypharmacy (AOR: 3.20) were linked to potentially inappropriate medication use per Beers Criteria. Age 70–74 (AOR: 2.30) and polypharmacy (AOR: 3.10) were also associated per STOPP/START criteria.Conclusion: Polypharmacy, drug–drug interactions, and potentially inappropriate medications are common among older Ethiopian patients, with age, sex, and polypharmacy as contributing factors. Future studies are needed to assess the health and economic impacts of potentially inappropriate medications use.

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine–metabolic disorder in children and adolescents worldwide. This study aims to determine the metabolic glycemic control levels and predictors among pediatric type 1 diabetes patients.Methods: An institution-based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from July 01, 2022 to October 30, 2022 among patients attending pediatric chronic follow-up at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northeast Ethiopia. Patients on follow-up for more than 3 months and aged under 18 years were enrolled in the study consecutively based on their visits. Data were entered into Epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were done to identify the factors affecting glycemic control.Result: Among 203 patients with type 1 diabetes, the average age was 8.72 ± 4.25 years, with the largest group of participants being over 10 years old (77 patients, 37%). The majority of the patients were female, totaling 126 (62.1%), and about 69 (34.0%) were in grades 7–10. Retinopathy, nephropathy, and diabetic ketoacidosis were commonly observed diabetic-related complications in this study. More than half of the patients, 107 (52.7%), had good diabetic control, while 96 (47.3%) had poor diabetic control. Factors significantly associated with poor glycemic control include having diabetes for more than 5 years (aOR: 1.45; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.91), being a third-born child (aOR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.92), having a comorbid disease condition (aOR: 1.84; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.92), and experiencing diabetes-related complications (aOR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.97).Conclusion: The study found that glycemic control is significantly poor among pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes. As a result, these patients require special attention to prevent the long-term consequences of diabetes.

Objective: This study aims to identify drug-therapy-related problems, possible interventions, acceptability, and impacts of the interventions among patients admitted to the medical ward.Methods: A hospital-based prospective interventional study was conducted in Hakim Gizaw Hospital, Debre Berhan City, Ethiopia. The sample size for the study was determined using a single proportion formula and 183 participants were recruited accordingly. Data were collected by two clinical pharmacists using a predesigned tool. The drug-therapy-related problems, interventions, and acceptability of the interventions were categorized on the basis of the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe V.9.1 tool. The impacts of the interventions were then assessed using the clinical, economic, and organizational multidimensional tool. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 software.Result: Drug-therapy-related problems were identified in 27.3% of the patients, with an average incidence of 2.36 ± 0.76 events per patient. The treatment-effectiveness-related problems accounted for half (60/121) of these drug-related problems, followed by drug-selection-related causes (31/121, 26.3%), dose selection (19/121, 16.1%), and other undefined but related causes (19/121, 16.1%). A total of 143 interventions were delivered by the clinical pharmacists, of which those discussed with the prescriber (55, 38.4%) were the most frequent type. Approximately three-fourths (106/143) of these interventions were accepted. Among the pharmacist interventions, 36.4% had minor, 8.4% had major, and 4.9% showed negative clinical impacts. Economically speaking, 48.2% of the interventions were found to reduce treatment costs; organizationally, approximately 28.7% of the interventions had improved the quality of care while 14.0% had worsened it. The duration of hospitalization, comorbidities, and admission locations were observed to significantly influence the drug-related problems.Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of drug-therapy-related problems as well as high acceptance rate of interventions in the medical ward, which were found to have pronounced economic, clinical, and organizational impacts.

Introduction: Chronic malnutrition is highly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and a severe public health problem in Ethiopia.At country level in the past three decades,the prevalence of stunting is above 40%.Different researchs and intervention were implemented in the past;but the progresss is non-remarkable.Despite; the effect of birth season on childhood chronic malnutrition was not studied yet in Ethiopia. Methods: This research was extracted from the 2016 demographic health survey of Ethiopia. The data was collected based on national and international scientific protocols. A total of 645 enumeration areas were selected for the national survey.The surevey uses two stage stratified sampling technique to gather data from the sampling unit. After excluding non eligible children a total of 8855 participants were included for final analysis.Height and weight were measured based on the standards nutritional assessment procedure.SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data.Descriptive statistics were used to present the data. Binary and multivariable logistic regression models were regressed to identify the potential predictors.A p-value of less than 0.05 with 95% CI were used to declare an association. Result: The prevalence of stunting in Ethiopia was 38.7% (95% CI: 36.8, 40.6). Season of birth had a significant association with stunting. The odds of being stunted among children born in the spring season were decreased by 16% as compared to children born in the winter season. Conclusion: Children born in the spring season were less likely to be stunted (the so called October effect). The clear scientific relation between the season of birth and child anthropometric indicator is not well understood. Nutritional interventions and policies are better to consider the birth season of the child.