University of Hargeisa Medical School, Hargeisa, Somaliland.
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
J Neurol Sci. 2022 Sep 15;440:120322. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2022.120322. Epub 2022 Jun 24.
To characterize the disease burden of neurological cases in Hargeisa, Somaliland between January 2019 and June 2020 in order to shape clinical guidelines and develop policy interventions pertaining to brain health in the region.
In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, data was obtained from a case log of de-identified patients seen over an 18-month period. This case log was pulled from Hargeisa's three major city hospitals. In addition, demographic data including age and gender for each patient was obtained and gender-specific significance for each disease was determined. Patients were seen by one of three neuropsychiatry trainees at the University of Hargeisa. The Institutional Review Board from the University of Hargeisa has approved the data collection and analysis.
Of the 1062 patients seen, 86.2% (915) presented with neurologic-specific diagnoses. 426 patients were female and 486 were male. Cerebral vascular accidents (CVAs, n = 272, 29.7%), traumatic brain injuries (TBIs, n = 113, 12.3%), infectious diseases (n = 94, 10.3%), headaches (n = 92, 10%), and epilepsy (n = 92, 10%) were the top five most prevalent diagnoses. The remaining patients (n = 147, 13.8%) presented with other non-neurologic diagnoses which may or may not capture any other co-morbidities the patients might have had. Notable sex-specific differences included headaches, which were more common (p < 0.0001) in female patients (n = 79, 18.5%) than in male patients (n = 13, 2.7%) and TBIs, which were more common (p < 0.0001) in male patients (n = 84, 17.2%) than female patients (n = 18, 4.2%).
Our data contributes to neurological disease data in Hargeisa, Somaliland, with the top five prevalent diseases at three major city hospitals demonstrating a dire need for clinical guidelines and policy intervention aimed at improving brain health in the region.
描述 2019 年 1 月至 2020 年 6 月期间，在索马里兰哈尔格萨的神经病例的疾病负担，以制定与该地区大脑健康相关的临床指南和政策干预措施。
本回顾性、横断面研究从为期 18 个月的已识别患者病历日志中获取数据。该病历日志是从哈尔格萨的三家主要城市医院中提取的。此外，还获取了每位患者的人口统计学数据，包括年龄和性别，并确定了每种疾病的性别特异性意义。患者由哈尔格萨大学的三位神经精神病学实习医生之一就诊。哈尔格萨大学的机构审查委员会已批准数据收集和分析。
在所观察的 1062 名患者中，86.2%（915 名）表现出特定于神经的诊断。426 名女性和 486 名男性患者。脑血管意外（CVA，n=272，29.7%）、创伤性脑损伤（TBI，n=113，12.3%）、传染病（n=94，10.3%）、头痛（n=92，10%）和癫痫（n=92，10%）是最常见的五种诊断。其余患者（n=147，13.8%）呈现出其他非神经诊断，这些诊断可能或可能没有捕捉到患者可能存在的任何其他合并症。显著的性别特异性差异包括头痛，女性患者（n=79，18.5%）比男性患者（n=13，2.7%）更常见（p<0.0001），创伤性脑损伤，男性患者（n=84，17.2%）比女性患者（n=18，4.2%）更常见（p<0.0001）。
我们的数据为索马里兰哈尔格萨的神经疾病数据做出了贡献，三大城市医院的前五种常见疾病表明迫切需要制定临床指南和政策干预措施，以改善该地区的大脑健康。
