Department of Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
West African Centre for the Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
PLoS One. 2022 Oct 20;17(10):e0276549. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276549. eCollection 2022.
Mitochondrial diseases/disorders (MDs), for decades, have been identified as a key underlying condition for many chronic diseases globally. However, data on the knowledge and prevalence of MDs in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are lacking. This study assessed the knowledge, and awareness, of MDs among senior medical doctors in the five tertiary hospitals in Ghana.
Data were collected from one hundred and twenty-eight (128) medical doctors in the five Tertiary Hospitals in Ghana using both closed and open-ended questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics.
Of the 128 respondents, 70.32% were senior medical officers and above, 87% of them indicated that they were aware of MDs and over 90% said physicians do not often diagnose MDs in Ghana. About 81% indicated that MDs are associated with chronic illnesses whilst 72% said the disease is diagnosed in both males and females. About 45% of the respondents alluded to the fact that MDs are difficult to diagnose, are associated with mutations in both the mitochondrial and the nuclear DNA, and are non-infectious diseases. Approximately 85% said nervous system dysfunction and muscle weakness are some of the symptoms associated with MDs whilst 77% said fatigue is also one of the symptoms. About 38% of the respondents specified that they encounter myopathies. A majority (70%) did not know about the availability of any consensus or standard diagnostic procedure and/or drugs for MDs.
There is a high level of knowledge and awareness of MDs among the respondents. However, there is a low disease encounter, which could be due to a lack of diagnostic protocols or a low disease prevalence. It is, therefore recommend that a patient perspective study, which looks at clinical records and laboratory data be conducted to fully ascertain the prevalence of MDs in Ghana and that appropriate educational strategies and interventions aimed at improving the diagnosis of mitochondrial diseases in Ghana be put in place.
几十年来，线粒体疾病/障碍（MDs）已被确定为全球许多慢性疾病的关键潜在原因。然而，关于 MD 在撒哈拉以南非洲许多国家的知识和流行情况的数据却很缺乏。本研究评估了加纳五所三级医院的高级医生对 MD 的了解和认识。
使用封闭式和开放式问卷，从加纳五所三级医院的 128 名医生中收集数据，并使用描述性统计进行分析。
在 128 名受访者中，70.32%是高级医疗官及以上，87%的人表示他们知道 MD，超过 90%的人表示加纳的医生不常诊断 MD。约 81%的人表示 MD 与慢性病有关，而 72%的人表示这种疾病男女均可诊断。约 45%的受访者暗示 MD 难以诊断，与线粒体和核 DNA 的突变有关，是非传染性疾病。约 85%的人表示神经系统功能障碍和肌肉无力是 MD 的一些症状，而 77%的人表示疲劳也是 MD 的症状之一。约 38%的受访者指出他们遇到过肌病。大多数（70%）人不知道是否有任何共识或标准的诊断程序和/或治疗 MD 的药物。
受访者对 MD 的了解和认识程度很高。然而，疾病的发生率较低，这可能是由于缺乏诊断方案或疾病流行率低所致。因此，建议进行一项以患者为中心的研究，该研究着眼于临床记录和实验室数据，以充分确定 MD 在加纳的流行情况，并制定适当的教育策略和干预措施，以提高加纳 MD 的诊断水平。
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