Context: Some market populations in Nigeria have been shown to have high prevalence of hypertension. Current evidence includes environmental pollutants such as heavy metals as risk factors for hypertension.
Aim: To study the heavy metal content of rice meals sold in a market population with a high prevalence of hypertension.
Objective: To determine the prevalence, risk factors, co-morbidities and case fatality rates of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) admissions at the paediatric ward of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, South-east Nigeria over a 10 year period.
Design: A retrospective study using case Notes, admission and mortality registers retrieved from the Hospital's Medical Records Department.
Subjects: All children aged 0 to 59 months admitted into the hospital on account of PEM between 1996 and 2005.