Burden and spectrum of paediatric respiratory diseases at a referral hospital in North-Central Nigeria - A five year review.

Introduction: Globally respiratory diseases, comprising a broad range of disease conditions due to infectious and non-infectious causes, are a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. Thus, identification of the burden of respiratory illness will ensure appropriate interventions towards reducing its attendant morbidity and mortality. The study was conducted to identify the burden, spectrum and outcome of respiratory diseases in hospitalized children at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, North-Central Nigeria.

Sociodemographic and Clinical Determinants of Time to Care-Seeking Among Febrile Children Under-Five in North-Central Nigeria.

Objectives: Our study sought to determine the time parents of febrile children under the age of five took to seek competent medical care. We also looked at the possible sociodemographic/ clinical factors that influenced this presentation.

Methods: Four hundred and nine under-fives presenting at the emergency unit with a history of fever in the last 48 hours along with their mothers were recruited over four months.

Validity and accuracy of maternal tactile assessment for fever in under-five children in north central Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study seeks to determine not only the reliability of parental touch in detecting fever as compared to rectal thermometry in under-five children, but also the sociodemographic factors that may predict its reliability.

Setting: The study was carried out in the Emergency Paediatric Unit of a tertiary hospital in North Central Nigeria.

Participants: 409 children aged less than 5 years with a history of fever in the 48 h prior to presentation and their mothers were recruited consecutively.

Artesunate versus quinine in the treatment of severe falciparum malaria in African children (AQUAMAT): an open-label, randomised trial.

Background: Severe malaria is a major cause of childhood death and often the main reason for paediatric hospital admission in sub-Saharan Africa. Quinine is still the established treatment of choice, although evidence from Asia suggests that artesunate is associated with a lower mortality. We compared parenteral treatment with either artesunate or quinine in African children with severe malaria.