Patient Experience at Endoscopy Centers in Three West African Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Corona virus infection and the risk of contagiousness to medical personnel or patients during endoscopy necessitated further measures in the endoscopy rooms. The objective of this study was to assess the experience of patients in endoscopy rooms during the COVID-19 epidemic in West Africa. Patients and Methods: This was a multicenter cross-sectional study that took place over a period of 3 months (June to August 2020) in endoscopy centers in Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. An online questionnaire was sent to patients who had performed upper digestive endoscopies, in 8 digestive endoscopy centers including private, public and religious structures. Depending on the choice of patients, questionnaires were either sent electronically or completed in the endoscopy room with the help of field investigators. The choice of centers was random from the list of centers and descriptive analyses were carried out. Results: A total of 294 patients responded to the online questionnaire. There were 37 lower and 257 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies. The female sex represented 52.1%. The wait times for obtaining an endoscopy appointment were considered satisfactory by 281 patients 95.6%. In the endoscopy departments, 112 patients, or 38.1%, were questioned about the risk factors for contamination of SARS-CoV-2. Among the risk factors found, 6 patients (2.0%) would have traveled abroad in the 2 weeks preceding the examination, 4 patients 1.4% had already been in contact with a subject at risk. The most frequent symptoms were chest pain (80 cases;27.2%), flu-like syndrome (29 cases;9.9%), cough (40 cases;13.6%), fever (46 cases;15.6%). In contrast, ageusia (7 cases;2.4%) and anosmia (5 cases;1.7%) were only found in very few patients. Twenty-two patients (7.5%) felt highly exposed to COVID-19 during the endoscopy examination and 144 patients (48.9%) rated the examination as satisfactory. Conclusion: Gastrointestinal symptoms initially described as rare are being reported with increasing frequency in studies and may motivate the request for endoscopy examinations. However, the risk associated with infection with SARS-CoV-2 does not seem to have been sufficiently taken into account in endoscopy centers in the 3 countries.

Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy at University Hospital Souro Sanou Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), about 1022 Cases: Signs and Lesions Observed

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is an excellent way for the diagnosis of high digestive pathology. We report the results of 1022 upper gastrointestinal endoscopy performed at Bobo-Dioulasso CHU-SS, in western Burkina Faso (West Africa). The aim of this study was to document the indications and lesions found in high endoscopy at the CHUSS. Patients and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study, prospective to describe the results of gastroscopy performed from 1st January 2015 to 30th June 2016 at the digestive endoscopy unit CHU-Souro Sanou Bobo-Dioulasso. Results: In the study period, 1022 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies were performed. The main indications were: The epigastric pain (48.6%), portal hypertension (10.7%) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (9.9%). The pathologies observed were dominated by gastropathies (48.11%), peptic ulcer (27%) and oesophageal varices (9.68%). Epigastralgias were the main circumstance for the discovery of: 52.3% of esophagitis, 49.17% of gastropathies and 46.12% of peptic ulcers. Histopathologically, the results of the 236 biopsies were dominated by gastritis (88.56%), stomach cancers (7.63%) and esophagus (3.81%). Conclusion: The main indication of the UGIE at the CHU-Souro Sanou in Bobo-Dioulasso was epigastralgia. The pathologies observed were dominated by gastropathy, esophagitis and PUD.

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Alcohol Consumption in Urban Schools in Burkina Faso

Background: In 2005, the World Health Assembly asked member states to develop effective strategies and programs to reduce the negative consequences of harmful use of alcohol. To develop effective policies, we must already understand the phenomenon of alcohol consumption. But in Francophone west Africa, there are very few studies on the prevalence of alcohol, consumption patterns and factors associated with this consumption. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of alcohol use in schools in Burkina Faso and to identify socio-demographic factors associated with episodes of “heavy drinking”. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2013 in six secondary schools of Bobo-Dioulasso. Three hundred and sixty-two students randomly drawn by stratified cluster sampling were interviewed by using a self-administered questionnaire adapted from the model ESPAD and WHO AUDIT questionnaire. HED (Heavy Episodic Drinking) was defined as consuming at least six local measures of alcoholic beverages around the 30 days prior investigation. The search for factors was performed using logistic regression and estimating standard errors were adjusted for clustering data. Results: The prevalence of experimentation of alcohol was estimated to 45.6% [CI 95% = 40.4 - 50.7]. This prevalence was reduced to 34.8% [CI 95% = 29.9 - 39.7], 24.3% [CI 95% = 19.9 - 28.7] and 18% [CI 95% = 14 - 21.9] if one considered the use of alcohol at least once respectively in the 12 months, 30 days and 7 days before the survey. The prevalence of HED was 16% [CI95% = 12.2 - 19.8]. Independent factors associated with the HED were alcohol use by parents or friends and father’s occupation. Episodes of “heavy drinking” were 8.3 (CI 95% = 4.9 - 14) and 2.8 (CI 95% = 1.3 - 5.8) respectively more frequent among students whose parents and friends were drinking. Neither religion nor sex nor age was not statistically associated with HED. Conclusion: This study confirms the high prevalence of alcohol consumption in schools in Burkina Faso and challenges policy makers to adopt effective policies to fight against the harmful use of alcohol especially in schools.

Sociodemographic Factors of Alcohol Consumption in a Population of Hospitalized Patients in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

The prevalence of excessive alcohol consumption is high in our context. The fight against this scourge requires accurate identification of sociodemographic factors for a better communication strategy. Objective: To determine the sociodemographic factors associated with alcohol consumption in a population of hospitalized patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during two months in 14 hospital departments of the University Hospital CHU-Yalgado Ouédraogo (CHUYO) in Ouagadougou, by interview and document review. All patients hospitalized for less than a year, aged 18 at least and consenting were included. Excessive alcohol consumption was defined as consumption ≥210 g/week in men and 140 g/week in women according to WHO, a score ≥8 in men and in women ≥7 by AUDIT Questionnaire, a score ≥2 according to the DETA questionnaire. Socio-demographic factors as age, sex, religion, educational level, marital status, occupation and salary status were filled for all patients. Results: A total of 391 patients were included. The average age was 44 ± 16.26 years and the sex ratio of 1.34. Among them, 135 (34.53%) were consumers of alcohol. The prevalence of excessive consumption ranged from 7.92% to 10.49%. A statistically significant relationship was found between alcohol consumption and sex (p 0.03), religion (p 0.01) and education level (p 0.01). On the contrary, no significant relationship was found between alcohol consumption, age, marital status and occupation. The salary status “employee” appears to promote the consumption of alcohol by some tools. Conclusion: The excessive consumption of alcohol is common in our population especially by educated men of non-Muslim religion. This hypothesis should be corroborated in a study within the general population to better set control strategies against this scourge.