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In this study, we examined the patterns of subjective well-being (SWB) measures among pregnant women and quantified the extent to which pregnancy intendedness is associated with low SWB measures during pregnancy. We analyzed data from the 2021 Nigeria Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey comprising 3,491 pregnant women. The associations between pregnancy intention and low SWB measures (unhappiness, low life satisfaction [LS] and diminished optimism) were determined by fitting series of multilevel logistic regression models with random intercepts. Among pregnant women in our sample 20%, 37.5% and 9.6%, reported being unhappy, experiencing low LS and having diminished optimism, respectively. However, we found no significant association between pregnancy intention and being unhappy (mistimed: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.19, 95% CI = 0.88-1.60; unwanted: aOR = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.71-1.91), experiencing low LS (mistimed: aOR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.83-1.37; unwanted: aOR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.69-1.65) and having diminished optimism (mistimed: aOR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.82-1.82; unwanted: aOR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.56-2.04). Findings from the study suggest that pregnant women in Nigeria who reported having either a mistimed or unwanted pregnancy were just as likely to report being unhappy, experience low LS and have diminished optimism as women whose pregnancy was intended., Competing Interests: The authors declare none., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

We investigated the relationships between food insecurity (FI) and women's choice of reversible contraceptives, overall and according to the level of method effectiveness, among partnered women of reproductive age in Nigeria. This population-based cross-sectional analysis used nationally representative data from Round 6 of the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in Nigeria. The sample included married or in-union women aged 15-49 years who reported a live birth in the last 2 years preceding the survey (unweighted N = 8496). Survey-weighted multivariable binomial and multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to generate estimates of the association between FI (none, moderate, and severe) and reversible contraceptive use (overall and by method effectiveness). A Bonferroni correction was used to account for multiple testing. We stratified the models by maternal age to describe the experiences of women aged 15-24 years, 25-34 years, and 35-49 years. Overall, 6438 (74.1%) of the women in the sample experienced food insecurity (moderate, n = 2559, 30.7%; severe, n = 3879, 43.4%). In the adjusted model, we observed no statistically significant association between experiencing MFI and SFI and the use of reversible contraceptives (overall and specific) after adjustment for multiple testing. The stratified analyses showed that among women aged 25-34 years in the sample, those experiencing SFI in the past 12 months, compared to their food-secure counterparts, had significantly lower odds of reporting the use of a least effective contraceptive method (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.34-0.83; p = 0.0052). However, this failed to reach the significance threshold upon adjustment for multiple testing. We found no significant association between the FI levels and use of reversible contraceptives (overall and specific) among partnered women (15-49 years) in Nigeria who were 2 years postpartum following a live birth and who were at risk of pregnancy.

Objectives: Although prior research suggests that household food insecurity (HFI) is associated with intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW), there is a paucity of research regarding its impact on attitudes accepting of IPVAW. We examined whether individuals experiencing HFI are more likely to accept physical IPVAW, whether the association varies by gender and whether it persists when models are adjusted for other confounders., Design: Population-level cross-sectional analysis., Setting: This study used the round 6 of the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted in Nigeria., Participants: The sample included 23 200 women and 7087 men, aged 15-49 years, who were currently married or in union and responded to the attitudes towards domestic violence and HFI modules in the MICS., Outcome Measures and Statistical Analysis: Attitudinal acceptance of physical IPVAW (specific forms and overall). We conducted weighted multivariable logistic regression to estimate the OR and their corresponding 95% CIs of the associations of food insecurity (FI) with attitudinal acceptance of physical IPVAW, adjusting for potential confounders., Results: Multivariable results indicate that severe HFI was positively associated with attitudinal acceptance physical IPVAW in at least one of the scenarios presented (aOR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.22). Individuals experiencing severe HFI had higher odds of physical IPVAW acceptance when wife neglects the children (aOR=1.15; 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.31). The likelihood of physical IPVAW acceptance if wife burns the food was lower for women experiencing moderate HFI (aOR=0.86; 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.99). Stratified analyses indicated heterogeneity in the association between HFI and attitudinal acceptance of physical IPVAW by gender., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that, depending on the severity, FI status may be associated with attitudinal acceptance of physical IPVAW, with potential variations based on gender. The public health implications are discussed., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Client-provider communication about family planning (FP) remains an important strategy for preventing unintended pregnancy. Yet, the literature lacks empirical studies examining whether and how women's intendedness of a recent pregnancy may impact subsequent receipt of FP counseling. We investigated whether the intendedness of a recent pregnancy is associated with subsequent missed opportunities (MOs) for FP counseling, taking into account compositional and contextual factors. We performed a secondary analysis using pooled data from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 cross-sectional surveys conducted in Nigeria, adjusting for complex design effects. Weighted multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to examine the relationships between pregnancy intention and MOs, overall and at the health facility, using two-level random intercept models. In the analytic sample of women within 24 months postpartum (N = 6479), nearly 60% experienced MOs for FP counseling overall and even 45% of those who visited a health facility visit in the past 12 months (N = 4194) experienced MOs. In the multivariable models adjusted for individual-/household- and community-level factors, women whose recent birth was either mistimed or unwanted were just as likely to have MOs for FP counseling as their counterparts whose pregnancy was intended (p > 0.05). Factors independently associated with a MOs include individual/household level factors such as level of education, exposure to FP media, household wealth index and contextual-level variables (geographic region). While evidence that pregnancy intendedness is associated with MOs for FP counseling remains inconclusive, efforts to mitigate these MOs requires prioritizing women's prior pregnancy intentions as well as equipping healthcare providers with the capacity need to provide high-quality client-centered FP counseling, particularly for women whose recent birth was unintended., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Ujah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study examined the associations between pregnancy intention and motivational readiness for postpartum contraceptive use. Data for this cross-sectional analysis were derived from nationally representative surveys of the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) project conducted in eight sub-Saharan African countries. Participants included 9488 nonpregnant women of reproductive age (15-49 years) who had given birth in the last 2 years. Weighted multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the associations of motivational readiness for contraceptive adoption categorized as precontemplation, contemplation, and post-action with pregnancy intention. After adjusting for confounding factors, the findings revealed that women in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria who had mistimed pregnancies had significantly higher odds of being in the contemplation vs. precontemplation stage compared to those who had intended pregnancies. Similarly, women who had unwanted pregnancies in Ethiopia were also more likely to be in the contemplation stage. Furthermore, significant differences were observed for women in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria regarding the association between mistimed pregnancies and being in the post-action stage. For women who had unwanted pregnancies, this association was significant only in Nigeria. Additionally, the odds of being in the contemplation stage, compared to the post-action stage, for women who had unwanted pregnancies were significantly higher in Ethiopia and Nigeria. These results indicate that recent unintended pregnancies in specific sub-Saharan African countries may motivate women to take action to prevent future unintended pregnancies. The findings underscore the importance of tailored and context-specific approaches in family-planning programs based on the stage of motivational readiness., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Objective: Despite the growing food insecurity crisis in the United States, limited evidence exists about the effects of food insecurity on the unmet health care needs of peripartum (pregnant and postpartum) women. The aim of this study was to examine the association between food insecurity and delayed or forgone health care among peripartum women in the United States from 2019 to 2021., Methods: We conducted a pooled cross-sectional analysis using data from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 National Health Interview Surveys. Food security status was defined by type (high/marginal, low, and very low). Descriptive analysis and multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, were conducted to estimate the overall and specific delayed or forgone health care (yes or no) between the different categories of food security., Results: Of the 1525 peripartum women (weighted, N = 5,580,186), 11% of peripartum women in the United States experienced suboptimal food security in the 12 mo between 2019 and 2021, with 5% experiencing low and 5% experiencing very low food security. This included 6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5-8%) who reported delaying filling a medical prescription, 6% (95% CI, 5-8%) who required counseling or therapy from a mental health professional but did not receive it, 6% (5-8%) who delayed counseling or therapy from a mental health professional, 8% (95% CI, 6-10%) who needed medical care but did not receive it, and 9% (95% CI, 7-10%) who delayed medical care. Peripartum women with low and very food security were more likely to delay or forego health care due to cost concerns than food-secure peripartum women. In the multivariable analyses adjusted for predisposing, enabling, and need-based factors, women with low and very low food security had higher risk for delayed or forgone health care than those with marginal or high food security., Conclusion: This study demonstrated a positive association between food insecurity and cost-related unmet health care needs among peripartum women. Future empirical studies are needed to assess the effects of peripartum health care interventions targeting food insecurity on reducing health care access disparities associated with costs and improving peripartum health outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Food insecurity (FI) remains a key priority for sustainable development. Despite the well-known consequences of food insecurity on health and well-being, evidence regarding the burden and determinants of FI among pregnant women in Nigeria is limited. Framed by the social-ecological model, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of FI, and its associations with individual-/household-level and contextual-level factors among pregnant women in Nigeria. A cross-sectional study based on the Nigerian Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2021 Nigerian MICS6) was conducted among a sample of 3519 pregnant women aged 15-49 years. Several weighted multilevel multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to assess the association between individual-/household-s level and community-level characteristics with FI. We estimated and reported both fixed effects and random effects to measure the associations and variations, respectively. Results: The prevalence of FI among pregnant women in Nigeria was high, with nearly 75% of the participants reporting moderate to severe FI in the past 12 months (95% CI = 71.3%-75.8%) in 2021. There were also significant differences in all the experiences of food insecurity due to lack of money or resources, as measured by the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), except for feeling hungry but not eating because of lack of money or resources (p < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that higher parity, households with 5 or more members, household wealth index, urban residence, and community-level poverty were significantly associated with FI. Our study demonstrates a significantly high prevalence of FI among pregnant women in Nigeria in 2021. Given the negative consequences of FI on maternal and child health, implementing interventions to address FI during pregnancy remains critical to improving pregnancy outcomes., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ujah et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Despite the widespread food insecurity in the United States, there is limited research investigating its prevalence among pregnant women and the potential impact it has on maternal and child health outcomes. This study examined trends in the prevalence of, and investigated risk factors for, food insecurity among peripartum women, using a nationally representative sample in the United States. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included pregnant and postpartum women aged 18-49 years who reported being currently pregnant or pregnant in the past 12 months and who participated in the National Health Interview Survey from 2019 to 2021. Weighted multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate associations with food insecurity. Results: A total of 1,527 pregnant women, weighted to represent 5,588,192 women in the United States, were included in the analysis. Overall, from 2019 to 2021, 10.8% of peripartum women were food insecure. The prevalence of food insecurity changed substantially between 2019 and 2021 (2019: 10.6% confidence interval [95% CI: 8.7-13.5], 2020: 16.0% [95% CI: 10.9-22.8], 2021: 6.2% [95% CI: 4.2-9.1]). The adjusted odds of food insecurity were significantly higher among pregnant and postpartum women in 2020 (aOR 2.15), who had a health insurance coverage (aOR 2.98) and who had an unmet health care need in the preceding 12 months (aOR 6.52). Conclusion: We found that food insecurity was common among peripartum women between 2019 and 2021 and was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the factors that predispose peripartum women to the risk of food insecurity can guide the development and implementation of targeted interventions aimed at reducing the adverse impact of food insecurity on perinatal and infant health.

This study examined discourses related to an Indonesian soccer stadium stampede on 1st October 2022 using comments posted on Twitter. We conducted a lexicon-based sentiment analysis to identify the sentiments and emotions expressed in tweets and performed structural topic modeling to identify latent themes in the discourse. The majority of tweets (87.8%) expressed negative sentiments, while 8.2% and 4.0% of tweets expressed positive and neutral sentiments, respectively. The most common emotion expressed was fear (29.3%), followed by sadness and anger. Of the 19 themes identified, "Deaths and mortality" was the most prominent (15.1%), followed by "family impact". The negative stampede discourse was related to public concerns such as "vigil" and "calls for bans and suspension," while positive discourse focused more on the impact of the stampede. Public health institutions can leverage the volume and rapidity of social media to improve disaster prevention strategies., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press.)

We investigated the association between discrimination, neighborhood unsafety, and household food insecurity (FI) among Nigerian adults, as well as the gender-specific differences in these associations. Our analysis utilized data from the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), comprising 56,146 Nigerian adults aged 15-49 (17,346 males and 38,800 females). For bivariate analysis, we employed the Rao-Scott chi-square test to examine the relationship between predictors (discrimination, neighborhood unsafety, and a composite variable of both) and the outcome variable (FI). Food insecurity was assessed using both a dichotomous measure (food insecure vs. food secure) and a multinomial variable (food secure, mild FI, moderate FI, and severe FI). To model the association between predictors and FI while controlling for potential confounding factors, we utilized weighted binary and multinomial logistic regression. Among Nigerian adults, the prevalence of having ever experienced FI was 86.1%, with the prevalence of mild FI, moderate FI, and severe FI being 11.5%, 30.1%, and 44.5%, respectively. In the binary model, experiencing discrimination (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.19-1.55), living in an unsafe neighborhood (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.14-1.54), and facing both discrimination and unsafe neighborhood conditions (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.57-2.48) were significantly associated with FI. In the multinomial model, discrimination, neighborhood unsafety, and experiencing both remained associated with moderate and severe FI. In the gender-specific models, discrimination and neighborhood unsafety were found to be significantly associated with FI in women but not in men. This study underscores the importance of implementing policies and programs that address the underlying causes of food insecurity, with specific attention to discrimination and neighborhood safety concerns, particularly for Nigerian women.

Background: The decision of the US Supreme Court to repeal Roe vs. Wade sparked significant media attention. Although primarily related to abortion, opinions are divided about how this decision would impact disparities, especially for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. We used advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques to examine ethno-racial contents in Twitter discourses related to the overturn of Roe vs. Wade ., Methods: We screened approximately 3 million tweets posted to Roe vs. Wade discussions and identified unique tweets in English-language that had mentions related to race, ethnicity, and racism posted between June 24 and July 10, 2022. We performed lexicon-based sentiment analysis to identify sentiment polarity and the emotions expressed in the Twitter discourse and conducted structural topic modeling to identify and examine latent themes., Results: Of the tweets retrieved, 0.7% ( n  = 23,044) had mentions related to race, ethnicity, and racism. The overall sentiment polarity was negative (mean = -0.41, SD = 1.48). Approximately 60.0% ( n  = 12,092) expressed negative sentiments, while 39.0% ( n  = 81,45) expressed positive sentiments, and 3.0% ( n  = 619) expressed neutral sentiments. There were 20 latent themes which emerged from the topic model. The predominant topics in the discourses were related to "racial resentment" (topic 2, 11.3%), "human rights" (topic 2, 7.9%), and "socioeconomic disadvantage" (topic 16, 7.4%)., Conclusions: Our study demonstrates wide ranging ethno-racial concerns following the reversal of Roe and supports the need for active surveillance of racial and ethnic disparities in abortion access in the post- Roe era., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Ujah, Olaore, Nnorom, Ogbu and Kirby.)

This study examined the association between caregivers' self-rated general health, poor physical/mental health days, disease morbidity and asthma control in children from the United States with current asthma. The data analyzed for this study were obtained from 7522 children aged 0-17 years who participated in the 2012-2014, 2015-2017, 2018, and 2019 cycles of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Asthma Call-back Survey (ACBS). We employed univariate analysis to describe the study population and weighted binary logistic regression to examine the association of predictors with asthma control. Approximately 50% of the children had uncontrolled asthma. The results show that caregivers who reported fair general health had a 61% higher likelihood of reporting uncontrolled asthma in their children compared to those who reported good/very good/excellent health (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-2.26). Poor caregiver general health did not reach statistical significance in predicting uncontrolled asthma (aOR = 1.05, 95% CI, 0.62-1.75). Furthermore, having 1 to 14 poor physical/mental health days ([aOR] = 1.70; 95% CI, 1.28-2.227) and ≥15 poor physical/mental health days (aOR = 1.82, 95% CI, 1.31-2.53) was predictive of uncontrolled asthma in children. Additionally, endorsing one reported disease (aOR = 1.49, 95% CI, 1.15-1.93) and ≥2 diseases (aOR = 1.38, 95% CI, 1.08-1.78) was associated with uncontrolled child asthma. These findings underscore the association between caregivers' self-reported general health, poor mental/physical health days, disease morbidity and uncontrolled asthma among children from the U.S. with asthma. Pediatricians and child health practitioners should recall the importance of this relationship. To facilitate the identification of caregivers at risk and provide more comprehensive and effective care for children with asthma, healthcare practitioners should utilize every child asthma care encounter to inquire about the overall health of caregivers.

Complementary and Alternative Medicines/Therapies (CAM) are commonly used by US asthma adults, yet little is known about recent trends in their use. Our aim was to report trends in CAM use among US adults with current asthma. We conducted a serial cross-sectional study using nationally representative data from the BRFSS Asthma Call-Back Survey (ACBS) collected between 2008 and 2019 (sample size per cycle, 8222 to 14,227). The exposure was calendar time, as represented by ACBS cycle, while the main outcomes were use of at least one CAM and eleven alternative therapies. We analyzed CAM use overall and by population subgroups based on age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, and daytime and night-time asthma symptoms. Our findings show that there was an increase in the use of at least one CAM from 41.3% in 2008 to 47.9% in 2019 ( p -trend < 0.001) and an upward trend in the use of herbs, aromatherapy, yoga, breathing exercises, homeopathy, and naturopathy ( p -trend < 0.05). However, the use of vitamins, acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology, and other CAM therapies remained stable ( p -trend > 0.05). These trends varied according to population characteristics (age, sex, race, income) and asthma symptoms. In conclusion, our study suggests that CAM use among US adults with current asthma is either increasing or stable, and further studies are needed to explore the factors influencing these trends.

Background: Previous studies in Nigeria have reported the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E and the availability of immune escape mutants. There is a paucity of data on chronic patients on long-term antiviral therapy for HBV infection., Objective: This study assessed HBV genotypes and drug resistance variants among patients with chronic HBV infection receiving tenofovir in Jos, Nigeria., Methods: This cross-sectional study consecutively enrolled 101 patients (51 with HIV/HBV co-infection and 50 with HBV infection only) on antiviral therapy from February 2018 to May 2019 at four hospitals in Jos, Nigeria. DNA quantification of HBV was performed on all samples; 30 samples with detectable viral load were selected for genotyping using Sanger sequencing by targeting the full-length sequences of reverse transcriptase gene of the HBV genome. Phylogenetic analysis was performed with reference sequences from GenBank. Escape mutant and drug resistance analysis were performed using HBV drug resistance interpretation and Geno2pheno., Results: Only 30 (29.7%) of the 101 study participants had detectable HBV DNA. Of these, six (20.0%) isolates were successfully amplified and sequenced. The identified genotype was E, including escape mutations L127R (16.7%) and G145A (16.7%)., Conclusion: This study revealed exclusive dominance of genotype E in Nigeria. The S gene mutations G145A and L271R are known to be associated with modified antigenicity and impaired serologic assays, which may cause false negatives in the detection of anti-HBV surface antigen. The presence of mutants that are associated with vaccine immune escape may also have diagnostic and vaccine immune response implications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article., (© 2022. The Authors.)

This study examined temporal trends in the association between rural-urban residence and the use of LARCs among women using a method of contraception. A secondary objective was to examine whether the association varied over time. This study was a secondary analysis of data collected by the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) project from Nigeria among women aged 15-49 in 2016 ( N = 11,054), 2017 ( N = 11,380), and 2018 ( N = 11,106). Weighted multivariable logistic regression analyses examined the association between place of residence and the likelihood of LARC (overall and specific type) utilization. Using weighted multivariable logistic regression, we show that, of the 6488 women who were using a method of contraception, the rates of LARC utilization in urban areas were significantly lower than in rural areas (OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.38-0.73), attributed mainly to the high utilization rates of implants. Women in urban areas were more likely to use intrauterine devices (IUDs) (OR = 1.90, 95% CI 1.09-3.30) compared to those in rural areas. Conversely, the use of implants was significantly lower among women in urban areas (OR = 0.39, 95% CI 0.28-0.54). Adjusting for all predictors, we observed a reduction, albeit not significantly different, in odds in overall LARC, IUD, and implant use in urban compared to rural areas. The use of LARCs increased between 2016 and 2018 and the association between LARC use and place of residence also differed by the PMA survey year. There is a need for programs and policies to close gaps in the disparities in overall and specific LARC utilization rates based on place of residence.