Linder, CL, Atijosan-Ayodele, O, Chokotho, L et al. (6 more authors) (2021) Childhood musculoskeletal impairment in Malawi from traumatic and non-traumatic causes: a population- based assessment using the key informant method. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 22 (1). 1058. ISSN 1471-2474
Abstract
Background
Musculoskeletal impairment (MSI) in children is an under-recognised public health challenge. Although preventable, road injuries and other traumas continue to cause significant impairments to children worldwide. The study aimed to use the Key Informant Method (KIM) to assess prevalence and causes of MSI in children in two districts in Malawi, estimating the associated need for services provision, with a focus on traumatic aetiology.
Methods
The KIM was conducted in the districts of Thyolo (Southern Malawi) and Ntcheu (Central Malawi) in 2013. Five hundred key informants were trained to identify children who may have one of a range of MSI. The identified children were referred to a screening camp where they were examined by medical experts with standardised assessment protocols for diagnosing each form of impairment.
Results
15,000 children were referred to screening camps. 7220 children were assessed (response rate 48%) for an impairment of whom 15.2% (1094) had an MSI. 13% of children developed MSI from trauma, while 54% had a neurological aetiology. For MSI of traumatic origin the most common body part affected was the elbow. Less than half of children with MSI (44.4%) were enrolled in school and none of these children attended schools with resources for disability. More than half of children with MSI (60%) had not received required services and 64% required further physical therapy.
Conclusions
The KIM method was used to identify a high prevalence of MSI among children in two districts of Malawi and estimates an unmet need for dedicated MSI services.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | : Disability, musculoskeletal impairment, trauma, children, key informant method, Malawi, service provision |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Institute of Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Medicine (LIRMM) (Leeds) > Orthopaedics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2022 13:51 |
Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2022 13:51 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMC |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12891-021-04942-x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:183807 |