Kelvin Leshabari

By Kelvin Leshabari

Geriatrics is an applied science as its practice is an art of medicine. As a scientific discipline, there exists a potential race for measurements. Frailty stands as among poorly defined concepts in geriatric medicine. There are philosophical, circumstantial, and practical justifications behind this rather seemingly clinical tragedy. This chapter contributes toward reliability and validity aspects of currently applied frailty scales and indicators across different population base. It acknowledges the contribution of Fried’s frailty scale. It also describes different frailty scales and indicators tested in America, Europe, and Asia. Lastly, the chapter contrasts the popular belief behind applications of Cronbach’s α coefficient of test scores for reliability assessment in clinical research. Other research gaps are also highlighted including merging clinical research findings in geriatrics with psychosocial aspects under the emerging field of geropsychology. It also proposes a solution for usage in future studies that aim at assessing reliability of test scores in clinical and biomedical sciences.

Part of the book: Frailty in the Elderly

By Kelvin Melkizedeck Leshabari

The concept of demographic transition has been evident to European, North American and Japanese population since the early 1960’s. It loosely followed natural patterns that were postulated as far back as 1795. However, scientists and policy makers, still erroneously consider demographic transition to be absent in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this chapter is to uncover the hidden truth behind population censa in sub-Sahara African countries using Statistical tools. The chapter analyses philosophical basis of sub-Saharan Africa demographic dividends from 1960 to 2000. It then cautiously highlights how demographic transition is emerging in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, it endeavours to highlight how different African countries are in different stages of demographic transition. The chapter also contrasts some of the prevalent misconceptions about Africans, especially the delusional idea of Africans as a homogenous population group on genetic basis. Lastly, it offers solution, to the current demographic chaos, and their relationship to future matured demographic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Part of the book: Demographic Analysis

By Kelvin Leshabari, Godfrey Chale and Rashid Salim

Objective: To estimate the association between ageing process markers (e.g. clinical conditions necessitating total abdominal hysterectomy) and immune functions (i.e. HIV-risk) among adult non-gravid female humans. Materials & Methods: We did a secondary data analysis, from a prospective, observational, hospital-based study conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The primary study population included all women planned for Total Abdominal Hysterectomy (TAH). Target population was all women who underwent TAH. Data were analysed using a generalized linear model via SAS statistical software version 9.4. Results: We analysed 40981 women-hours of follow-up. None of the participant seroconverted against HIV during follow-up period, making an HIV-incidence of 0/40981 women-hours. All participants were black Africans (median age 42 (IQR: 37–47) years). We found a statistically significant drop (aOR: 0.687) in HIV-risk after age of 45 years. Serial correlation between age and HIV-serostatus was found (γ = -0.514, P = 0.000). Association between HIV and marital stata was barely significant (χ2 = 8.0176, df = 3). Conclusion: There was a statistically significant reduced HIV-risk after the age of 45 years among hysterectomised women up and above the known behavioural/clinical risks. Participants who reported married had the highest HIV-seropositivity rate. Recommendations: These findings reflect antagonistic pleiotropy theory of ageing. Analyses on potential biological mechanism(s) against HIV in peri/post-menopausal women is/are warranted.

Part of the book: RNA Viruses Infection