3 research outputs found
The geological evolution and sedimentary dynamics of Hout Bay, South Africa
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Hout Bay is situated on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa approximately 17 km southwest of Cape Town. Hout Bay is a southward opening bay that hosts a fishing harbour and coastal residential town. This study was initiated to map the marine geology of Hout Bay and to quantify and explain the sediment dynamics of the area. This is important as Hout Bay has the only substantial accumulation of Quaternary sediments on the Atlantic Seaboard of the Cape Peninsula. The Hout Bay study area was saturated with the latest in cutting-edge geophysical techniques to collect detailed and comprehensive bathymetric, sidescan sonar, magnetic, seismic and beach profiling data. Collectively these data can be used to map offshore geological units as well as infer how Hout Bay has responded to the varying changes in sea-level throughout the Quaternary and allow for the reconstruction of the geological evolution of the Hout Bay seafloor
South African Paediatric Surgical Outcomes Study : a 14-day prospective, observational cohort study of paediatric surgical patients
No full textBACKGROUND : Children comprise a large proportion of the population in sub-Saharan Africa. The burden of paediatric surgical disease exceeds available resources in Africa, potentially increasing morbidity and mortality. There are few prospective paediatric perioperative outcomes studies, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
METHODS : We conducted a 14-day multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study of paediatric patients (aged <16 yrs) undergoing surgery in 43 government-funded hospitals in South Africa. The primary outcome was the incidence of in-hospital postoperative complications.
RESULTS : We recruited 2024 patients at 43 hospitals. The overall incidence of postoperative complications was 9.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 8.4–11.0]. The most common postoperative complications were infective (7.3%; 95% CI: 6.2–8.4%). In-hospital mortality rate was 1.1% (95% CI: 0.6–1.5), of which nine of the deaths (41%) were in ASA physical status 1 and 2 patients. The preoperative risk factors independently associated with postoperative complications were ASA physcial status, urgency of surgery, severity of surgery, and an infective indication for surgery.
CONCLUSIONS : The risk factors, frequency, and type of complications after paediatric surgery differ between LMICs and high-income countries. The in-hospital mortality is 10 times greater than in high-income countries. These findings should be used to develop strategies to improve paediatric surgical outcomes in LMICs, and support the need for larger prospective, observational paediatric surgical outcomes research in LMICs.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION : NCT03367832.Jan Pretorius Research Fund; Discipline of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town; Department of Anaesthesia, University of the Witwatersrand; and the Paediatric Anaesthesia Community of South Africa (PACSA).https://bjanaesthesia.org2020-02-01gl2019Anaesthesiolog
