Background: Adolescence is a crucial period for establishing healthy behaviours that can reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases. However, limited data exist on the clustering of health-related behaviours, in adolescents from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study examined how diet and physical activity behaviours cluster and how they are influenced by home and school area-level deprivation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective This study aimed to assess the prevalence of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease and the 10-year cardiovascular risk in an adult population residing in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 10 purposively selected neighbourhoods of Yaoundé, involving one adult per household who consented to participate. We collected data on personal and family history, lifestyle and nutritional habits, anthropometric parameters, and blood pressure, and calculated prevalence rates with 95% CI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Ther
November 2024
Hypertension and diabetes are currently the most common, treatable, and controllable cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors for stroke, heart, and renal diseases in Cameroon. Hypertension affects 30% of adults aged ≥ 20 years with 90% as uncontrolled cases, while type 2 diabetes affects 6% of the same population, with 70% remaining underdiagnosed. Despite publication of the first Roadmap on raised blood pressure by the World Heart Federation in 2015, the Pan African Society of Cardiology Roadmap in 2017, and the technical package for cardiovascular disease management in primary health care (WHO-HEARTS) in 2020, very little progress has been made in improving the diagnosis, treatment, and control of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases in Cameroon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims/introduction: We analyzed patient-reported outcomes of people with type 2 diabetes to better understand perceptions and experiences contributing to treatment adherence.
Materials And Methods: In the ongoing International Diabetes Management Practices Study, we collected patient-reported outcomes data from structured questionnaires (chronic treatment acceptance questionnaire and Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire) and free-text answers to open-ended questions to assess perceptions of treatment value and side-effects, as well as barriers to, and enablers for, adherence and self-management. Free-text answers were analyzed by natural language processing.
J Epidemiol Glob Health
September 2024
Background: Sub-Saharan African countries have a high burden of viral hepatitis and poor access to screening and care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of using the plasma separation card (PSC) for viral hepatitis B and C screening among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Cameroon and Uganda.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out between 05/2021 and 03/2023 including 192 PLHIV in Cameroon (n = 104) and Uganda (n = 88).
Background: The burden of gestational diabetes (GDM) and the optimal screening strategies in African populations are yet to be determined. We assessed the prevalence of GDM and the performance of various screening tests in a Cameroonian population.
Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study involving the screening of 983 women at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy for GDM using serial tests, including fasting plasma (FPG), random blood glucose (RBG), a 1-hour 50g glucose challenge test (GCT), and standard 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).
Objective We aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of a doxycycline-based regimen against Cameroon National Standard Guidelines (hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin) for the treatment of mild symptomatic COVID-19. Methods We conducted an open-label, randomized, non-inferiority trial in Cameroon comparing doxycycline 100 mg, twice daily for seven days versus hydroxychloroquine 400 mg daily for five days and azithromycin 500 mg at day 1 and 250 mg from day 2 through 5 in mild COVID-19 patients. Clinical recovery, biological parameters, and adverse events were assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Overweight parents are likelier to bear overweight babies, who are likelier to grow into overweight adults. Understanding the shared risks of being overweight between the mother-child dyad is essential for targeted life course interventions. In this study, we aimed to identify such risk factors in Cameroon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetes is a serious chronic disease with high associated burden and disproportionate costs to communities based on socioeconomic, gender, racial, and ethnic status. Addressing the complex challenges of global inequity in diabetes will require intentional efforts to focus on broader social contexts and systems that supersede individual-level interventions. We codify and highlight best practice approaches to achieve equity in diabetes care and outcomes on a global scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetes is pervasive, exponentially growing in prevalence, and outpacing most diseases globally. In this Series paper, we use new theoretical frameworks and a narrative review of existing literature to show how structural inequity (structural racism and geographical inequity) has accelerated rates of diabetes disease, morbidity, and mortality globally. We discuss how structural inequity leads to large, fixed differences in key, upstream social determinants of health, which influence downstream social determinants of health and resultant diabetes outcomes in a cascade of widening inequity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: optimal metabolic control is crucial for prevention of diabetes associated complications. HbA1c is a correlate of chronic hyperglycemia and is associated with long-term diabetes complications. We investigate the relationship between A1C and estimated average blood glucose (eAG) from the multicenter A1C-Derived Average Glucose (ADAG) study, in a sub-Saharan African population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn abnormal Zn status has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. However, epidemiological studies of the relationship between plasma Zn concentrations and diabetes are sparse and inconclusive. We aimed to investigate the association between plasma Zn concentrations and glycaemic markers (fasting glucose, 2-h glucose and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance) in rural and urban Cameroon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypertension and diabetes are chronic noncommunicable diseases ranked among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in resource-limited settings. Interventions based on patient empowerment (PE) have been shown to be effective in the management of these diseases by improving a variety of important health outcomes. This study aims to examine from the healthcare providers' and policymakers' experiences and perspectives, the facilitators and barriers in the management of hypertension and diabetes for patient empowerment to achieve better health outcomes in the context of the healthcare system in Cameroon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Previous studies of type 1 diabetes in childhood and adolescence have found large variations in reported incidence around the world. However, it is unclear whether these reported incidence levels are impacted by differences in country health systems and possible underdiagnosis and if so, to what degree. The aim of this study was to estimate both the total and diagnosed incidence of type 1 diabetes globally and to project childhood type 1 diabetes incidence indicators from 1990 to 2050 for each country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: bacterial profile of diabetic foot infections and the antibiotic susceptibility are essential in the prescription of empirical antibiotics before the results of cultures of deep wound samples are available. The aim of this study was to determine the microbiological profile and antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria isolated from infected diabetic foot ulcers in patients attending the Yaoundé Central Hospital, Cameroon.
Methods: we retrospectively analyzed the records of patients hospitalized between 2008 and 2013 for diabetic foot infections.
Background: An inverse association between vitamin D status and cardiometabolic risk has been reported but this relationship may have been affected by residual confounding from adiposity and physical activity due to imprecise measures of these variables. We aimed to investigate the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and cardiometabolic risk factors, with adjustment for objectively-measured physical activity and adiposity.
Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional study in 586 adults in Cameroon (63.
Adv Ther
June 2022
Diabetes mellitus is a global health issue, yet huge regional disparities exist in its care, including in access to basic necessities such as insulin. In this Viewpoint, six experts from different regions discuss differences in access to insulin and other diabetes mellitus therapies as well as the key barriers in diabetes mellitus care accessibility and potential solutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA low intake of fruit and vegetables and a high intake of meat are associated with higher cardiometabolic disease risk; however much prior research has relied on subjective methods for dietary assessment and focused on Western populations. We aimed to investigate the association of blood folate as an objective marker of fruit and vegetable intake and holotranscobalamin (holoTC) as a marker of animal-sourced food intake with cardiometabolic risk factors. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study on 578 adults (mean ± SD age = 38.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
December 2021
Physical inactivity is increasing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), urbanisation and sedentary living are rapidly growing in tandem. Increasing active living requires the participation of multiple sectors, yet it is unclear whether physical activity (PA)-relevant sectors in LMICs are prioritising PA. We investigated to what extent sectors that influence PA explicitly integrate it in their policies in an LMIC such as Cameroon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To provide global, regional, and country-level estimates of diabetes prevalence and health expenditures for 2021 and projections for 2045.
Methods: A total of 219 data sources meeting pre-established quality criteria reporting research conducted between 2005 and 2020 and representing 215 countries and territories were identified. For countries without data meeting quality criteria, estimates were extrapolated from countries with similar economies, ethnicity, geography and language.