The VALVAFRIC study: A registry of rheumatic heart disease in Western and Central Africa.

Background: There are few African data available on rheumatic heart disease (RHD).

Aim: To provide data on the clinical characteristics and treatment of patients with RHD hospitalized in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: The VALVAFRIC study is a multicentre hospital-based retrospective registry of patients with RHD hospitalized in African cardiology departments from 2004 to 2008.

[Clinical and immunological profile of HIV-infected patients at the initiation of antiretroviral therapy in Douala].

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and immunological profile of patients infected with HIV after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Sociodemographic characteristics, clinical and immunological patients were recorded. Chi square test and Mann-Whitney were used to compare variables.

Efficiency of an intervention package for arterial hypertension comprising telemanagement in a Cameroonian rural setting: The TELEMED-CAM study.

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa has a disproportionate burden of disease and an extreme shortage of health workforce. Therefore, adequate care for emerging chronic diseases can be very challenging. We implemented and evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention package comprising telecare as a mean for improving the outcomes of care for hypertension in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa.

Increased burden and severity of metabolic syndrome and arterial stiffness in treatment-naïve HIV+ patients from Cameroon.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its therapy are associated with increased aortic stiffness and metabolic syndrome (MetS) phenotype in Caucasian patients. We hypothesized that, independently of antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection in native black African patients is associated with increased burden of cardiometabolic risk factors that may accelerate arterial structural damage and translate into increased aortic stiffness.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-six apparently healthy Cameroonian subjects (controls) were compared to 108 untreated Cameroonian HIV+ patients (HIV-UT) of similar age.

Effects of antiretroviral therapy on arterial stiffness in Cameroonian HIV-infected patients.

Background: HIV infection increases cardiovascular risk and highly active antiretroviral therapy may further augment it. We hypothesized that an increase in large artery stiffness may be a mechanism of enhanced cardiovascular risk in treated HIV-infected (HIV-T) patients.

Materials And Methods: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI) were measured in 108 Cameroonian untreated HIV-infected (HIV-UT) patients and in 130 HIV-T patients.