Promotion of Cardiovascular Health in Africa: The Alliance for Medical Research in Africa (AMedRA) Expert Panel.

This proposed scientific statement is focused on providing new insights regarding challenges and opportunities for cardiovascular health (CVH) promotion in Africa. The statement includes an overview of the current state of CVH in Africa, with a particular interest in the cardiometabolic risk factors and their evaluation through metrics. The statement also explains the main principles of primordial prevention, its relevance in reducing noncommunicable disease and the different strategies that have been effective worldwide.

Dietary salt intake and kidney function in rural Senegalese populations: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: High salt intake is a major risk factor for hypertension and its complications such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to determine level of sodium consumption and its relation with kidney function in the rural populations of Ferlo (centre of Senegal).

Subjects And Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study including 400 volunteers aged > 18 years.

Urbanization associates with restricted gut microbiome diversity and delayed maturation in infants.

Alterations of the microbiome are linked to increasingly common diseases such as obesity, allergy, and inflammatory bowel disease. Post-industrial lifestyles are thought to contribute to the gut microbiome alterations that cause or aggravate these diseases. Comparing communities across the industrialization spectrum can reveal associations between gut microbiome alterations and lifestyle and health, and help pinpoint which specific aspect of the post-industrial lifestyle is linked to microbiome alterations.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in hemodialysis patients in Senegal: a multicenter cross-sectional study.

Background: Hemodialysis patients are among high-risk groups for COVID-19. Africa is the continent with the lowest number of cases in the general population but we have little information about the disease burden in dialysis patients.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the hemodialysis population of Senegal.

Diagnostic Yield of Population-Based Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease in Low-Income, Middle-Income, and High-Income Countries.

Importance: Population-based screening for chronic kidney disease (CKD) is sometimes recommended based on the assumption that detecting CKD is associated with beneficial changes in treatment. However, the treatment of CKD is often similar to the treatment of hypertension or diabetes, which commonly coexist with CKD.

Objective: To determine the frequency with which population-based screening for CKD is associated with a change in recommended treatment compared with a strategy of measuring blood pressure and assessing glycemia.

The good life in rural and urban Senegal: A qualitative and quantitative study.

Very few studies have analyzed the influence of the environment, rural or urban, on the notion of good life and subjective well-being in sub-Saharan Africa and none, to our knowledge, has combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies for this purpose. The objectives of this interdisciplinary study were: a) to understand the emic representations of the good life in rural and urban Senegal and; b) to compare the levels and determinants of satisfaction with life between these two populations. This study was carried out in Dakar and in a very isolated rural area in the North East of Senegal: the sylvo-pastoral zone of Ferlo.

[Nephrology in Sub-saharan Africa: Past, present, future].

Nephrology was a relatively poorly known specialty in sub-Saharan Africa until the early 1980s, because of low awareness and lack of access to diagnosis and renal replacement therapies. Nephrology has seen progress on the continent despite an unfavourable economic and geopolitical environment. With a prevalence of fewer than five nephrologists per million inhabitants, the training of nephrologists, now carried out on the continent, allowed to have more than 200 specialists trained in the last decade in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa.

Hypertension treatment with Combretum micranthum or Hibiscus sabdariffa, as decoction or tablet: a randomized clinical trial.

Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (local names: bissap, karkade) and Combretum micranthum (kinkeliba) are widely known in traditional medicines and popular beliefs for their antihypertensive effect. This study assessed the clinical effectiveness of these two plants in the galenic forms of tablet and brew (decoction) in noncomplicated hypertensive patients.

Risk of obstructive sleep apnea among senegalese dialysis patients.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a common condition in patients undergoing chronic dialysis and is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of OSAS in Senegalese dialysis patients. In a cross-sectional study including 128 patients (75 men and 53 women) dialyzed since ≥6 months in four dialysis units.

[Lyme nephritis in humans: Physio-pathological bases and spectrum of kidney lesions].

Known in less than half a century, borreliosis, or Lyme disease, is a zoonosis caused by the tick bite. It is the most common vector disease in Europe and the United States. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the bacterium in question, is fitted with a "cunning device" that allows it to trick the immune system and implant the infection chronically.

Blood Pressure and Metabolic Effects of Acetyl-l-Carnitine in Type 2 Diabetes: DIABASI Randomized Controlled Trial.

Context: Acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC), a mitochondrial carrier involved in lipid oxidation and glucose metabolism, decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP), and ameliorated insulin sensitivity in hypertensive nondiabetic subjects at high cardiovascular risk.

Objective: To assess the effects of ALC on SBP and glycemic and lipid control in patients with hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), and dyslipidemia on background statin therapy.

Design: After 4-week run-in period and stratification according to previous statin therapy, patients were randomized to 6-month, double-blind treatment with ALC or placebo added-on simvastatin.

Clinical efficacy of African traditional medicines in hypertension: A randomized controlled trial with Combretum micranthum and Hibiscus sabdariffa.

Medicinal plants are widely used as a first-line therapy for hypertension, often without comparative clinical data. A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess efficacy of Combretum micranthum (kinkeliba) and Hibiscus sabdariffa (bissap), in the galenic form of capsules of plant powder, on blood pressure in adult patients with non-complicated hypertension ( > 140/90 mm Hg). One hundred and twenty five patients were randomly allocated into group 1 (kinkeliba leaves 190 mg × 2/day), or group 2 (bissap calyx 320 mg × 2/day), or group 3 (ramipril 5 mg /day) during four consecutive weeks.

Scleroderma renal crisis in tropical region: two senegalese cases.

Scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) is defined as the new onset of accelerated arterial hypertension and /or rapidly progressive oliguric renal failure during the course of systemic sclerosis. It is a rare but life-threatening complication. This formerly serious complication has got a considerable brighter outlook since the introduction of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) however the mortality is still remaining high.

HBsAg seroprevalence among Senegalese militaries.

Background: Chronic hepatitis is a major public health problem. Hepatitis B virus is the primary cause, and Hepatitis B and C together are responsible for 60% of cirrhosis and 80% of hepatocellular carcinomas. This study measured the prevalence of HBsAg among Senegalese military to develop an appropriate strategy to prevent cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Erectile dysfunction in chronic hemodialysis patients in dakar: a cross-sectional study in 2012.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience multiple complications including erectile dysfunction (ED). It involves more than 50% of patients on dialysis or transplant. In Africa, the true extent of ED in CKD is unknown although some studies have been done in this regard.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and associated factors in senegalese populations: a community-based study in saint-louis.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an emerging worldwide epidemic but littledata concerning African populations are available.

Objectives: We aimed to assess prevalence of CKD in adult populations of Saint-Louis, northern Senegal.

Patients And Methods: In a population-based survey between January and May 2012, we included 1037 adults ≥ 18 years of age who resided in Saint-Louis.

Epidemiology of chronic kidney disease in northern region of Senegal: a community-based study in 2012.

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an emerging worldwide epidemic but few data are available in African populations. We aimed to assess prevalence of CKD in adult populations of Saint-Louis (northern Senegal).

Methods: In a population-based survey between January and May 2012, we included 1,037 adults aged=18 years living in Saint-Louis.

Trends in hepatitis C infection among hemodialysis patients in Senegal: results of a decade of prevention.

Chronic kidney disease is an emerging public health issue in Africa. At end-stage renal disease (ESRD), patients need hemodialysis (HD), which may expose them to blood transmitted infections, such as the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest HCV prevalence in the world, but data on HD patients is scarce and shows an exceptionally high rate in Senegal.