Publications by authors named "Vida Obese"

Article Synopsis
  • Echocardiography is important for diagnosing and managing cardiovascular issues in people living with HIV, helping to reduce complications and health risks associated with the infection.
  • This study, conducted in Ghana, assessed the prevalence of echocardiographic abnormalities in HIV-positive individuals on antiretroviral therapy compared to HIV-negative controls.
  • Results showed that 35% of HIV-positive patients had echocardiographic abnormalities, significantly higher than the 19.7% found in HIV-negative controls, indicating a need for better cardiovascular monitoring in this population.
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Article Synopsis
  • * Diagnosing this infection is difficult due to various symptoms and inadequate diagnostic resources in affected regions, often resulting in missed cases.
  • * The report discusses two adults from Ghana who experienced seizures due to neurocysticercosis, emphasizing the importance of neuroimaging and awareness for timely diagnosis and treatment.
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Background: A cardiovascular polypill containing generic drugs might facilitate sustained implementation of and adherence to evidence-based treatments, especially in resource-limited settings. However, the impact of a cardiovascular polypill in mitigating atherosclerotic risk among stroke survivors has not been assessed. We aimed to compare a polypill regimen with usual care on carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) regression after ischaemic stroke.

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Background: Every minute, six indigenous Africans develop new strokes. Patient-level and system-level contributors to early stroke fatality in this region are yet to be delineated. We aimed to identify and quantify the contributions of patient-level and system-level determinants of inpatient stroke fatality across 16 hospitals in Ghana and Nigeria.

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Background And Purpose: To identify the qualitative and quantitative contributions of conventional risk factors for occurrence of ischemic stroke and its key pathophysiologic subtypes among West Africans.

Methods: The SIREN (Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network) is a multicenter, case-control study involving 15 sites in Ghana and Nigeria. Cases include adults aged ≥18 years with ischemic stroke who were etiologically subtyped using the A-S-C-O-D classification into atherosclerosis, small-vessel occlusion, cardiac pathology, other causes, and dissection.

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Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) stroke constitute up to 40% of incident strokes in Africa. While ICH patients are at high risk for atherosclerotic events, the risk-benefit of anti-atherosclerotic therapies in this patient population is uncertain.

Purpose: To assess whether utility of statins and/or antithrombotic agents after surviving an ICH correlates with atherosclerotic risk of an observational cohort.

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Article Synopsis
  • Post-stroke epilepsy (PSE) affects about 11.4% of stroke survivors in Ghana, contributing to lower quality of life and higher healthcare costs.
  • The study found that factors linked to PSE include being male, having cortical ischemic strokes, high blood pressure, and the type and number of antihypertensive medications.
  • Researchers suggest further studies are needed to better understand the relationship between these factors and the occurrence of PSE among stroke survivors.
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  • The study investigates the natural progression of Parkinson's disease in patients who have never been treated with medication (drug-naïve) and evaluates how daily levodopa treatment affects motor disability over 2 years.
  • Results show that initial levodopa treatment significantly improves motor symptoms, with continued benefits observed after one and two years, indicating slower progression of disability compared to untreated patients.
  • The study uses the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) to quantify these effects, finding a 31% lower annual decline in motor symptoms for treated patients versus their natural progression.
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Background: Refractory hypertension (RfH) is a rare, severe phenotype of resistant hypertension, linked to higher risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Little is known about the association of RfH with stroke type and subtype.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and predictors of RfH among stroke survivors in Ghana.

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Objective: The very few published data on post-stroke depression (PSD) among indigenous Africans have covered its prevalence and predictors. We sought to evaluate the dynamics of PSD in a cohort of Ghanaian stroke survivors followed for 9 months after an acute stroke.

Methods: Stroke survivors in this prospective cohort were adults aged >18 years with CT scan confirmed stroke, recruited into a randomized controlled trial to assess the feasibility of an mHealth technology-enabled, nurse guided intervention for blood pressure control.

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Background: The potential of mobile-health (mHealth) technology for the management of hypertension among stroke survivors in Africa remains unexplored. We assessed whether an mHealth technology-enabled, nurse-guided intervention initiated among stroke patients within one month of symptom onset is effective in improving their blood pressure (BP) control.

Methods: A two-arm pilot cluster randomized controlled trial involving 60 stroke survivors, ≥18 years, with BP ≥140/90 mmHg at screening/enrollment visit at a medical center in Ghana.

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Background: There is an unprecedented rise in the prevalence of stroke in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Secondary prevention guidelines recommend that antihypertensive, statin and antiplatelet therapy be initiated promptly after ischemic stroke and adhered to in a persistent fashion to achieve optimal vascular-risk reduction. However, these goals are seldom realized in routine clinical care settings in SSA due to logistical challenges.

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Background And Objective: There are limited data on vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) from low- and middle-income countries where the stroke burden is burgeoning. The aim of this study was to characterize the burden, determinants, and effects of VCI on health-related quality of life in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Methods: From January 2015 to February 2016, we collected information on 147 consecutive stroke survivors (>45 years) seen at a tertiary hospital in Ghana and 49 demographically matched stroke-free controls.

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Background And Purpose: The Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status (QVSFS), a method for verifying stroke-free status in participants of clinical, epidemiological, and genetic studies, has not been validated in low-income settings where populations have limited knowledge of stroke symptoms. We aimed to validate QVSFS in 3 languages, Yoruba, Hausa and Akan, for ascertainment of stroke-free status of control subjects enrolled in an on-going stroke epidemiological study in West Africa.

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional study design where 384 participants were consecutively recruited from neurology and general medicine clinics of 5 tertiary referral hospitals in Nigeria and Ghana.

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