Poor adherence to medication and salt restriction as a barrier to reaching blood pressure control in patients with hypertension: Cross-sectional study from 12 sub-Saharan countries.

BACKGROUND: Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a rising burden of hypertension. Antihypertensive medications and diet are the cornerstone of effective hypertension control. AIMS: To assess adherence to medication and salt restriction in 12 sub-Saharan countries, and to study the relationship between adherence and blood pressure control in patients with hypertension. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in urban clinics in twelve sub-Saharan countries. Data were collected on demographics, treatment and adequacy of blood pressure control in patients with hypertension attending the clinics. Adherence was assessed by questionnaires completed by the patients. Hypertension grades were defined according to European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Association between adherence and blood pressure control was investigated using multilevel logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, sex and country. RESULTS: Among the 2198 patients, 77.4% had uncontrolled blood pressure, 34.0% were poorly adherent to salt restriction, 64.4% were poorly adherent to medication and 24.6% were poorly adherent to both. Poor adherence to salt restriction (odds ratio [OR] 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.72), medication (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.25-1.93) or both (OR 1.91 1.39-2.66) was related to uncontrolled blood pressure. Moreover, poor adherence to both medication and salt restriction was related to a 1.52-fold (95% CI 1.04-2.22), 1.8-fold (95% CI 1.22-2.65) and 3.08-fold (95% CI 2.02-4.69) increased likelihood of hypertension grade 1, 2 and 3, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: High levels of poor adherence to salt restriction and medication were noted in this urban sub-Saharan study; both were significantly associated with uncontrolled blood pressure, representing major opportunities for intervention to improve hypertension control in sub-Saharan Africa.

Socioeconomic Status and Hypertension Control in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Multination EIGHT Study (Evaluation of Hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa).

Systemic hypertension is a rapidly growing epidemic in Africa. The role of socioeconomic status on blood pressure control has not been well studied in this part of the world. We, therefore, aimed to quantify the association of socioeconomic status both at the individual and at the country level with blood pressure control in Sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in urban clinics of 12 countries, both low income and middle income, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Standardized blood pressure measures were made among the hypertensive patients attending the clinics. Blood pressure control was defined as blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg, and hypertension grades were defined according to the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. A total of 2198 hypertensive patients (58.4±11.8 years; 39.9% men) were included. Uncontrolled hypertension was present in 1692 patients (77.4%), including 1044 (47.7%) with ≥grade 2 hypertension. The proportion of uncontrolled hypertension progressively increased with decreasing level of patient individual wealth, respectively, 72.8%, 79.3%, and 81.8% (P for trend, <0.01). Stratified analysis shows that these differences of uncontrolled hypertension according to individual wealth index were observed in low-income countries (P for trend, 0.03) and not in middle-income countries (P for trend, 0.26). In low-income countries, the odds of uncontrolled hypertension increased 1.37-fold (odds ratio, 1.37 [0.99-1.90]) and 1.88-fold (odds ratio, 1.88 [1.10-3.21]) in patients with middle and low individual wealth as compared with high individual wealth. Similarly, the grade of hypertension increased progressively with decreasing level of individual patient wealth (P for trend, <0.01). Strategies for hypertension control in Sub-Saharan Africa should especially focus on people in the lowest individual wealth groups who also reside in low-income countries.

[Left ventricular hypertrophy in chronic hemodialysis patients at CNHU-HKM of Cotonou]. / Hypertrophie ventriculaire gauche chez les hémodialysés chroniques du CNHU-HKM de Cotonou.

INTRODUCTION: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a predictor of mortality in hemodialysis. It takes a very high proportion among cardiovascular complications. OBJECTIVE: It was to determine the frequency of LVH and identify its associated factors among chronic hemodialysis patients of CNHU-HKM. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical, which took place 1st February to 31st October 2014. The sample consisted of patients aged over 15 years, chronic hemodialysis for at least 3 months. LVH is defined by a Left Ventricular Mass Index (LVMI)>115 g/m2 for men and >95 g/m2 in women. Doppler ultrasound was performed during 15 to 20 hours after the last hemodialysis session. Factors associated as sociodemographic characteristics, history, biological data, dialysis parameters were sought by logistic regression univariate analysis. The significance level was less than 0.05. RéSULTS: The sample size was 141 patients, 39% of women with a sex-ratio of 1.6. The average age was 50.1±12.3 years. The frequency of hypertension was 67.4%; diabetes: 14.9%; smoking: 9.2%; the rise of the pre-dialysis blood pression: 46.8%. The frequency of LVH was 54.6% and the associated factors were: the elevation of the predialysis blood pression (P=0.04), obesity (P=0.01), central catheter (P=0.03), anemia (P=0.02) and cardiomegaly (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: LVH is frequent in hemodialysis of CNHU-HKM. It is necessary to optimize the hemodialysis sessions and to achieve better management of associated factors.