Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hypertension in Urban Areas of Cameroon: A Nationwide Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Accurate estimates of the prevalence rate of hypertension and determinants in Cameroon are crucial to inform efficient prevention and control policies. The authors carried out a cluster-specific cross-sectional survey in urban areas of the 10 regions of Cameroon to assess the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension in Cameroonian adults using the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS). Sociodemographic data were collected and blood pressure and glycemia were measured using standardized methods. Participants were adults of both sexes aged 16 years or older. A total of 15,470 participants were surveyed. The age-standardized prevalence rate of hypertension was 29.7%. The awareness rate was 14.1%. Independent correlates of hypertension included higher age, male sex, obesity, hyperglycemia, and living in the Savannah zone. The prevalence of hypertension is high in urban areas of Cameroon, with very low awareness. Prevention and control strategies should emphasize on improvement and vulgarization of population opportunistic screening and education.

Metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetes: comparative prevalence according to two sets of diagnostic criteria in sub-Saharan Africans.

BACKGROUND: Available definition criteria for metabolic syndrome (MS) have similarities and inconsistencies. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of MS in a group of Cameroonians with type 2 diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the National Cholesterol Education Programme Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria, and to assess the concordance between both criteria, and the implications of combining them. METHODS: We collected clinical and biochemical data for 308 patients with type 2 diabetes (men 157) at the National Obesity Center of the Yaounde Central Hospital, Cameroon. Concordance was assessed with the use of the Kappa statistic. RESULTS: Mean age (standard deviation) was 55.8 (10.5) years and the median duration of diagnosed diabetes (25th-75th percentiles) was 3 years (0.5-5.0), similarly among men and women. The prevalence of MS was 71.7% according to the IDF criteria and 60.4% according to NCEP-ATP III criteria. The prevalence was significantly higher in women than in men independently of the criteria used (both p < 0.001). Overall concordance between both definitions was low to average 0.51 (95% confidence interval: 0.41-0.61). Combining the two sets of criteria marginally improved the yield beyond that provided by the IDF criteria alone in men, but not in the overall population and in women. CONCLUSIONS: The IDF and NCEP-ATP III criteria do not always diagnose the same group of diabetic individuals with MS and combining them merely increases the yield beyond that provided by the IDF definition alone. This study highlights the importance of having a single unifying definition for MS in our setting.

Socioeconomic and gender differences in adolescents' nutritional status in urban Cameroon, Africa.

The aim of this study was to assess adolescents' nutritional status according to socioeconomic status (SES) and sex using anthropometry in urban Cameroon, Africa. Adolescent boys (n = 248) and girls (n = 333) 12 to 16 years old were recruited from randomly selected schools in a cross sectional study in Yaoundé city and grouped according to SES. Weight, height, skinfold thickness, and circumferences were measured, and body mass index, waist/hip ratio, arm muscle, and arm fat areas were calculated. Stunting, underweight, and overweight were determined using international cutoff points. Adolescents with medium and high SES were less likely to be stunted than adolescents with low SES (odds ratio [OR], 0.40; P < .01). Prevalences of stunting (12%, 6%, and 5%) and underweight (3%, 4%, and 1%) were higher among the adolescents with low and medium SES than those with high SES. Overweight prevalence was high among the adolescents with low (8%), medium (11%), and high (9%) SES. The OR for overweight was higher among girls than boys (OR, 4.13; P < .001). Girls were less likely to be stunted and underweight than boys (OR, 0.29 [P < .001] and OR, 0.20 [P < .01], respectively). Prevalences of stunting (15% and 6%) and underweight (5% and 2%) were higher among boys than girls. Pubescent adolescents were less likely to be stunted than nonpubescent (OR, 0.53; P < .05). Adolescents with low and medium SES were more underweight and stunted than adolescents with high SES. Girls were more overweight, less stunted, and underweight than boys.

[Primary hemochromatosis induced diabetes mellitus in 8 Black Africans in Yaounde, Cameroon]. / Hemochromatose primitive dans un groupe de diabetiques noirs Africains a Yaounde, Cameroun. A propos de 8 observations.

UNLABELLED: We analysing 8 cases of diabetes secondary to primary hemochromatosis in a group of black diabetic patients in Yaoundé. Diagnosis of primary hemochromatosis is based on clinical and biological arguments. Central hypogonadism is associated to diabetes in 75%, dilated cardiomyopathy existed in 37.5%, arthropathy in 75%. Diabetes is mostly type II. CONCLUSION: Secondary diabetes to primary hemochromatosis does exist in Black Africa. Diagnosis should be in the mind of clinician when in a diabetic patients are associated: central hypogonadism, dilated cardiomyopathy and chronic arthropathy. In the future diagnosis of hemochromatosis will be easier by genetic because of recent discovery of the gene of the disease.

[Epidemiologic profile and treatment of diabetic foot at the National Diabetic Center of Yaounde-Cameroon]. / Profils épidémiologiques et traitement du pied diabétique au centre national de diabetique de Yaounde-Cameroun.

We have undertaken an epidemiological and the treatment modality of diabetic foot in Yaounde Diabetic Center. 5315 patients have included in the study 1275, 23.98% have lesions of the diabetic foot. Neuropathy lesions are more frequent. Gangrenous lesion represent 4.39% with high level of total amputation. Patients are young, with short history of diabetes. Infection is present in 89% of cases. Health education is the only modality to be undertaken to prevent diabetic foot more frequent in our environment.