Management of blood pressure in acute stroke: Comparison of current prescribing patterns with AHA/ASA guidelines in a Sub-Saharan African referral hospital.

BACKGROUND: High blood pressure (HBP) is common at acute phase of stroke. It may reflect untreated or uncontrolled hypertension before stroke, or it may relate to stress response. The present study was designed to compare current American Stroke Association (ASA) guidelines with actual prescribing patterns for management of HBP at the acute phase of stroke, in a tertiary care Hospital in Douala, Cameroon. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Cardiology and Neurology department of the Douala Laquintinie Hospital. Consenting patients with sign of stroke, confirmed by a brain CT-scan, who consented to participate in the study were recruited from March to July 2012. The use of antihypertensive medications (type, dose, routes of administration, BP recordings) in the first three days after admission was noted. RESULTS: One hundred and eleven patients were recruited including 59 men (53.1%). The mean age of patients was 60.9±12.3years, 70 patients (63%) had ischemic stroke and 41 (37%) hemorrhagic. Sixty two (55.8%) patients had hypertension severe enough to warrant treatment upon arrival. There was an overtreatment rate of 46.9% and undertreatment rate of 9.7%. CONCLUSION: The ASA guidelines were broadly respected by practitioners for patients who required treatment, but those who do not need treatment were overtreated. These findings support the need for more research to improve treatment guidelines as well as patient management.

Prevalence and determinants of diabetic polyneuropathy in a sub-Saharan African referral hospital.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is the commonest complication of diabetes mellitus, and a major cause of limb amputations. In general however, the magnitude of diabetic neuropathy in sub-Saharan Africans with diabetes has been less reliably quantified. We assessed the prevalence and determinants of diabetic polyneuropathy in hospital settings in Cameroon. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey at the Douala Laquintinie Hospital, which is one of the main reference hospital in the economic capital of Cameroon (3 million populations). Participants included all patients with type 1 (T1DM) or type 2 (T2DM) diabetes who reported to the hospital regardless of the reason, during a 5-month recruitment period. Polyneuropathy was defined as diabetic in a patient with a Diabetic Neuropathy Examination score of >3/16 and/or a monofilament score of <5/9. RESULTS: A total of 306 patients were recruited, including 196 women (64%) and 294 (96%) with T2DM. The mean (standard deviation) values were 59.8 (11.2) years for age and 8.4 (8.2) years for diabetes duration. Clinical signs of polyneuropathy were present in 102 (crude prevalence rate: 33.3%) patients. The polyneuropathy was symptomatic in 79/102 (77.4%) patients. Determinants of polyneuropathy were urban residence (p=0.02), infection with hepatitis C virus (p=0.002), infection with HIV (p=0.012) and presence of albuminuria (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: About one in three patients with diabetes reporting to the hospital in our setting has prevalent diabetes related polyneuropathy. This emphasizes the importance of routine implementation of therapeutic education and other measures to limit the complications.

[A prospective longitudinal study of coma in the intensive care unit in an African setting: case of Dakar, Senegal]. / Etude longitudinale prospective des comas en milieu neurologique africain: expérience de Dakar, Sénégal.

Little is known on coma in neurological intensive care unit (NICU) in the setting of developing country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the morbi-mortality and survival of coma in the NICU of Dakar, Senegal. We carried out a prospective longitudinal study in the NICU of the teaching hospital of Fann in Dakar during a period of 15 months (with 12 months of inclusion) on comatose patients. Were included all patients presenting with a Glasgow score inferior to 9. Standard biological analyses were prescribed for each patient while CT scan was performed if indicated. Daily evaluation was done and complications recorded. Each patient was followed for at least 3 months. Survival was determined by the Kaplan Meier method. 345 patients were admitted in the NICU and 169 were included (48,99 %). The mean age of the patients was 58.04 +/- 17.55 years with a sex ration of 0.92. The mean time from installation of disorders and initial consultation was 47.30 +/- 138.34 hours. Etiologies were vascular disease (71 %), status epilepticus (9.47 %), meningoencephalitis (8.88 %) and metabolic disorders (8.88 %). The mean duration of hospitalization was 8.89 +/- 9.53 days associated with a mortality rate of 82.25 % for the same period. Survival at day 90 was 10.65 %. Mortality was related to infectious condition (28.4 %), renal failure (14.78 %), cardiovascular failure (13.61 %), cerebral engagement (12.43 %), multivisceral failure (11.24 %), pulmonary embolism (1.18 %) and unknown cause (18.34 %). In conclusion, coma is associated with a high mortality rate in our context and suggests that early consultation, a good control of vascular risk factors and better management of infectious condition should reduce this impact.

[Prognosis of intracerebral hemorrhage with coma in a neurological critical care unit in the tropics]. / Pronostic des hémorragies intracérébrales avec coma dans une unité de neuroréanimation tropicale.

Thirty-five percent of stroke events observed in Dakar, Senegal involve hemorrhaging. Coma is a frequent revealing sign of the disease and a severe prognostic factor. Since specific therapy is unavailable in sub-Saharan Africa, only symptomatic medical treatment is proposed to most patients presenting intracerebral hemorrhage. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate prognosis and survival in patients presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage in a neurological critical care unit in Senegal. Study was conducted from April 15, 2006 to July 18, 2007 in the neurological critical unit of the Fann University Hospital Center in Dakar. Mortality and probability of survival were estimated using Kaplan Meier methods. The predictive value of factors significantly correlated with prognosis was determined by multivariate analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model. A total of 51 cases of intracerebral hemorrhage were included in this study. Mean patient age was 64 years and the sex ratio was 1.13. Median survival was 7 days and mortality in the neurological critical care unit was 80.4%. The probability of survival at days 10, 30 and 90 were 43.14%, 21.57% and 13.73% respectively. Occurrence of a complication on day 3 was shown to be an independent risk factor for early death. Intracerebral hemorrhage with coma is associated with a high mortality rate. Better primary prevention is necessary.

Pronostic des hemorragies intracerebrales avec coma dans une unite de neuroreanimation tropicale

Trente cinq pour cent des accidents vasculaires cerebraux sont de nature hemorragique a Dakar. Le coma constitue souvent un mode de revelation de la maladie et un facteur de gravite. En l'absence de therapeutique specifique en Afrique subsaharienne; seul un traitement medical symptomatique est propose en general aux patients victimes d'hemorragie cerebrale. Le but de l'etude etait d'etudier la survie et d'evaluer le pronostic des hemorragies cerebrales avec coma dans une unite de neuroreanimation senegalaise. Il s'agissait d'une etude longitudinale qui s'etait deroulee du 15 avril 2006 au 18 juillet 2007 a l'unite de neuroreanimation du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fann a Dakar. Les taux de mortalite et la probabilite de survie etaient estimes par la methode de Kaplan Meier. L'effet des variables significativement associees au pronostic etait etudie en analyse multivariee a l'aide d'un modele des risques proportionnels de Cox. Cinquante et un cas d'hemorragie intracerebrale etaient inclus avec une mediane d'age de 64 ans et un sex ratio de 1;13. La mediane de survie etait de 7 jours et la mortalite en neuroreanimation etait de 80;4. Les probabilites de survie a J10; J30 et J90 etaient respectivement de 43;14; 21;57et 13;73. L'existence de complications a J3 etait apparue comme facteur independant de mortalite precoce. Les hemorragies intracerebrales avec coma sont associees a une mortalite elevee et soulignent l'interet de la prevention primaire