May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

Cardiovascular risk factors among the inhabitants of an urban Congolese community: results of the VITARAA Study

Objective: The objective is to assess cardiovascular risk profile in an urban Congolese population. Design and Methods: From July 2007 to March 2008, we investigated 1824 inhabitants (≥10 year old) randomly recruited from the Adoula quarter (Kinshasa, Congo). Measurements included: anthropometry, medical history and lifestyle habits via questionnaire, blood pressure and pulse rate (Omron M6, HEM 7001E), blood glucose, plasma lipids, and semi-quantitative proteinuria tests. We used stepwise logistic regression to model the odds for hypertension and diabetes. Results: In 1292 adult participants ≥20 years (56.6% women, mean age 37 ± 15 years), the prevalence of hypertension and known diabetes was 30.9% and 4.2%, respectively. Among participants with hypertension respectively 46.6%, 29.3% and 18.3% were aware, on treatment and controlled. Control was better among women and subjects below age 55, but lower in overweight/obese subjects. The odds for hypertension independently increased with age (P < 0.0001), overweight/obesity (P < 0.0001), pulse rate (P = 0.0249) and high legumes consumption (P = 0.0453). The odds for diabetes increased with age (P = 0.0009) and overweight/obesity (P = 0.0016). The prevalence of other risk factors was 5.5%, 42.2%, 42.8% and 30.9%, for smoking, overweight/obesity, abdominal adiposity and hypercholesterolemia; 4.6% of participants had proteinuria. Smoking predominated in men (10.8% vs. 1.4%), obesity (8.6% vs. 21.5%) and hypercholesterolemia (23.2% vs. 37.4%) in women. Hypertension clustered with three or more risk factors including diabetes or proteinuria in 68.7%. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the staggering rates of cardiovascular risk factors in sub-Saharan Africa and underscore the pressing need to move their prevention and control higher on the political agenda

Cardiovascular risk factors among the inhabitants of an urban Congolese community: Results of the VITARAA Study

Objective: The objective is to assess cardiovascular risk profile in an urban Congolese population. Design and Methods: From July 2007 to March 2008, we investigated 1824 inhabitants (≥. 10. year old) randomly recruited from the Adoula quarter (Kinshasa, Congo). Measurements included: anthropometry, medical history and lifestyle habits via questionnaire, blood pressure and pulse rate (Omron M6, HEM 7001E), blood glucose, plasma lipids, and semi-quantitative proteinuria tests. We used stepwise logistic regression to model the odds for hypertension and diabetes. Results: In 1292 adult participants ≥. 20. years (56.6% women, mean age 37. ±. 15. years), the prevalence of hypertension and known diabetes was 30.9% and 4.2%, respectively. Among participants with hypertension respectively 46.6%, 29.3% and 18.3% were aware, on treatment and controlled. Control was better among women and subjects below age 55, but lower in overweight/obese subjects. The odds for hypertension independently increased with age (. P<. 0.0001), overweight/obesity (. P<. 0.0001), pulse rate (. P=. 0.0249) and high legumes consumption (. P=. 0.0453). The odds for diabetes increased with age (. P=. 0.0009) and overweight/obesity (. P=. 0.0016). The prevalence of other risk factors was 5.5%, 42.2%, 42.8% and 30.9%, for smoking, overweight/obesity, abdominal adiposity and hypercholesterolemia; 4.6% of participants had proteinuria. Smoking predominated in men (10.8% vs. 1.4%), obesity (8.6% vs. 21.5%) and hypercholesterolemia (23.2% vs. 37.4%) in women. Hypertension clustered with three or more risk factors including diabetes or proteinuria in 68.7%. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the staggering rates of cardiovascular risk factors in sub-Saharan Africa and underscore the pressing need to move their prevention and control higher on the political agenda.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified