Cardiovascular risk factors in adult general out-patient clinics in Nigeria: a country analysis of the Africa and Middle East Cardiovascular Epidemiological (ACE) study.

Background: With globalization and rapid urbanization, demographic and epidemiologic transitions have become important determinants for the emergence of cardiovascular disease (CVD).Objective: To estimate the prevalence of CVD risk factors in adult out-patients attending general practice and non-specialist clinics in urban and rural Nigeria.Methods: As part of the Africa and Middle East Cardiovascular Epidemiological (ACE) study, a cross-sectional epidemiologic study was undertaken for the presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, obesity, smoking and abdominal obesity in Nigeria.Results: In total, 303 subjects from 8 out-patient general practice clinics were studied, 184 (60.7%) were female and 119 (39.3%) were male. Mean age was 42.7±13.1 years; 51.8% were aged <45 years; 4% ≥65 years. Over 90% of subjects had ≥1 of 6 selected modifiable cardiovascular risk factors: 138 (45.6%) had 1-2; 65 (21.5%) had 3; 60 (19.8%) had 4; and 11 (3.6%) had 5 concurrent risk factors. Screening identified 206 subjects (68.0%) with dyslipidemia who did not have a prior diagnosis.Conclusion: Cardiovascular risk factors are highly prevalent in Nigerian subjects attending out-patient clinics. Moreover, many subjects were undiagnosed and therefore unaware of their cardiovascular risk status. Opportunistic screening alongside intensive national, multisectoral education or risk factor education is needed, should be scaled up nationwide and rolled out in both urban and rural communities in Nigeria.Keywords: Nigeria, cardiovascular risk factors, screening programs, risk factor management, The Africa and Middle East Cardiovascular Epidemiological (ACE) study

World Heart Federation Roadmap on Atrial Fibrillation - A 2020 Update

The World Heart Federation (WHF) commenced a Roadmap initiative in 2015 to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease and resultant burgeoning of healthcare costs. Roadmaps provide a blueprint for implementation of priority solutions for the principal cardiovascular diseases leading to death and disability. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of these conditions and is an increasing problem due to ageing of the world’s population and an increase in cardiovascular risk factors that predispose to AF. The goal of the AF roadmap was to provide guidance on priority interventions that are feasible in multiple countries, and to identify roadblocks and potential strategies to overcome them. Since publication of the AF Roadmap in 2017, there have been many technological advances including devices and artificial intelligence for identification and prediction of unknown AF, better methods to achieve rhythm control, and widespread uptake of smartphones and apps that could facilitate new approaches to healthcare delivery and increasing community AF awareness. In addition, the World Health Organisation added the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) to the Essential Medicines List, making it possible to increase advocacy for their widespread adoption as therapy to prevent stroke. These advances motivated the WHF to commission a 2020 AF Roadmap update. Three years after the original Roadmap publication, the identified barriers and solutions were judged still relevant, and progress has been slow. This 2020 Roadmap update reviews the significant changes since 2017 and identifies priority areas for achieving the goals of reducing death and disability related to AF, particularly targeted at low-middle income countries. These include advocacy to increase appreciation of the scope of the problem; plugging gaps in guideline management and prevention through physician education, increasing patient health literacy, and novel ways to increase access to integrated healthcare including mHealth and digital transformations; and greater emphasis on achieving practical solutions to national and regional entrenched barriers. Despite the advances reviewed in this update, the task will not be easy, but the health rewards of implementing solutions that are both innovative and practical will be great

Living with peripartum cardiomyopathy: A statement from the Heart Failure Association and the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions of the European Society of Cardiology.

This statement focuses on the fact that women with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) have a substantial mortality and morbidity rate. Less than 50% of patients have full recovery of their cardiac function within 6 months of diagnosis. Also, patients with recovered cardiac function often suffer from comorbidities, such as hypertension or arrhythmias, which require long-term treatment. This has major implications which extend beyond the life of the patient, as it may also substantially impact her family. Women with a new diagnosis of PPCM should be involved in the decision-making processes regarding therapies, e.g. the recommendation to abstain from breastfeeding, or the use of cardiac implantable electronic devices. Women living with PPCM face the uncertainty of not knowing for some time whether their cardiac function will recover to allow them a near-to-normal life expectancy. This not only impacts their ability to work, which may have financial implications, but may also affect mental health and quality of life for the extended family. Women living with PPCM must be informed that a future pregnancy always carries a substantial risk and, in case of poor cardiac recovery, is associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Patients with PPCM are best managed by an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional approach including e.g. a cardiologist, a gynaecologist, nurses, a psychologist, and social workers. The scope of this document encompasses contemporary challenges and approaches for the management of women diagnosed with PPCM

Cardiovascular toxicities of immune therapies for cancer – a scientific statement of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC and the ESC Council of Cardio‐Oncology

ABSTRACT: The advent of immunological therapies has revolutionized the treatment of solid and haematological cancers over the last decade. Licensed therapies which activate the immune system to target cancer cells can be broadly divided into two classes. The first class are antibodies that inhibit immune checkpoint signalling, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The second class are cell‐based immune therapies including chimeric antigen receptor T lymphocyte (CAR‐T) cell therapies, natural killer (NK) cell therapies, and tumour infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies. The clinical efficacy of all these treatments generally outweighs the risks, but there is a high rate of immune‐related adverse events (irAEs), which are often unpredictable in timing with clinical sequalae ranging from mild (e.g. rash) to severe or even fatal (e.g. myocarditis, cytokine release syndrome) and reversible to permanent (e.g. endocrinopathies).The mechanisms underpinning irAE pathology vary across different irAE complications and syndromes, reflecting the broad clinical phenotypes observed and the variability of different individual immune responses, and are poorly understood overall. Immune‐related cardiovascular toxicities have emerged, and our understanding has evolved from focussing initially on rare but fatal ICI‐related myocarditis with cardiogenic shock to more common complications including less severe ICI‐related myocarditis, pericarditis, arrhythmias, including conduction system disease and heart block, non‐inflammatory heart failure, takotsubo syndrome and coronary artery disease. In this scientific statement on the cardiovascular toxicities of immune therapies for cancer, we summarize the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of ICI, CAR‐T, NK, and TIL therapies. We also highlight gaps in the literature and where future research should focus

World Heart Federation Roadmap on Atrial Fibrillation – A 2020 Update

The World Heart Federation (WHF) commenced a Roadmap initiative in 2015 to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease and resultant burgeoning of healthcare costs. Roadmaps provide a blueprint for implementation of priority solutions for the principal cardiovascular diseases leading to death and disability. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of these conditions and is an increasing problem due to ageing of the world’s population and an increase in cardiovascular risk factors that predispose to AF. The goal of the AF roadmap was to provide guidance on priority interventions that are feasible in multiple countries, and to identify roadblocks and potential strategies to overcome them.Since publication of the AF Roadmap in 2017, there have been many technological advances including devices and artificial intelligence for identification and prediction of unknown AF, better methods to achieve rhythm control, and widespread uptake of smartphones and apps that could facilitate new approaches to healthcare delivery and increasing community AF awareness. In addition, the World Health Organisation added the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) to the Essential Medicines List, making it possible to increase advocacy for their widespread adoption as therapy to prevent stroke. These advances motivated the WHF to commission a 2020 AF Roadmap update. Three years after the original Roadmap publication, the identified barriers and solutions were judged still relevant, and progress has been slow.This 2020 Roadmap update reviews the significant changes since 2017 and identifies priority areas for achieving the goals of reducing death and disability related to AF, particularly targeted at low-middle income countries. These include advocacy to increase appreciation of the scope of the problem; plugging gaps in guideline management and prevention through physician education, increasing patient health literacy, and novel ways to increase access to integrated healthcare including mHealth and digital transformations; and greater emphasis on achieving practical solutions to national and regional entrenched barriers. Despite the advances reviewed in this update, the task will not be easy, but the health rewards of implementing solutions that are both innovative and practical will be great

Risk stratification and management of women with cardiomyopathy/heart failure planning pregnancy or presenting during/after pregnancy: a position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy.

This position paper focusses on the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of women diagnosed with a cardiomyopathy, or at risk of heart failure (HF), who are planning to conceive or present with (de novo or previously unknown) HF during or after pregnancy. This includes the heterogeneous group of heart muscle diseases such as hypertrophic, dilated, arrhythmogenic right ventricular and non-classified cardiomyopathies, left ventricular non-compaction, peripartum cardiomyopathy, Takotsubo syndrome, adult congenital heart disease with HF, and patients with right HF. Also, patients with a history of chemo-/radiotherapy for cancer or haematological malignancies need specific pre-, during and post-pregnancy assessment and counselling. We summarize the current knowledge about pathophysiological mechanisms, including gene mutations, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and medical and device management, as well as risk stratification. Women with a known diagnosis of a cardiomyopathy will often require continuation of drug therapy, which has the potential to exert negative effects on the foetus. This position paper assists in balancing benefits and detrimental effects

Survey of Primary Care Physicians Perception on Diagnosis and Management of Congestive Heart Failure in Lagos, Nigeria.

Purpose: To evaluate the perception of primary care physicians on diagnosis and management of congestive cardiac failure in Lagos, Nigeria Method: A slightly modified questionnaire used in the Euro-F study was distributed to primary care physicians in randomly selected hospitals in randomly selected local government in the Lagos metropolis. Result: Response rate to the questionnaire was 50%. There was poor (25%) record keeping of heart failure patients among the group. The commonest symptoms used by the primary care physicians for diagnosis were pedal swelling (74%). The favored signs were pedal oedema (62%) and basal crepitations (39%). There was poor knowledge of symptoms when these were categorized using the Framingham criteria. Only 32% knew two major criteria and less than 50% knew three minor criteria. Majority of the diagnosis of heart failure was based on symptoms and signs, (62.91± 29.57), with minimal reliance on investigation, (12.58± 20.75). Commonest investigations performed were electrocardiogram, (75%) and chest X-ray (91%). The use of echocardiography was quite low in this study (16%). There was poor knowledge regarding ACE-inhibitor use, (32.82± 37.54) and adequate doses. The knowledge about the beneficial effects of ACE inhibitors on symptom relief (37%) and reduction in mortality (42%) was poor. The knowledge about the use of b-blockers in heart failure was also poor. Majority of the physicians favoured use of diuretics and cardiac glycosides. They had correct knowledge about their effects on symptom relief, diuretics, (80%) and cardiac glycosides (72%). They wrongly asserted that mortality is reduced with diuretics, (61%) and cardiac glycosides (65%). Conclusion: There is poor knowledge among the primary care physicians as regards diagnosis and the management of congestive cardiac failure. Continuing medical education is therefore of paramount importance for these physicians in view of the importance of this disease entity and rapid emergence of new information in all aspects of heart failure. Keywords: Primary care Physicians, Diagnosis, Management, Heart failure.NQJHM Vol. 14 (2) 2004: pp. 130-13

Clinical and autopsy parameters of acute medical deaths in an emergency facility in South-west Nigeria

Background: Acute medical deaths are usually consequences of acute critical diseases, or acute exacerbations of chronic diseases. Thus, autopsy - confirmed characteristics would provide support for future management strategies. Objectives: To examine clinical and autopsy parameters including causes of death (COD) and mechanisms of death (MOD) among acute medical deaths. Methods: A 5-year (2005-2009) retrospective analysis was undertaken of Emergency Department (ED) related medical deaths occurring <24 hours after presentation. Case-notes provided clinical details while autopsy records supplied the COD and MOD respectively. Results: Decedents were 250 males (58.5%) and 177 females (41.5%), (male: female ratio=1.4: 1), predominantly (78%) young; with mean age of 43.7±16.6 years. In 22.8%, symptom duration was <1 day but >4 days in 42.8%. Coma -36%, and dyspnoea -10% prompted early presentation; but late presentation (>4days) characterised cough (4%), fever (10%), and body swelling (19%). Of the total, 23% presented after 10 pm, 16% were "dead on arrival" (DOA), and 40% died within six hours of arrival. Three commonest CODs were circulatory-cardiovascular disease [CVD](36%), infections/septicaemia (18%), and malignancies (8.4%). CVD subset was older (52 years), with significant male preponderance (62.5% vs 37.5%; p<0.05); but comparable mean age in both sexes. Common MODs were cerebral dysfunction (29%) - including sub-types of intra-cerebral haemorrhage (51.8%) and tonsillar herniation (33.3%), heart failure (19%), and septicaemia (15%). Conclusion: The highlights were late presentation, early demise from communicable and noncommunicable diseases; and common "exit" mechanisms of septicaemia, heart failure and cerebral dysfunction. These data will guide management and preventive strategies

Pattern and Outcome of Cases Seen at the Adult Accident and Emergency Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos

Background: The accident and emergency department constitutes one of the vital entry points of patients into the healthcare facility of the hospital the world over. It responds to and manages variety of cases in all the clinical areas and thus provides an insight to the quality of care available in the health institution.Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of cases seen as well as the causes of deaths at the adult accident and emergency department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos.Methods: Retrospective review of records of all patients attended to at the adult accident and emergency department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 2009 and 2010 was carried out. Data spread sheet was used to collect data on demographic indices, diagnosis, outcome, date admitted, date discharged and amount paid from casualty attendance register and Nurses' report books. Data was collated and analysed using Epi-Info version 3.4.1 statistical software package.Results: Out of the 5,427 available patients' records reviewed, 4,761(87.7%) were recorded as “discharged alive”, 546(10.1%) were recorded as “died”, while 120(2.2%) were recorded as “brought in dead”. Of those discharged alive, male attendance was 2,376 (49.10%) while that of the female was 2,385 (50.10%). Majority of these patients were aged 20-39 years and the mean age of the patients was 39.96 ± 18.22 yrs. Majority of cases seen were medical in origin (53.7%) and highest medical case seen was cerebrovascular accident, Commonest cause of death was from medical cases[69.2%] (cerebrovascular accident 22.0%). Male mortality was 55.3% while female mortality was 44.7% , mean age was 46.86 ± 17.61.Most affected age group was 40 – 59 years (35.4%) and highest number of death was seen in December.Conclusion: The commonest case seen as well as commonest cause of death was cerebrovascular accident. A high number of heart failure, head injuries, road traffic accidents, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and post partum haemorrhage were also seen as common causes of death.The emergency physician must be well trained in skills required for the immediate management of patients with these cases.Keywords: Accident, emergency, cases, deaths, cerebrovascular