Toolbox NCDs

TOOLKIT: ANGINA

World Heart Federation (2023) CC

This campaign by Servier and the World Heart Federation builds on the success of the USE TO ACT NOW ON ANGINA campaign. In addition to raising awareness of the importance of acting now, this campaign explores some about the common, but less well-known signs of angina, and explains why it’s key to ... more

Burden of and Health Loss Due to the Effect of Maternal Hypertensive disorders in Ethiopia

Abebe, B.; Abera, M.; Sena, L. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development (2023) CC

Background: Worldwide, maternal hypertensive disorders complicate one in ten pregnancies. As a result of changes in the life styles of society, currently, it is becoming a common public life encounter. However, Ethiopia lacks comprehensive and comparable maternal hypertensive disorders, causing burd ... en and health loss to inform policy and practice. Objective: To describe the incidence and prevalence of maternal hypertensive disorders and deaths, Disability Adjusted Life Years, and Years Life Lost attributable to maternal hypertensive disorders in Ethiopia and its regional distributions from 1990 to 2019 as part of a collaborative Global Burden of Diseases, (2019) Study. Methods: The data for this study were collected from surveys, demographic surveillances, medical record reviews, health facility observations and interviews socio-demographic, health care service utilization, and other data sources such as case notifications, scientific literature, and unpublished data as per the Global Burden of Disease protocol and analysis techniques to produce national and regional estimates of maternal hypertensive disorders in Ethiopia. Cause of death ensemble modeling and Bayesian meta-regression disease modeling was employed to ascertain cause of death and morbidity. Each metric was estimated per 100,000 populations with a 95% uncertainty interval (UI). Results: In the last thirty years, in Ethiopia, , the incidence of maternal hypertensive disorders among young women was raised by 52,596 cases per 100,000 population [199,707 (95% UI 150,261-267,221) to 252,303 (95% UI 191,335-332,524)], while decreased among adolescent women from 67,206 (95% UI 46,887-90,883) to 64, 622 (95% UI; 47,587-84,664) per 100,000 population. The prevalence among women of reproductive age had increased from 94, 818 (95% UI 59,434-135,332) in 1990 to 138, 263 (95% UI 88,447-196,029) in 2019. Between 1990 and 2019, deaths attributable to maternal hypertensive disorders among adolescents and young women had increased by 1.5 and 1.17 times, respectively. In 2019, disability adjusted life years among adolescent, young women and women of reproductive age due to maternal hypertensive disorders was 8,493 (UI 95% 5,370-12,849), 21,812 (UI 95% 14,682-32,139) and 57,867 (UI 95% 41,751-79,165) respectively. The highest daily adjusted life years due to maternal hypertensive disorders had occurred among young women, 13,319 (UI 95% 8,592-19,931) which was higher than 1990 whereas the young women years of life lost had increased. Conclusions: Based on the finding, increasingly high new cases, prevalence and burden of maternal hypertensive disorders and significant health loss were observed in the last three decades in Ethiopia. Hence, prevention of cases, disabilities, deaths and health losses caused by maternal hypertensive disorders can be prevented by properly advocating lifestyle modifications with specifically designed age-specific interventions. On the top of continuing prevention efforts with newly devised magnesium sulphate administration in the new ANC initiative of the ministry, contextualized, need based, localized, and targeted interventions could be reconstituted. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2023;37 (SI-2)] more

First WHO report details devastating impact of hypertension and ways to stop it

World Health Organization WHO (2023) C_WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first-ever report on the devastating global impact of high blood pressure, along with recommendations on the ways to win the race against this silent killer. The report shows approximately 4 out of every 5 people with hypertension are not adequately t ... more

Global burden of cardiovascular diseases and risks, 1990-2022

Mensah, G.A.; Fuster, V.; Murray, C.J.L. et al. Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2023) CC

Age-standardized cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates by region ranged from 73.6 per 100,000 in High-income Asia Pacific to 432.3 per 100,000 in Eastern Europe in 2022. Global CVD mortality decreased by 34.9% from 1990 to 2022. Ischemic heart disease had the highest global age-standardized D ... more

Infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity to prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes: a systematic review

Durão, S.; Burns, J.; Schmidt, B. et al. BMC Public Health (2023) CC

Background Noncommunicable diseases are major contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Modifying the risk factors for these conditions, such as physical inactivity, is thus essential. Addressing the context or circumstances in which physical activity occurs may promote physical activity a ... t a population level. We assessed the effects of infrastructure, policy or regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase and clinicaltrials.gov to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled before-after (CBAs) studies, and interrupted time series (ITS) studies assessing population-level infrastructure or policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity. We were interested in the effects of these interventions on physical activity, body weight and related measures, blood pressure, and CVD and type 2 diabetes morbidity and mortality, and on other secondary outcomes. Screening and data extraction was done in duplicate, with risk of bias was using an adapted Cochrane risk of bias tool. Due to high levels of heterogeneity, we synthesised the evidence based on effect direction. Results We included 33 studies, mostly conducted in high-income countries. Of these, 13 assessed infrastructure changes to green or other spaces to promote physical activity and 18 infrastructure changes to promote active transport. The effects of identified interventions on physical activity, body weight and blood pressure varied across studies (very low certainty evidence); thus, we remain very uncertain about the effects of these interventions. Two studies assessed the effects of policy and regulatory interventions; one provided free access to physical activity facilities and showed that it may have beneficial effects on physical activity (low certainty evidence). The other provided free bus travel for youth, with intervention effects varying across studies (very low certainty evidence). Conclusions Evidence from 33 studies assessing infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions for increasing physical activity showed varying results. The certainty of the evidence was mostly very low, due to study designs included and inconsistent findings between studies. Despite this drawback, the evidence indicates that providing access to physical activity facilities may be beneficial; however this finding is based on only one study. Implementation of these interventions requires full consideration of contextual factors, especially in low resource settings. more

Global burden of peripheral artery disease and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Kim, M.S.; Hwang, J.; Yon, D.K. et al. The Lancet Global Health (2023) CC

Background: Peripheral artery disease is a growing public health problem. We aimed to estimate the global disease burden of peripheral artery disease, its risk factors, and temporospatial trends to inform policy and public measures. Methods: Data on peripheral artery disease were modelled using the ... more

A comprehensive review of cystic fibrosis in Africa and Asia

Abubakar, B.K.; Ahmad, U., Chau, D.M. et al. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences (2023) CC

Cystic ﬁbrosis (CF) was earlier thought to be a disease prevalent in the West among Caucasians. However, quite a number of recent studies have uncovered CF cases outside of this region, and reported hundreds of unique and novel variant forms of CFTR. Here, we discuss the evidence of CF in parts of ... more

Cardiovascular diseases in Africa in the twenty-first century: Gaps and priorities going forward

Minja, N.W.; Nakagaayi, D.; Aliku, T. et al. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2022) CC

In 2015, the United Nations set important targets to reduce premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths by 33% by 2030. Africa disproportionately bears the brunt of CVD burden and has one of the highest risks of dying from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide. There is currently an epide ... miological transition on the continent, where NCDs is projected to outpace communicable diseases within the current decade. Unchecked increases in CVD risk factors have contributed to the growing burden of three major CVDs—hypertension, cardiomyopathies, and atherosclerotic diseasesleading to devastating rates of stroke and heart failure. The highest age standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to hypertensive heart disease (HHD) were recorded in Africa. The contributory causes of heart failure are changing—whilst HHD and cardiomyopathies still dominate, ischemic heart disease is rapidly becoming a significant contributor, whilst rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has shown a gradual decline. In a continent where health systems are traditionally geared toward addressing communicable diseases, several gaps exist to adequately meet the growing demand imposed by CVDs. Among these, high-quality research to inform interventions, underfunded health systems with high out-of-pocket costs, limited accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, CVD preventive services, and skill shortages. Overall, the African continent progress toward a third reduction in premature mortality come 2030 is lagging behind. More can be done in the arena of effective policy implementation for risk factor reduction and CVD prevention, increasing health financing and focusing on strengthening primary health care services for prevention and treatment of CVDs, whilst ensuring availability and affordability of quality medicines. Further, investing in systematic country data collection and research outputs will improve the accuracy of the burden of disease data and inform policy adoption on interventions. This review summarizes the current CVD burden, important gaps in cardiovascular medicine in Africa, and further highlights priority areas where efforts could be intensified in the next decade with potential to improve the current rate of progress toward achieving a 33% reduction in CVD mortality. more

Access to Heart Failure Medicines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Analysis of Essential Medicines Lists, Availability, Price, and Affordability

Agarwal, A.; Husain, M.J.; Datta, B. et al. Circulation: Heart Failure (2022) CC

Heart failure (HF) is a leading global public health problem with >64 million prevalent cases globally. Patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) from low- and middle-income countries experience a 22% to 58% higher 1-year mortality rate than those in high-income countries.1 Guideline-d ... more

Burden of Peripheral Artery Disease and Its Attributable Risk Factors in 204 Countries and Territories From 1990 to 2019

Lin, J.; Chen, Y.; Jiang, N. et al. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2022) CC

Background: Data on burden of peripheral artery disease (PAD) and its attributable risk factors are valuable for policymaking. We aimed to estimate the burden and risk factors for PAD from 1990 to 2019. Methods: We extracted the data on prevalence, incidence, death, years lived with disability (YLD ... more

Guidelines for Management of ST-Elevated Myocardial Infarction

Directorate General of Health Services Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Government of India (2022) CC

Myocardial infarctions are generally clinically classified into ST elevation MI (STEMI) and non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI), based on changes in ECG. When blood flow to a part of the heart stops or the heart is injured and fails to receive enough oxygen required for its adequate functioning the conditi ... more

Global disparities in arrhythmia care: Mind the gap

Sharif, Z.; Ptaszek, L.M. Heart Rhythm O2 (2022) CC

Delivery of comprehensive arrhythmia care requires the simultaneous presence of many resources. These include complex hospital infrastructure, expensive implantable equipment, and expert personnel. In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), at least 1 of these components is often missing, res ... more

How to Improve Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension in Africa, and How to Reduce Its Consequences: A Call to Action From the World Hypertension League

Parati, G.; Lackland, G.T.; Campbell, N.R.C. et al. Hypertension Volume 79, Issue 9, September 2022; Pages 1949-1961 (2022) CC

Hypertension is the leading preventable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and disability globally. In low- and middle-income countries hypertension has a major social impact, increasing the disease burden and costs for national health systems. The present call to action aims to stimulate all A ... more

The Global Burden of Disease Study at 30 years

Murray, C.J.L. nature medicine (2022) CC

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) began 30 years ago with the goal of providing timely, valid and relevant assessments of critical health outcomes. Over this period, the GBD has become progressively more granular. The latest iteration provides assessments of thousands of outcomes for diseases ... more

The Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk: A Compass for Future Health

Vaduganathan, M.; Mensah, G.A.; Turco, J.V. et al. Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2022) CC

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have collectively remained the leading causes of death worldwide and substantially contribute to loss of health and excess health system costs. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study has tracked trends in death and disability since 1990 a ... more