Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Heart Diseases within the Urban and Rural Communities of the Town of Bougouni and Its Surroundings (Southern Mali): A Comparative Study

In Mali, few studies have been conducted on the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases according to place of residence. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of risk factors and cardiovascular diseases according to residents in town of Bougouni and its rural area (southern Mali). Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study from February 2019 to March 2024. All patients who visited the “CENTRE MEDICAL DE BOUGOUNI” clinic with known or suspected heart disease during the study period were included. Data were collected from medical records. Incomplete or unusable records were excluded. Data were processed using SPS version 22 software. Results: we included 452 patients with an average age of 50 ± 19 years. High blood pression has been found in 42.70% of cases, with higher prevalence in urban areas (47.01%) than in rural areas (41.50%). Diabetes and smoking were found respectively 5.31% and 8.19% in our population. The prevalence of diabetes was higher in urban areas (5.97%) than rural area (5.35%). smoking prevalence was higher in rural areas (8.49%) than urban areas (6.72%). Alcoholism was found in 2.21% of cases with a little difference between rural area (2.24%) and urban area (2.20%). 31.63% of our patients had no cardiovascular factor. Dyspnea was the reason of consultation in 5.75% of cases and atypical precordialgia in 13.72%. Headaches and dizziness in 8.63% of cases and 21.90% of patients presented other non-specific symptoms. Diagnosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy was found in 23.45% of cases with higher prevalence in rural areas (28.30%) than urban areas (13.43%). Ischaemic heart disease accounted for 9.29% of cases with a higher prevalence in rural areas (10.38%) than in urban areas (6.71%). PPCMs accounted for 5.98% of cases, with a slight increase in urban areas (6.66%) compared with rural areas (5.68%). Rheumatic valvulopathy accounted for 2.21% of cases;2.84% in rural areas and 0.74% in urban areas. Other valvular diseases accounted for 3.76% of cases;4.73% in rural areas and 1.48% in urban areas. Right heart diseases accounted for 3.98% of cases and stroke for 1.77%. Conclusion: The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and heart diseases is high in the rural and urban population of the town of Bougouni and its surroundings (Mali). Excepted smoking, the prevalence of other CV risk factors is higher in urban areas, whereas the prevalence of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and ischemic heart disease is higher in rural areas. These data could serve as a basis for developing tailored preventive strategies, depending on the place of residence.

Screening, Treatment and Control of High Blood Pressure on Five Sites in Mali

Introduction: High blood pressure is defined as blood pressure greater than or equal to 140 mm Hg for systolic and or 90 mm Hg for diastolic. It constitutes a major public health problem, the leading chronic disease in the world. The objective was to determine the prevalence, treatment rate and control of hypertension. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study which took place over a period of 6 months in a hospital environment and in the general population. Results: Of the 1000 participants, 637 had hypertension, giving a prevalence of 63.70% with a female predominance. Thirty-three percent (33%) were unaware of their high blood pressure. The age group 60 and more was the most represented (44%). A proportion of 33 and 23.20 were overweight and obese participants, respectively. Male subjects were more overweight than female, unlike obesity which was more common among female subjects. Sixty-two percent (62%) of hypertensives were treated, of whom 44% were non-compliant. The excessively high cost and consumption of medications as needed were the main factors in therapeutic non-compliance. Twenty-two percent (22%) of all hypertensive patients and 35% of treated hypertensive patients were controlled. Women were more treated but less observant and less controlled than men. Therapeutic coverage and combination therapy rates were lower in rural areas. Hypertensives who had a high level of education were better treated and controlled than those who had no level. Conclusion: High blood pressure remains a real public health problem in Mali. It is more common in people aged 60 and over and in females. One in three hypertensives were unaware of their hypertension. The majority received antihypertensive treatments, but only a minority of them had their hypertension controlled.

Therapeutic Compliance of Hypertensive Patients Followed in Ambulatory in the Cardiology Department of Kati University Hospital

Introduction: High blood pressure is a major public health problem worldwide due to its frequency and cardiovascular complications. Adherence to treatment for chronic diseases is a global problem. The aim was to study therapeutic adherence in hypertensive patients followed in ambulatory. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study with prospective recruitment that took place from July 1 to December 31, 2022 (6 months) in the cardiology department of the university hospital of Kati. The variables studied were sociodemographic data, cardiovascular risk factors, comorbidities, the possession of insurance and compliance (the Girerd questionnaire was used to assess adherence). Results: A total of 1182 patients were consulted, including 887 for hypertension, a frequency of 75%. Fifty-six patients were included in the study. The average age was 58.18 ± 13.25 years with extremes of 30 and 80 years. There was a female predominance (75%) with a sex ratio of 0.3. The majority of patients lived in urban areas (89.3%). Out-of-school patients accounted for 44.6%, more than half of patients or 55.4% had no income, patients with medical coverage accounted for 67.9% of cases. The main risk factors were physical inactivity (25%) followed by smoking 14.3%. More than 71% of patients had a compliance problem and the main reasons were forgetting to take the drug with 73.2%, followed by delayed treatment of 50% and drug discontinuation of 28.6%. Conclusion: Compliance is a real challenge and a major public health issue. This study allowed us to find a real problem of compliance in our hypertensive patients. There was a statistically significant relationship between drug adherence and forgetting to take the drug and drug discontinuation.

ECG and Echocardiographic Findings of Female Hypertension (fHTN) in the Cardiology Department of the University Hospital Gabriel Touré (UH-GT)

Introduction: In our setting there is a lack of publications on female hypertension in general population motivating this study to look for electro- and echocardiographic findings of female hypertension. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study during 6 months in the cardiology department of the UH-GT including 324 female patients aged 18 and more seen in the outpatient unit and by whom the diagnosis of hypertension was set. All patients consented to be study participants after receiving clearly information about the study and that care giving will not be affected by their eventual refusal. Data collection has been done with all needed confidentiality rules. A survey formular was used to collect data in order to record them in an Access database. Analysis was done using IBM SPSS software. Quantitative data are presented as mean with standard deviation and qualitative as proportion. Level of significance for statistic test was set at 5%. Results: During the study time 324 among 524 hypertensive patients visited our outpatient unit giving a prevalence of fHTN of 61.8%. The means for age, body mass index (BMI) in female hypertensive patients were respectively 52 ± 14.461 years and 27.35 ± 06.585 Kg/m2. Main ECG findings were left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and sinus tachycardia with respectively 93.6% and 46.4% followed by isolated ventricular extrasystole with 33.7%. Echocardiography findings included LVH, relative wall thickness (RWT) and reduced ejection fraction (EF) in respectively 41.05%, 37.35% and 21.91%. The left ventricular mass (LV) mass and geometry were abnormal in 44.4% and 37.3%. Remodeling as geometry modification (18.2%) and mitral flow Type 2 (90.4%) have been the most abnormal findings. Conclusion: Hypertension induced modifications mainly LVH in ECG and Echocardiography in female patients less than encountered among male hypertensive patients.

Heart Disease Scleroderma Revelators: About a Clinical Case

Scleroderma (or systemic sclerosis) is a disease characterized by abnormalities in the functioning of small blood vessels and the immune system, ultimately leading to inflammation and excessive fibrosis of the skin and various organs, including the heart. Management must be multidisciplinary, to avoid complications that are often serious. We report the case of a 20-year-old patient with no known cardiovascular history who consults for dyspnea, and retrosternal pain associated with a dry cough. On physical examination, she had tachycardia, swelling of the lower limbs, jugular turgidity, and deafening heart sounds. Cardiac Doppler ultrasound shows dilation of the right cavities, paradoxical septum and significant pulmonary arterial hypertension, pericardial effusion of medium abundance. On oral examination, it presents an ulceration of the lips, dermatological examination finds scattered hypo chromic spots in the body, more accentuated in the face. Before the hypo chromic dermatosis, a dermatological consultation was carried out with an autoimmune assessment that came back positive for systemic scleroderma.

ECG and Echocardiographic Findings of Athletes in Bamako—A Study among 227 Footballers

Background: A cardiovascular assessment is rarely performed among athletes despite more and more frequently reported fatal events. Most of these accidents are of cardiovascular origin. Moreover, data on ECG or Echocardiography are rare in our context justifying our study to assess electrical and echocardiographic pattern among high-level footballer in Bamako. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted in Bamako from April 2015 to?March 2016 among high-level footballers aged 14 to 35 years old without distinction of sex with at least 10 hours weekly training since one year. The ECG and echocardiographies were recorded respectively with a 12-lead CONTEC and an ATL 5000 echocardiographic machine. Each ECG record was analyzed by a cardiologist in accordance with the Seattle 2013 criteria and those pathological reviewed by a second cardiologist according to the same criteria and definitively classified as normal (physiological) or abnormal ECG (requiring complementary explorations). A third cardiologist was associated in case of discordance of the first results. The collected data were inserted in a Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed with SPSS version 20. Chi Square and Fisher statistical tests were used to compare our results. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: We collected data of 227 top footballers with male sex represented in 90.3% giving a sex ratio of 3.04. Means for age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI) were respectively 22 years, 69.90 kg, 177.21 cm and 22.21 kg/m2. Sinus bradycardia was found in a proportion of 45.8% more represented in the age group of 30 and more years (p = 0.275). First-degree atrioventricular block (AVB) was present in 19.4%. Short PR was found in 0.4% of the sample. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVG) according to the Sokolow index was found in 70.5% (96.9% males and 3.1% females) with p Conclusion: Many electrical and echocardiographic signs of cardiac adaptation were found in our sample and must lead to a closer follow-up of these trained footballers to avoid or prevent dramatic cardiovascular events.

Management of Hypertension (HTN) in a Cardiology Department in Bamako (Mali): Financial Aspects

Background: Studies on financial aspects of High blood pressure management are rare and old without differentiating categories of expenses. On the other hand there is an evolution in health system with the introduction of a medical insurance. Objective: We performed this study to estimate costs related to insurance status. Methodology: The prospective study on patients aged 15 years and older extended from 01 May to 31 August 2016 and was carried out in the cardiology department of the University Hospital Gabriel Touré. Only newly detected or untreated hypertensive patients were included. Sociodemographic data, those on physical examination and financial management (transport, consultation, labor tests and purchase of drugs) were collected. Regarding costs, patients were directly asked about: how much did you spend for transport, consultation, labor tests and drugs? Data analysis was carried out by comparing patients with health insurance (Ins+) and those without it (Ins?). The recorded data were inserted in a MS Access database, preliminarily processed by MS Excel and imported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Results: Mean total cost of care was 57,018 FCFA [50,139 - 63,897] (around 92 USD). It was 50,072 [42,182 - 57,963] for the Ins? group against 79,670 [66,777 - 92,563] for the Ins+ group with a p value 0.0001. Highest amounts for spending were for cardiovascular medication and labor tests with means of 19,255 FCFA (32 USD) and 18,813 FCFA (30 USD). Mean consultation fee was significantly higher for Ins+ patients: 4064 FCFA with IC (95%) [3210 - 4917] versus 3124 with IC (95%) [2774 - 3474] for Ins? patients and p = 0.018. For ECG, however, mean costs were higher for Ins? patients with 6460 [5944 - 6976] against 5115 [4871 - 5360] for Ins+ patients, p = 0.001. Conclusion: Health insurance has few subscribers compared to patients requiring medical care. It increases the global costs of care while facilitating access to care for those who benefit from it.

Pediatric Hypertension (HTN) Assessed by Various Methods: A Study among Pediatric Inpatients in University Hospital Gabriel Touré(UH-GT)

Introduction: It is known for decades that a correlation among child blood pressure and adult pressure exist. There are few publications on Hypertension (HTN) in pediatric area. We therefore conducted this study to estimate the extension of HTN among children and looking for associated factors. Methods: Blood pressure was assessed using the references released by the National institutes of health in the United States, those of the French Society of Pediatric Nephrology and z-score. We used the auscultation method with appropriate cuff adapted to the child’s upper arm. We got for each arm 3 blood pressure measures taken children seated or lying on the back and mean blood pressure was calculated and used for the evaluation of the pressure level. The arm with the higher blood pressure was considered for the study. Socio-demographical and clinical data were collected anonymously on a formulary and then inserted in a Microsoft Access Database. Analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software using appropriate tests. Results: The study involved 154 patients (boys:girls = 56.5:43.5) aged 3 to 16 years. Patients of 11 years and older made 57.1% of the sample. Most patients suffered from severe malaria (35.1%, glomerular and heart diseases with respectively 16.2% and 9.1%. The global proportion of hypertensive patients was 27%, 39% and 5.2% respectively based on references of the French society of nephrology, those of the 4th report of the NHBPEP and standard deviation. Looking for associated factors with hypertension the logistic regression found no predictor for hypertension using pressure cut-offs values based on the French society of nephrology and those of the 4th report of the National High Blood Pressure Education Programm (NHBPEP). Conclusion: Children must be checked for hypertension to avoid organ damage and later cardiovascular complications. Blood pressure assessment should be preferably done on outpatients as the role of the stressful hospitalization environment can be attenuated.