Aarhus University, Jayanti Memorial Trust.

Introduction Oral cancer is common cancer in many low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) with a low five‐year survival rate. It is among the four most common types of cancer in South East Asia region. In South‐Central Asia, lip and oral cavity cancer is the second most common cancer according to the specific cancer types. Methods This scoping review intended to investigate published studies on the current prevalence and incidence of oral cancer in LMICs. The review was conducted applying the search words “Oral Cancer” and “Mouth neoplasm” as the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) major topic and “Epidemiology” and (“prevalence” OR “incidence”) as the MeSH subheading; the search was supplemented by cross‐references. Included studies met the following criteria: original studies, reporting of prevalence or incidence rates, population‐based studies, studies in English language and studies involving humans. Results The sample sizes ranged from 486 to 101,761 with 213,572 persons included. Buccal mucosa is one of the most common sites of oral cancer, associated with the widespread exposure to chewing tobacco. The incidence is likely to rise in the region where gutkha, pan masala, pan–tobacco and various other forms of chewing tobacco are popular. Conclusion This review contributes to useful information on prevalence and incidence estimates of oral cancer in LMICs.

Hypertension is a rising global burden, and low- and middle-income countries account for 80% of deaths due to complications of hypertension. Hypertension can be controlled by adhering to anti-hypertensive medication. However, non-adherence is an increasing challenge. This review aims to systematically evaluate non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medication among adults in low- and middle-income countries and explore factors affecting non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medication. We performed a systematic search for studies published between 1 January 2000 and 31 August 2015. A selection process was performed for data extraction with a combination of Medical Subject Headings terms: 'hypertension' and 'adherence'. Further search criteria were: language ('english'), species ('humans'), and low- and middle-income countries. A total of 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. The pooled percentage of non-adherence when using the eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) was 63.35% (confidence of interval (CI): 38.78-87.91) and 25.45% (CI:17.23-33.76) when using the 80 and 90% cut-off scales. The factors were classified into the five dimensions of adherence defined by the World Health Organization, and the majority of the studies reported factors from the dimension 'social and economic factors'. This systematic review demonstrated considerable variation of non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medication in low- and middle-income countries depending on the methods used to estimate non-adherence. The results showed a high non-adherence when the MMAS eight-item scale was used and low when the 80 and 90% cut-off scales were used. The majority of factors affecting non-adherence to anti-hypertensive medication fell within the World Health Organization defined dimension 'social and economic factors'.

Hypertension is a leading attributable risk factor for mortality in South Asia. However, a systematic review on prevalence and risk factors for hypertension in the region of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not carried out before.The study was conducted according to the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Guideline. A literature search was performed with a combination of medical subject headings terms, “hypertension” and “Epidemiology/EP”. The search was supplemented by cross-references. Thirty-three publications that met the inclusion criteria were included in the synthesis and meta-analyses. Hypertension is defined when an individual had a systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mm Hg, was taking antihypertensive drugs, or had previously been diagnosed as hypertensive by health care professionals. Prehypertension is defined as SBP 120–139 mm Hg and DBP 80–89 mm Hg.The overall prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension from the studies was found to be 27% and 29.6%, respectively. Hypertension varied between the studies, which ranged from 13.6% to 47.9% and was found to be higher in the studies conducted in urban areas than in rural areas. The prevalence of hypertension from the latest studies was: Bangladesh: 17.9%; Bhutan: 23.9%; India: 31.4%; Maldives: 31.5%; Nepal: 33.8%; Pakistan: 25%; and Sri Lanka: 20.9%. Eight out of 19 studies with information about prevalence of hypertension in both sexes showed that the prevalence was higher among women than men. Meta-analyses showed that sex (men: odds ratio [OR] 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02, 1.37), obesity (OR 2.33; 95% CI: 1.87, 2.78), and central obesity (OR 2.16; 95% CI: 1.37, 2.95) were associated with hypertension.Our study found a variable prevalence of hypertension across SAARC countries, with a number of countries with blood pressure above the global average. We also noted that studies are not consistent in their data collection about hypertension and related modifiable risk factors.