Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. There is increasing prevalence of hypertension in developing countries leading to increased risk of adverse outcomes. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Angola, 17 481 individuals were screened in six provinces with an average BP of 126/78 mmHg. After multiple imputation, 6022 (34.5%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 4080 (26.3%) were hypertensive. Of those receiving antihypertensive medication, 1159 (59.7%) had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 was the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Angola. These results suggest that there is still a significant percentage of patients who are not medicated and possibly require medication, and more than half of the hypertensive patients do not have controlled BP demonstrating the need for a more targeted and comprehensive screening of BP and more effective treatment.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide with high prevalence in the world and with a huge impact on public health. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2018. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. In Angola 14 433 individuals (mean age 38.6 years; 53.7% female; 99.9% black) in 6 of 18 provinces were screened. In total, 99.0% of screenees provided three BP readings with an average BP from 2nd and 3rd reading of 126/80 mmHg. After imputation, 4844 (33.6%) had hypertension of whom 54.2% were aware of their diagnosis and 46.3% were on antihypertensive medication. Of those medicated, 42.6% were controlled and of all hypertensive individuals, 19.7% were controlled. We screened 2603 individuals with untreated hypertension and 1285 with inadequately treated hypertension. Angolan MMM18 emerges as a continuation of the Angolan MMM17 study, the largest BP screening campaign undertaken in Angola, enabling us to compare the 2 years. This year’s results also showed a high percentage of hypertensive individuals and almost 3900 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension, demonstrating that there is still a long way to go but also that the Angolan MMM is being effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals.

Aim:The aim of the present study is to evaluate the prevalence of left ventricular geometric patterns in hypertensive patients in Angola.Methodology: cross-sectional descriptive observational study performed in two diagnostic centers in Luanda. We included all hypertensive patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiographic study in the 2nd quarter of 2012 in both centers. The echocardiographic study was performed according to the ASE recommendations. The relative wall thickness and the presence or absence of echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy was used to determine the various geometric patterns.Results: 84 patients were included, 33 males and 51 females, the mean age was 52.7 (± 13.4) years. 49% had concentric hypertrophy, 20% had eccentric hypertrophy, and 17% concentric remodelling and 14% had normal geometry. Regarding left ventricular function 87% of had normal systolic function, 64% had diastolic dysfunction. Conclusion:The results show that concentric and eccentric hypertrophy is the most frequent geometric patterns. Diastolic dysfunction is present in majority of the patients. The need for longitudinal studies assessing the prognostic value of geometric patterns in hypertensive patients in Angola, as well as their relationship with left ventricular function is imperative.

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Introduction: Studies about the reference values of the conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography in African populations are limited. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of aging and gender in left ventricular diastolic function assessed by conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography in healthy Angolans. Methods: Cross-sectional study performed involving healthy participants aged between 18 and 85 years, attending in a diagnostic center in Luanda, Angola. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography and Doppler study were performed according to the Guidelines of the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging. Results: A total of 103 men (47.5%) (mean age: 39,5±10,8) and 114 women (52,5%) (mean age: 43,0±12,5 years) were included. Compared to men, women were older (p=0,025) and showed significantly smaller body surface area (p<0,001). Mitral E velocity, and E/e’ ratio were significantly higher in women compared to men. While, DT of mitral E velocity was longer in men compared to women (p=0,041), E wave velocity and E/A ratio show a negative significant correlation with increasing age (r -0,33; P ≤ 0.001 and r -0,48; P ≤ 0.001, respectively). Conversely, A wave velocity shows a significant positive correlation with age (r 0,47; P < 0.001). Average e′ wave velocity shows a significant negative correlation with aging (r -0,40; P ≤ 0.0001). Conclusions: In healthy Angolan adult population, the parameters of left ventricular diastolic function deteriorated with age reflecting a normal aging process. This must be taken into account when assessing diastolic function at different age’s categories.