Prevalence and patterns of congenital heart diseases in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Abstract

IntroductionCongenital heart diseases (CHD) are common causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among young children and adolescents living in Africa. Accurate epidemiological data are needed in order to evaluate and improve preventive strategies. This review aims to determine the prevalence of CHD and their main patterns in Africa.Methods and analysisThis systematic review and meta-analysis will include cross-sectional, case–control and cohort studies of populations residing inside African countries, which have reported the prevalence of CHD, confirmed by an echocardiographic examination and/or describing different patterns of these abnormalities in Africa. Relevant abstracts published without language restriction from 1 January 1986 to 31 December 2016 will be searched in PubMed, Exerpta Medica Database and online African journals as well as references of included articles and relevant reviews. Two review authors will independently screen, select studies, extract data and assess the risk of bias in each study. The study-specific estimates will be pooled through a random-effects meta-analysis model to obtain an overall summary estimate of the prevalence of CHD across studies. Clinical and statistical heterogeneity will be assessed, and we will pool studies judged to be clinically homogeneous. On the other hand, statistical heterogeneity will be evaluated by the χ2 test on Cochrane's Q statistic. Funnel-plots analysis and Egger's test will be used to detect publication bias. Results will be presented by geographic region (central, eastern, northern, southern and western Africa).Ethics and disseminationThe current study will be based on published data, and thus ethical approval is not required. This systematic review and meta-analysis is expected to serve as a base which could help in estimating and evaluating the burden of these abnormalities on the African continent. The final report of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberPROSPERO CRD42016052880.

Congenital heart disease in low‐and‐middle‐income countries: Focus on sub‐Saharan Africa

“…Multiple case studies have focused specifically on CHD in Africa but there is yet to be a thorough systematic review with meta‐analyses. In part, this is due to a predominance of hospital studies with heterogenous methodology (Tankeu et al, ). Reviews from Uganda (Aliku et al, ; Namuyonga et al, ) found that the distribution of CHD was similar to other parts of the world with two notable exceptions.…”

Congenital heart diseases: genetics, non-inherited risk factors, and signaling pathways

“…The most common congenital heart defects are ventricular septal defect (VSD), atrial septal defects (ASD), transposition of greater vessels (TGV), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) [2]. The prevalence of CHDs varies globally [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Congenital heart defects are classified clinically, as cyanotic and acyanotic [16].…”

Efficacy of pre-participation cardiac evaluation recommendations among athletes participating in World Athletics Championships

“…Africa is believed to have one of the highest prevalences of CVDs among the young, and recent studies have suggested that the burden of CVDs is underestimated in several regions mainly due to the poor outcome of children with such diseases or to the lack of infrastuctures. 7 For instance, streptococcal infections, the main cause of rheumatic heart disease (RHD), are mainly found in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and in the Pacific region. 8 Given the fact that a considerable number of the athletes participating at the IAAF WCH originate from LMICs, further knowledge about athletes' cardiovascular health and cardiac evaluation history is needed.…”