Abuja Heart Study: Prospective Epidemiological Investigation of Cardiovascular Diseases (AHS)

• determine the roles of sociocultural factors, such as poverty,gender, literacy, stress in the development of CVD and associated risk factors [ Time Frame: 5 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• familial or hereditary factors [ Time Frame: 10 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to fight the battle of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But given all the international efforts geared to curing and containing these diseases, and with progress made in various countries, Sub-Saharan Africa is now heading into another type of epidemic, cardiovascular disease (CVD). Predicted statistics have shown that cardiovascular diseases will become the leading cause of death in developing countries within the next 10 to 15 years, however relatively few population-based studies have examined CVD in Africa .

Although control of communicable ,childhood ,and maternal diseases has benefited from an international efforts on clinical care, policy and implementation,such large scale effort are lacking for CVD and have left both policymakers and individuals with decisions on health issues without adequate information.

Prior to the commencement of the study,series of community meetings and focus groups discussions will be held to identify ways to enhance participation. An extensive examination will include a series of questionnaires dealing with lifestyle habits, medical history, social and cultural factors, physical assessments which include height, weight,central blood pressure assessment of arterial stiffness and autonomic function and laboratory measurements for cholesterol, other lipids, glucose ,c-reactive protein among others.