Key result
A moderate to high 10-year risk of a fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event was found in 10.4% of adults over 40 in rural Northern Ghana, driven by a high prevalence of hypertension.
Why the study?
Ghana is experiencing rising CVD mortality, with poor rural communities suffering greater complications and premature deaths, warranting evaluation of CVD risk factors and risk in the Northern Region.
Cross-Sectional (n=536)
Yes
This study highlights a high prevalence of hypertension and moderate-to-high 10-year cardiovascular risk in rural Northern Ghana, emphasizing the need for decentralized primary care and task shifting to manage CVD risk factors.
Suggests need for rural Ghana CVD screening; leaves open prospective validation of risk and interventions.
Ghana is experiencing an increase in cardiovascular (CVD) -related mortality with poor rural communities suffering greater complications and premature deaths. The point of this exploratory research is to evaluate the prevalence of CVD risk factors and to calculate the cardiovascular risk among adults aged > 40 years in Ghana’s Northern Region. A cross-sectional study was performed with 536 subjects. A pre-tested questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and standardized WHO/ISH risk prediction charts assessed for 10-year risk of a fatal or non-fatal major cardiovascular event according to age, sex, blood pressure, smoking status, and diabetes mellitus status. Low, moderate and high CVD prevalence risk in females was 88.4%, 7.1%, and 4.5% while in males the prevalence was 91.3%, 5.8%, and 2.9%, respectively. Hypertension was noted as a clinically significant risk factor with females at 37.3% versus males at 32%. The 10-year risk of a fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event was statistically significant for females according to age group. A moderate to high CVD risk of a fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event was found in 10.4% of subjects. Notable CVD risk factors included a high prevalence of hypertension. Decentralizing care to local village healthcare facilities is one way to tackle cardiovascular risk reduction. Task shifting of primary care duties from physicians to nurses in terms of cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment and management of uncomplicated CV risk factors is a potential solution to the acute shortage of trained health staffs for the control and prevention of CVD in Northern Ghana.
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Skerratt et al. (2021) conducted a cross-sectional in Cardiovascular risk (n=536). WHO/ISH risk prediction charts assessment was evaluated on Moderate to high 10-year risk of a fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event. A moderate to high 10-year risk of a fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular event was found in 10.4% of adults over 40 in rural Northern Ghana, driven by a high prevalence of hypertension.
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