Atrial fibrillation among adults with heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa — prevalence, incidence and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Introduction Heart failure (HF) remains a major non-communicable disease in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) associated with high rates of readmission, mortality and loss of economic productivity as it affects mostly young and economically active adults. Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is a major determinant of mortality among patients with HF in SSA. Meanwhile, the use of anti-arrhythmic medications in the region remains unacceptably low. This review aims to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of AFib in adult patients with HF in SSA, and the all-cause mortality rate among patients with HF and AFib. Methods and analysis The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 statement was used to prepare this protocol. All eligible studies from database inception to December, 31 2018 in MEDLINE, Embase, Google Scholar, Web of science and Africa-specific databases (AFROLIB, African Index Medicus and African Journals Online) will be included without language restrictions. The process of study screening, selection, data extraction and assessment of risk of bias will be conducted independently by two reviewers. Disagreements will be arbitrated by a third reviewer. Study-specific estimates will be pooled using random-effect meta-analysis and summary measures obtained will be presented in forest plots. The χ 2 test on Cochrane’s Q and the I 2 statistics will be used to assess and quantify heterogeneity, respectively. The Egger’s test and funnel plots will be used to assess publication bias. Ethics and dissemination Since our review will be based on already published data, an ethical approval is not required. The findings of this review will be presented in conferences and peer-reviewed journals and shared on social media such as Researchgate, Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. PROSPERO registration number CRD42018087564.