Diabetes knowledge and associated factors in adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

BACKGROUND: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in youth is becoming a public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Burkina Faso. However, little is known about the level of knowledge of these patients on T1D. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of diabetes in adolescents and young adults about the disease, and identify the factors associated in Burkina Faso. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to June 2020 among youth with T1D, aged 10 to 30 years, and regularly followed in the internal medicine department of Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Data were collected using the French AJD (Aide aux Jeunes Diabétiques) validated diabetes knowledge and skills (DKS) questionnaire designed to test participants' accuracy in knowledge about six different themes of T1D, as generalities of diabetes, hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, management of insulin treatment, and self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG). DKS level was determined by calculating the scores, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to explore factors influencing DKS scores. This level was classified as insufficient or low ≤ 25/50, regular 26-39/50, and adequate or good ≥ 40/50. RESULTS: Sixty-three participants with a mean age of 19.05 years and a sex ratio (W/M) of 1.17 were included in our study. The mean HbA1c level was 9.79%, and 43 (68.23%) patients had an insufficient DKS level. The mean global DKS score of correct answers was 23.63/50. The percentage of correct answers was respectively 50% for the item "generalities of diabetes", 32.4% for the item "hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia", 67.72% for the item "diet", 37.34% for the item "management of insulin treatment" and 44.97% for the item "SMBG". In univariate analysis, a better patient DKS level was associated with university education and long duration of diabetes care follow-up (> 10 years, p < 0.05). Only increasing age remain associated with a better knowledge score (p < 0.05) in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: This study is an important first step in identifying areas for intervention efforts about therapeutic education for youth with type I diabetes in Burkina Faso.

Plaidoyer pour un renforcement du système de pharmacovigilance au Burkina Faso.

Large-scale deployment of new medicines has been observed over the last two decades in many Sub-Saharan Africa countries faced with major public health issues such as malaria and HIV/AIDS. However, some of these medicines may be responsible for varying degrees of toxicity, with adverse drug reactions leading to decreased compliance or even discontinuation of treatment. Pharmacovigilance systems therefore had to be set up in these countries, such as in Burkina Faso, West Africa, which initiated the organization of pharmacovigilance activities in 2008. Despite this progress, the systems in place have not yet achieved a sufficient level of performance to deal with drug-related health issues, highlighting the need for further actions. Pharmacovigilance in Burkina Faso can be strengthened at multiple levels: pre-service and in-service training of health workers; the establishment of active surveillance based on sentinel sites; informing the public and raising awareness; and strengthening national coordination.

[Evaluation of application of national guidelines for the management of malaria in Bobo-Dioulasso university hospital]. / Évaluation de l’application des directives nationales de prise en charge des cas de paludisme au CHU de Bobo-Dioulasso.

INTRODUCTION: To evaluate compliance with national guidelines concerning the diagnosis and treatment of malaria at Souro Sanou university hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study based on the medical records of patients hospitalised in the Medicine and Paediatrics departments in 2012. All cases labelled as "malaria" on admission and on discharge, for which the medical records were complete, were included in the study. RESULTS: Of the total of 1,722 cases collected, 1,674 cases (97.22%) were labelled as "severe malaria". The mean age of these patients was 2.65 years [95% CI: 2.41-2.90 years]; 87.63% of cases were under the age of 5 years. The sex-ratio was 1.22. The diagnosis complied with guidelines in 13.82% of cases. The rate of compliance with the diagnosis did not differ according to the severity of the disease (p=0.78), but differed according to age-group: 13.12% in subjects under the age of 5 years versus 18.78% in subjects over the age of 5 years (p=0.02). Cases labelled as "severe malaria" (SM comprised 1.47% of cases of "uncomplicated malaria" (UCM); inversely, 4.17% cases of SM were identified among cases labelled as UCM. Overall, 242 cases (14.05%) were confirmed cases of malaria versus 1,480 cases (85.95%) of presumed malaria. Treatment complied with guidelines in 57.49% of cases. The adequate treatment rate was higher for cases of SM (58.90% versus 8.33%, p<0.01) and in children under the age of 5 years (58.71% versus 48.30%, p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated poor compliance with clinical practice guidelines concerning the management of malaria in Bobo-Dioulasso university hospital. Identification of factors responsible for poor compliance with these guidelines may help to identify appropriate measures to improve compliance and contribute to control of malaria in the country.

The "Walking Estimated Limitation Stated by History" (WELSH) visual tool is applicable and accurate to determine walking capacity, even in people with low literacy level.

Determination of the self-reported walking capacity by interview or standardized questionnaire is important. However, the existing questionnaires require the patient to be able to read and write in a specific language. We recently proposed the WELSH (Walking Estimated Limitation Stated by History) tool to be administrable to illiterate people. The main objective was to assess the applicability of WELSH tool in the community and in a large group. We performed a prospective study in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso during June 2020. We recruited 630 interviewers among medical students. They were trained to administer the WELSH, and to conduct a 6-minute walk test. We performed a Pearson's "r" correlation between the WELSH and maximal walking distance (MWD). Of the 1723 participants available for the analysis, 757 (43.9%: 41.6-46.3) never went to school or attended only elementary school. The percentage of questionnaires with participant filling-in errors corrected by the investigator decreased with the decrease in educational level (p<0.001). The average WELSH score was 53 ± 22 and the average MWD was 383 ±142 meters. The Spearman correlation coefficient between the WELSH score and the MWD was r = 0.567 (p<0.001). Correlations ranged from 0.291 to 0.576 in males and females, (all p values < 0.05) and in different levels of education, with the highest coefficients found in illiterate people. The WELSH is feasible on the community by a wide variety of interviewers. It correlates with the MWD estimated by the 6-minutes' walk test even for people with little or no schooling.

Exercise-Induced Plasma Metabolomic Profiles in Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Aim: A better knowledge of the biological consequences in the blood of these exercise-induced ischemic events in lower extremity artery disease (LEAD) may improve the prospects of disease management. We explored the preminus postexercise metabolomic difference in 39 patients with LEAD referred for a treadmill oximetry test [transcutaneous oximetry (TcPO2)]. Methods: Ischemia was estimated through the sum of decrease from rest of oxygen pressure (DROPs) (limb TcPO2 changes minus chest TcPO2 changes) at buttocks, thighs, and calves regions. Targeted metabolomic analyses measuring 188 metabolites were performed on a few microliters blood samples taken at the earlobe at rest and 3 min after exercise. Results: Maximum walking distance (MWD) was 290 m (120-652 m) and ankle brachial index (ABI) was 0.67 ± 0.17. Supervised paired partial least squares discriminant analysis based on 23,345 models showed good predictive performance for test sets with a median area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve value of 0.99 and a p-value of 0.00049. The best discriminant metabolites contributing to the model included a subset of 71 (47%) of the 150 accurately measured metabolites in the plasma, comprising 3 acylcarnitines, 3 amino acids, 5 biogenic amines, 9 sphingomyelin, 7 lysophosphatidylcholines, and 44 phosphatidylcholines. In addition, 16 of these metabolites were found to correlate with one or more severity scores of the LEAD. Conclusion: Our results provide new insights into the biological changes that accompany exercise in LEAD and contribute to a better understanding of walking impairment pathophysiology in LEAD, highlighting new candidate biomarkers.

The walking estimated limitation stated by history (WELSH): a visual tool to self-reported walking impairment in a predominantly illiterate population.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is increasing in low-income countries. Various questionnaires to estimate walking capacity in patients are available in multiple languages but they are not suitable for illiterate patients. OBJECTIVE: The walking estimated limitation stated by history (WELSH) tool aims at rating individual walking disability using only drawings and four items. METHODS: A six-month prospective study was performed on new patients referred to the Department of Cardiology at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sourô Sanou in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. We administered the WELSH tool after a short oral presentation in the patient's language or dialect. Thereafter, patients performed a six-minute walking test in the hospital corridor under the supervision of a nurse who was blinded to the results of the WELSH score. We performed a step-by-step multilinear regression analysis to determine the factors predicting maximal walking distance (MWD). RESULTS: There were 40 female and 10 male patients in this study. Their ages ranged from 54.8 ± 10.7 years. Only 32% of the patients had attended primary school. Most patients were classified as stage I to III of the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification. The objective measurement of MWD during a six-minute walking test showed no association with the subjects' educational level, body mass index, NYHA stage or gender, but a significant correlation with the WELSH scores. The Spearman r-value for the WELSH score-to-MWD relationship was 0.605 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The WELSH tool is feasible and correlated with measured MWD in a population of predominantly illiterate patients.

[Electrocardiography coupled with transthoracic echocardiography at rest in the diagnosis of cardiac impairments in type 2 diabetics: lessons learned from a cross-sectional case series in Burkina Faso]. / Electrocardiographie couplé à l'échocardiographie transthoracique de repos dans le diagnostic des atteintes cardiaques chez le diabétique de type 2: les enseignements d'une série transversale au Burkina Faso.

Diabetes is a powerful independent cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of this study is to describe the electrocardiographic and echocardiographic abnormalities observed in patients with type 2 diabetes treated in the Department of Medicine at the University Hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of all patients with type 2 diabetes who gave consent from April to September 2014. We gathered clinical data from all the patients. They, moreover, underwent electrocardiography and doppler echocardiography. A total of 155 diabetics were investigated. The average age of patients was 55 years (IQR: 47-64) with a female predominance (sex ratio 0.5). Electrocardiographic abnormalities included repolarization abnormalities (31%) and atrial rhythm disorders (16,12%). Echocardiographic examination showed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in 20,64% of cases. Left atrium was dilated in 14.19% of cases, LV was dilated in 1.3% of cases. Abnormal left ventricular ejection fraction was detected in 3.87% of cases. Nosological entities included hypertensive heart disease in 27 cases (54%), ischemic heart disease in 19 cases (38%), dilated cardiomyopathy in 2 cases (4%) and diabetic cardiomyopathy in 2 cases (4%). Heart failure was detected in 22 cases (44%) independently from cardiac impairment. Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic abnormalities are frequent in type 2 diabetes population at the University Hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso. Improved cooperation between cardiologists and diabetologists as well as the establishment of adequate technical screening equipment would be prerequisite for better cardiac risk stratification in this population.

Features of Metabolic Syndrome and Its Associated Factors during Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

BACKGROUND: To study the features of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its associated factors during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), in Ouagadougou. METHODS: It was a cross-sectional study from March to November 2011 in Yalgado Ouédraogo hospital. A nonprobability sample of adults receiving antiretroviral drugs for at least 6 months was studied. Pregnancy, ascites, or abdominal mass were noninclusion criteria. Metabolic syndrome met the criteria of International Diabetes Federation 2005. RESULTS: The authors studied 300 patients. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 54 (18%) patients: mean age 44.8 ± 7.4 years, sex ratio 0.17, and mean duration of HAART 71 ± 30.9 months. The current anomaly of MS was low high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol in 37 patients (68.5%), and the common profile of MS was high waist circumference + low HDL-cholesterol + abnormal blood pressure (29.6%). Associated factors were protease inhibitor regimens (P = .000), female gender (P = .004), age > 42 years (P = .001), and lipodystrophy (P = .01). CONCLUSION: Cardiovascular risks should be regarded during the care of HIV-infected patients.