[Usefulness of patient education in antihypertensive treatment compliance in black Africans]. / Intérêt de l'éducation thérapeutique dans l'observance du traitement antihypertenseur chez le noir Africain.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the compliance for antihypertensive treatment and to assess the effects of patient education as tool to improve the compliance in hypertensive patients. METHODS: We include prospectively all hypertensive patients followed in consultation in the cardiology department of the national police hospital in Ivory Coast. Compliance evaluation was made with the Girerd scale. After evaluation, all the patients benefit from an individual and/or collective education sessions. All the patients were followed and reevaluated after 1 year. RESULTS: We included consecutive 1000 hypertensive patients (mean age 40±20 years, 80 % male). Among these, 50 % have been treated by a single therapy, 30 % by a fixed double therapy and 25 % by a fixed triple combined therapy. At the start of the study, a low compliance is observed in 60 % of patients, 25 % have minimal problems of observance and 15 % are compliant. In 70 %, the low compliance may be explained by misconceptions and is associated with a persistent hypertension. One year after the education program, the compliance is improved: non-compliant patients represent 5 % of the population, 10 % having slight problems on compliance and 85 % have a good compliance. CONCLUSION: In hypertension, the therapeutic compliance is poor, and associated with various factors. However, patient education improves the therapeutic compliance and this should be systematically proposed in antihypertensive management in Africa.

[Prevalence of obesity in school children in Ivory Coast]. / Prévalence de l'obésité en milieu scolaire en Côte d'Ivoire.

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization, an increased prevalence of hypertension in children is observed since several years due to an epidemic of childhood obesity. What is the extent of this epidemic in our African context? METHOD: We conducted a prospective descriptive study of pupils encountered in primary and secondary schools of the district of Abidjan from May 3 to June 1st 2010. A sample of 2038 pupils aged 6 to 18 years was randomly selected. Overweight in pupils was assessed by body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: There were 1182 girls (58%) and 856 boys (42%) whose average age was 12.7±3.6 years. The average weight was 42.6kg±16 (range 14.6 to 106.2kg), the average size was 1.48m±0.19 (range 1 to 1.95m). BMI was 17.2kg/m(2)±3.7 (range 14.6-35.7). The prevalence of obesity was of 5%. In addition, 4% of the students were overweight, 39% extremely thin, 25% thin and 27% normal. Obesity was more common in girls (6.8%) than boys (1.8%). The prevalence of obesity in hypertensives was 16%. BMI influenced the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in both sexes (P<0.001 in both cases). CONCLUSION: Childhood obesity exists in a country like the Ivory Coast where wealthness is far from generalized. A well-organized management of childhood obesity is necessary to avoid complications such as hypertension.