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VOLUME 13 NUMBER 1 • JULY 2016

3

SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE

EDITORIAL

Correspondence to: FA Mahomed

Head of Clinical Unit: Endocrinology, Department

of Internal Medicine, University of the Free State,

Bloemfontein

e-mail:

MahomedFA@ufs.ac.za

S Afr J Diabetes Vasc Dis

2016;

13

: 3

From the Editor’s Desk

T

his issue looks at important aspects of the epidemiology of

diabetes in Africa and India. Studies by Akintunde

et al

. from

Nigeria (page 13), Pessinaba

et al

. from Senegal (page 27),

Mondo

et al

. from Uganda (page 31) and Das

et al

. from West

Bengal (page 37) all show a striking similarity in the high prevalence

of hypertension, the metabolic syndrome and other cardiovascular

risk factors in patients in these countries. This represents a

significant health risk for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in

their populations, and specific programmes for the management

and prevention of non-communicable diseases in these countries

need to be urgently addressed.

Heart failure is a significant complication of many non-

communicable diseases. Ogah

et al

. from Nigeria (page 20) report on

data from the Abeokuta Heart Failure registry that looked at short-

term outcomes after admission for heart failure. They found that this

cohort in Nigeria differed from those in high-income countries. The

patients were relatively younger and presented with non-ischaemic

risk factors for heart failure, such as hypertensive heart disease. They

concluded that region-specific strategies are required to improve

health outcomes in low-income countries such as Nigeria.

Maries and Manitiu from Romania (page 40) review B-type

natriuretic peptide (BNP) and the N-terminal fragment (NT-pro-

BNP) and their various uses, including the diagnosis of congestive

heart failure and the distinction between patients with dyspnoea

of cardiac or pulmonary origin. Reference values for the tests

differ depending on the patients on whom they are used and

the manufacturer, therefore determination of reference values

represents a challenge.

Veigne and co-workers carried out an interesting study in

Cameroon on the effect of different altitudes from 13–1 600

metres above sea level, on HbA

1c

measurements from point-of-

care analysers in diabetic patients. They found little difference

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but recommend further calibration studies against gold-standard

measures.

Hapunda and colleagues assessed the validity of a Zambian

version of the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale to determine

levels of diabetes-specific emotional distress in Zambian people with

diabetes. They found it to be reliable and valid to assess distress

but some items needed to be simplified or clarified to enhance

comprehensibility. They also found the Zambian participants

had high levels of diabetes-specific distress, which needs to be

addressed.

The patient leaflets look at women’s andmen’s specific challenges

with regard to diabetes, from depression to gestational diabetes in

women, and erectile dysfunction as an early warning of possible

health problems in men. The need for being proactive with one’s

health is emphasised.