"We don't care because we are not sick": understanding youths perceptions of hypertension in urban South Africa.

Background: The growing burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is largely driven by hypertension, with risk factors including poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, psychological stress, and limited healthcare access. Early-life exposure to these risks contributes to adverse biological markers that increase hypertension susceptibility in adulthood. This study aimed to explore how young people in Soweto, Johannesburg, perceive hypertension risk, using the Health Belief Model (HBM) to understand their beliefs, attitudes, and barriers to prevention.

Examining the psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 among young urban South African women.

Background: Valid, reliable, and easy-to-administer scales are crucial for identifying mental health conditions, especially in LMICs where such scales tend not to be validated. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 in a sample of young women in Soweto, South Africa.

Methods: The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were administered to 6028 women aged 18-28 years old.

Comparing a range of potassium-enriched low sodium salt substitutes to common salt: Results of taste and visual tests in South African adults.

Background And Aims: Potassium-enriched low sodium salt substitutes (LSSS), which replace a proportion of sodium chloride (NaCl) with potassium chloride (KCl), have been shown to reduce blood pressure and offer a potential solution to address the high burden of hypertension in South Africa. However, it is unknown which proportions of KCl in LSSS are acceptable. We compared the taste and visual acceptability of various LSSS in South African adults.

Circulating cytokines and risk of developing hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Immune responses play a significant role in hypertension, though the importance of key inflammatory mediators remains to be defined. We used a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to study the associations between key cytokines and incident hypertension.

Methods: We performed a systematic search of Pubmed/Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), for peer-reviewed studies published up to August 2022.

Acceptability and feasibility of home-based hypertension and physical activity screening by community health workers in an under-resourced community in South Africa.

Background: Low-middle-income countries (LMICs) face increasing burdens from non-communicable disease (NCDs) requiring primary care task shifting to community health workers (CHWs). This study explored community members' perceptions of NCD-focused, CHW-led home visits in a historically disadvantaged township of South Africa.

Methods: Trained CHWs visited community member homes, performing blood pressure and physical activity (PA) screenings, followed by brief counselling and a satisfaction survey.

Obesity, hypertension, and tobacco use associated with left ventricular remodeling and hypertrophy in South African women: Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort.

Background: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a marker of increased risk in developing future life-threatening cardiovascular disease (CVD), however, it is unclear how CVD risk factors, such as obesity, blood pressure (BP), and tobacco use, are associated with left ventricular (LV) remodeling and LVH in urban African populations. Therefore, we aimed to identify the prevalence of LVH as well as the health factors associated with LV remodeling and LVH, within black South African adult women and their pre-pubescent children.

Methods: Black female adults (n = 123; age: 29-68 years) and their children (n = 64; age: 4-10; 55% female) were recruited from the Birth to Twenty Plus Cohort in Soweto, South Africa.

Reliability, usability and identified need for home-based cardiometabolic health self-assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Soweto, South Africa.

A major obstacle to tackling the growing burden of chronic disease in South Africa is lack of testing, particularly where individuals face multiple barriers to accessing health services. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate a cardiometabolic self-measurement kit, including assessment of blood pressure, obesity and urine analysis, amongst adults in Soweto, South Africa. Participants (N = 94) were recruited by researchers during community health screening and were provided with a home test kit including a tablet with self-measurement instructions.

Prevalence and socio-structural determinants of tobacco exposure in young women: Data from the Healthy Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) study in urban Soweto, South Africa.

Background: Tobacco use is a major public health risk worldwide, which has increased on the African continent over the past 40 years. Socio-economic factors impact tobacco use and exposure, but little is known about the scope of this problem in young women living in an urban, historically disadvantaged township in contemporary South Africa. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of tobacco use in a cohort of young South African women using serum cotinine, and to assess the association between a number of socio-economic and social factors and tobacco use in this setting.

Paediatric Hypertension in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and hypertension is rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries. This is evident not only in adults, but also in children. Recent estimates of prevalence in children are lacking, particularly in Africa.

Inflammation and hypertension development: A longitudinal analysis of the African-PREDICT study.

Background: The role of inflammation in the development of hypertension remains incompletely understood. While single inflammatory mediators have been shown to associate with changes in blood pressure (ΔBP), the role of clusters of inflammatory mediators has been less comprehensively explored. We therefore determined whether individual or clusters of inflammatory mediators from a large biomarker panel were associated with ΔBP over 4.

Inflammation and salt in young adults: the African-PREDICT study.

Purpose: Low-grade inflammation and a diet high in salt are both established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. High potassium (K) intake was found to counter increase in blood pressure due to high salt intake and may potentially also have protective anti-inflammatory effects. To better understand these interactions under normal physiological conditions, we investigated the relationships between 22 inflammatory mediators with 24-h urinary K in young healthy adults stratified by low, medium and high salt intake (salt tertiles).

Distinct inflammatory mediator patterns in young black and white adults: The African-predict study.

Objective: Inflammatory mediators have been implicated in the early stages of cardiovascular disease development, including hypertension. Since global reports reflect a higher hypertension prevalence in black than white populations, we hypothesise the involvement of specific inflammatory mediators. We therefore compared a detailed range of 22 inflammatory mediators between young black and white adults, and determined the relationship with blood pressure.

May Measurement Month 2017: an analysis of blood pressure screening results in South Africa-Sub-Saharan Africa.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programs worldwide. A surveillance study in 2016 in South Africa revealed that 45% of adults have hypertension and only 6-9% of men and women respectively had controlled BP on medication, highlighting the need for regular screening and awareness campaigns.

Dietary sodium intake and its relationship to adiposity in young black and white adults: The African-PREDICT study.

Obesity and salt intake are both established factors contributing to cardiovascular disease development. Recently, studies found a controversial positive relationship between dietary salt and obesity. Therefore, the authors investigated whether obesity-related measures are associated with 24-hour urinary sodium in a healthy biethnic population.