Rationale and design of the Pan African Pulmonary hypertension Cohort (PAPUCO) study: implementing a contemporary registry on pulmonary hypertension in Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating, progressive disease with increasingly debilitating symptoms and usually shortened overall life expectancy due to a narrowing of the pulmonary vasculature and consecutive right heart failure. Little is known about PH in Africa, but limited reports suggest that PH is more prevalent in Africa compared with developed countries due to the high prevalence of risk factors in the region.

Methods and analysis

A multinational multicentre registry-type cohort study was established and tailored to resource-constraint settings to describe disease presentation, disease severity and aetiologies of PH, comorbidities, diagnostic and therapeutic management, and the natural course of PH in Africa. PH will be diagnosed by specialist car

SUBMITTER: Thienemann F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4202005 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature