Author(s)

Sylvain Raoul Simeni Njonnou¹, Chris Nadège Nganou-Ngnindjo^1,2, Bâ Hamadou^1,2, Bonaventure Jemea^3,4, Ahmadou Musa Jingi¹, Jerome Boombhi^1,5, Aimée Tiodoung Timnou¹, Marie-Josiane Ntsama Essomba^1,2, Lydienne Alida Tonye¹, Aicha Mefire Yap¹, Murielle Florence Helles Lema¹, Liliane Mfeukeu-Kuate^1,2, Sylvie Ndongo Amougou^1,4, Samuel Kingue^1,5

¹Department of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Ya-oundé, Cameroon.
²Yaounde Central Hospital, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
³Department of Surgery and Specialties, FMSB, University of Yaounde I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
⁴Yaounde University Teaching Hospital, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
⁵Yaounde General Hospital, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Background: Venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) is one of the main causes of cardiovascular death and a public health problem worldwide. It is one of the most complications in admitted patients, particularly inlow-income settings. The epidemiological data on VTE are still lacking. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study in three hospitals in Yaoundé. We retrospectively reviewed records of patients admitted for VTE from January 2013 to December 2017. We collected data on socio-demography, clinical presentation, venous Doppler/pulmonary CT scan, and outcome. Results: We included 93 patients (43 males) with VTE. Their mean age was 53.3 ± 16.6 years. There were 46 (49.5%) cases of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), 36 (38.7%) cases of Pulmonary Embolism (PE), and 11 (11.8%) cases of PE associated with DVT. The main risk factors were obesity/overweight (58.1%), immobility (43%), HIV infection (22.6%), prior admission (22.6%), and long trip (19.4%). The most frequent clinical presentation for PE was dyspnea (100%), tachypnea (87.2%), and chest pain (70.2%). For DVT, limb pain (93%), calf stiffness (86%), limb volume > 3 cm (82.4%) were the most common presentation. There were 9 (9.7%) in-hospital deaths. Mean hospital stay was 20.7 ± 30.8 days. Conclusion:VTE is underdiagnosed in our setting. Obesity and immobility were the main risk factors. Dyspnea and tachypnea were the main clinical presentation for PE whereas limb pain and calf stiffness were the main symptoms for DVT. In-hospital mortality is still high.

Venous Thromboembolic Disease, Epidemiology, Yaounde, Sub-Saharan Africa

Simeni Njonnou, S.R., Nganou-Ngnindjo, C.N., Hamadou, B., Jemea, B., Jingi, A.M., Boombhi, J., Tiodoung Timnou, A., Ntsama Essomba, M.-J., Tonye, L.A., Mefire Yap, A., Helles Lema, M.F., Mfeukeu-Kuate, L., Ndongo Amougou, S. and Kingue, S. (2019) Epidemiology of Venous Thrombo-Embolic Disease in Yaounde: A Cross-Sectional Study in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases, 9, 360-369. doi: 10.4236/wjcd.2019.95032.