Classical cardiovascular risk factors and all-cause mortality in rural Cameroon

Background: High levels of cardiovascular risk factors have been reported in rural Africa. How these translate into major outcomes remain unknown. Aim: To assess the association between selected risk factors and all-cause mortality in rural Cameroon. Design: Nine-years prospective cohort study. Methods: The 9-years vital status was ascertained for 350 participants screened for cardiovascular risk factors in Bafut, Cameroon in 1998. Cox models were used to compute the hazard ratio (HR) and 95 confidence interval (CI) for selected risk factors. Results: Vital status was available for all participants, except 22 (6.3) who were excluded from analyses. At baseline, compared with women, men had significantly higher waist-to-hip ratio, were more likely to be ex- or current smokers and alcohol consumers (all P 0.008). The total duration of follow-up was 2771 person-years. This duration was longer for women (P 0.04). During follow-up 47 deaths were recorded, 31 (66) in men (P 0.023). In multivariate Cox analyses, age, male gender, current smoking, systolic blood pressure and fasting capillary glucose were significant predictors of total mortality during follow-up. Conclusions: Gender, smoking, fasting capillary glucose, blood pressures and age are potential determinants of overall death in rural Cameroon. More elaborated cohort studies are needed to refine these conclusions and monitor the progression of these populations through epidemiological transition stages.