Current Status of Precision Medicine Practices for Cardiovascular Diseases in Africa
摘要
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) epidemiological declaration, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Indeed, more people die each year from CVDs than from any other disease. The incidence of CVDs in Africa is on the rise, underscored by a steady increase in CVD risk factors and comorbidities such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis, and parasitic infections such as schistosomiasis. In addition to drug uses, lifestyle modifications are commonly recommended to treat CVD, such as managing the high cholesterol to reduce overall CVD complications. CVDs have a complex aetiology, and race appears to play a role in determining warfarin dose requirements, since African Americans and Asians generally need greater and lower doses of the drug, respectively, than Caucasians to achieve the same level of anticoagulation. The main goal of the present chapter is to explore precision medicine experiences by gathering existing practices in Africa and among African populations. In this regard, we assess the impact of involved genes, genomic variations, lifestyle factors, and used drugs in the treatment of CVDs and evaluate the best pathways for handling such diseases. For this, we conducted a literature search in PubMed and two specialised databases known as relevant resources in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, namely, PharmGKB and DisGENET, using the keywords CVDs, cardiovascular diseases, precision medicine, pharmacogenetics, African population, lifestyle, genomic variations, genes, variants, mutations, drugs, and treatment, and identified the relevant peer-reviewed articles.