CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 25, No 4, July/August 2014
176
AFRICA
Rationale and design of the Pan-African Sudden Cardiac
Death survey: the Pan-African SCD study
Aimé Bonny, Marcus Ngantcha, Sylvie Ndongo Amougou, Adama Kane, Sonia Marrakchi, Emmy Okello,
Georges Taty, Abdulrrazzak Gehani, Mamadou Diakite, Mohammed A Talle, Pier D Lambiase,
Martin Houenassi, Ashley Chin, Harun Otieno, Gloria Temu, Isaac Koffi Owusu, Kamilu M Karaye,
Abdalla AM Awad, Bo Gregers Winkel, Silvia G Priori; on behalf of the Pan-African Society of Cardiology
(PASCAR) Task Force on Sudden Cardiac Death
Abstract
Background:
The estimated rate of sudden cardiac death
(SCD) in Western countries ranges from 300 000 to 400 000
annually, which represents 0.36 to 1.28 per 1 000 inhabitants
in Europe and the United States. The burden of SCD in
Africa is unknown. Our aim is to assess the epidemiology of
SCD in Africa.
Methods:
The Pan-Africa SCD study is a prospective, multi-
centre, community-based registry monitoring all cases of
cardiac arrest occurring in victims over 15 years old. We will
use the definition of SCD as ‘witnessed natural death
occurring within one hour of the onset of symptoms’ or
‘unwitnessed natural death within 24 hours of the onset of
symptoms’. After appro val from institutional boards, we
will record demographic, clinical, electrocardiographic and
biological variables of SCD victims (including survivors of
cardiac arrest) in several African cities. All deaths occurring in
residents of districts of interest will be checked for past medi-
cal history, circumstances of death, and autopsy report (if
possible). We will also analyse the employment of resuscita-
Teaching Hospital Laquintinie, University of Douala,
Douala, Cameroon
Aimé Bonny, MD,
Service de Cardiologie, Centre Hospitalier Victor Provo,
Roubaix, France
Aimé Bonny, MD
Biostatistics, Statprest, Paris, France
Marcus Ngantcha, MD
Service de Réanimation Médicale, Centre Hospitalier,
Universitaire de Yaoundé, Cameroon
Sylvie Ndongo Amougou, MD
Service de Cardiologie, Centre Hospitalier le Dantec,
Dakar, Senegal
Adama Kane, MD
Service de Cardiologie, Hopital Abderrrahmen Mami
Ariana, Tunis, Tunisia
Sonia Marrakchi, MD
Department of Internal Medicine, Mulago Hospital,
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Emmy Okello, MD
Service de Médecine Interne, Centre Hospitalier Général
de Port-Gentil, Gabon
Georges Taty, MD
Heart Hospital, HMC, Tripoli, Libya
Abdulrrazzak Gehani, MD
Service de Cardiologie, Hôpital Général de Bamako, Mali
Mamadou Diakite, MD
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Maiduguri
Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
Mohammed A Talle, MD
Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University College
London, UK
Pier D Lambiase, MD
Service de Cardiologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire
Abomey Calavi de Cotonou, Benin
Martin Houenassi, MD
Department of Cardiology, UCT Private Academic Hospital,
Cape Town, South Africa
Ashley Chin, MD
Department of Cardiology, Aga Khan University Hospital,
Nairobi, Kenya
Harun Otieno, MD
Department of Cardiology, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical
Centre, Tanzania
Gloria Temu, MD
Department of Cardiology, University Teaching Hospital of
Accra, Ghana
Isaac Koffi Owusu, MD
Department of Cardiology, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital,
Kano, Nigeria
Kamilu M Karaye, MD
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of
Khartoum, Sudan
Abdalla AM Awad, MD
Department of Cardiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen,
Denmark
Bo Gregers Winkel, MD
Department of Molecular Genetics, Fondazione Salvatore
Maugeri, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy
Silvia G Priori, MD
Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy
Silvia G Priori, MD
