A systematic overview of prospective cohort studies of cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa: Reply to Bovet et al., and Gao et al.

摘要

Two groups of investigators have recently provided evidence supporting the need for elaborated longitudinal studies to inform successful health service and policy solutions to the growing problem of chronic and cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).1'3 In one of those studies, published in the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa,'' our group reached such a conclusion on the basis of a systematic review of relevant existing cohort studies conducted in SSA, published and indexed to MEDLINE from 1966 to October 2009.'