A collaborative effort across Africa to investigate risk factors and outcomes of premature acute coronary syndrome: Protocol for the EAS Lipid Registry of Africa (LIPRA)

Data on acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is lacking in Africa where cases of premature ACS seem to be on the rise. Africa would benefit from an epidemiological assessment of premature ACS to determine its risk factors and management in this demographic to inform guidelines and practice. The European Atherosclerosis Society recognised this urgency and formed a growing network across 11 African countries to create the Lipid Registry of Africa (EAS-LIPRA). This article is based on the EAS-LIPRA protocol and presents the aims, concept and methodological considerations, and the operations and collaborative governance structure of this project. EAS-LIPRA aims to report risk factors and outcomes of premature ACS in Africa to further understand its prevalence and management via collating and pooling multinational prospective data on premature ACS across multiple sites in Africa into a standardised registry. Data will be stratified into subgroups based on country-level income as defined by the World Bank, and within country residence of urban versus rural areas. Valid statistical procedures will be employed to compare and observe trends in the pooled data based on demographics, clinical and laboratory variables, and disparities in its management. Being the first multinational lipid registry in Africa, it is envisaged that the network will expand to other African countries and sites yet to participate, facilitate other epidemiological studies in preventive cardiology, and set a precedent for other developing countries and regions.