Epidemiologie de l’hypertension artérielle et l’artériopathie oblitérante des membres inférieurs en population générale au Gabon

Hypertension and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are serious cardiovascular conditions that remain largely underdiagnosed and neglected in low-resource countries. This thesis aimed to estimate their prevalence in Gabon, identify associated risk factors, and generate epidemiological data to support evidence-based health decision making. Based on the studies included in our meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa was estimated to be 31%. In our population-based study of 1,502 participants, the observed prevalence rates were 34.4% for hypertension and 25.7% for PAD. Risk factors associated with hypertension included age, physical inactivity, obesity, and hypercholesterolemia, whereas PAD was significantly associated with physical inactivity, obesity, and hypertension. These findings underscore the urgent need to strengthen early screening campaigns at the primary care level, develop community-based health education programs, train healthcare professionals in vascular medicine, and adopt a multi-sectoral approach to address the social determinants of cardiovascular disease.