Quantification of cardiovascular disease research in West Africa

The purpose of this paper is to provide a logical rationale on the need to increase country-specific research on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in West Africa. Using health data from the World Health Organization’s Health Statistics and Health Information Systems, the burden of cardiovascular diseases among West African countries was described. PubMed’s database and search tools were used with specific key words, to retrieve articles referencing cardiovascular disease for the study period 1992 to 2011. The total number of publications from each West African country was obtained and the percentage of each country’s contribution was estimated. An annual trend of research productivity was then plotted for each country and also for the region. The major contributors to CVD research in West Africa were Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal. An overall trend of increasing CVD research output was evident during the study period, driven mainly by research from Nigeria. This cross-sectional study revealed the need to increase country-specific research on CVD in West Africa. Conducting CVD research provides evidence of the epidemiology, mechanisms, and determinants of CVDs. This study is important as it may serve as a basis for developing regionally tailored policies and interventions for West Africa.