Malan, L; Hamer, M; Frasure-Smith, N; Steyn, F; Malan, N; (2015) Cohort Profile: Sympathetic activity and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Africans (SABPA) Prospective Cohort Study. International Journal of Epidemiology , 44 (6) pp. 1814-1822. 10.1093/ije/dyu199.

Preview

Text Malan_Cohort_profile_Sympathetic_activity(SABPA)_finalVoR.pdf Download (810kB) | Preview

Abstract

Adapting to an over-demanding stressful urban environment may exhaust the psychophysiological resources to cope with these demands, and lead to sympathetic nervous system dysfunction. The evidence that an urban-dwelling lifestyle may be detrimental to the cardio-metabolic health of Africans motivated the design of the Sympathetic activity and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in African Prospective cohort study. We aimed to determine neural mechanistic pathways involved in emotional distress and vascular re-modelling. The baseline sample included 409 teachers representing a bi-ethnic sex cohort from South Africa. The study was conducted in 2008-9 and repeated after 3 year follow-up in 2011-12, with an 87.8% successful follow-up rate. Seasonal changes were avoided and extensive clinical assessments were performed in a well-controlled setting. Data collection included sociodemographics, lifestyle habits, psychosocial battery and genetic analysis, mental stress responses mimicking daily life stress (blood pressure, haemostatic, cardiometabolic, endothelial and stress hormones). Target organ damage was assessed in the brain, heart, kidney, blood vessels and retina. A unique highly phenotyped cohort is presented that can address the role of a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system and neural response pathways in contributing to the burden of cardiometabolic diseases in Africans.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONCSVXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item