Research output on cardiovascular disease in

the Arab worldA scoping review from Seven Arab countries

Rula Ghandour Abdullatif Husseini Niveen Abu Rmeileh

Institute of Community and Public Health

Birzeit University Palestine

January 20, 20171

Background

Cardiovascular disease is the number one leading cause of

death globally as well as in the EMRO region including many

Arab countries; this in addition to the substantial morbidity

effects.

Proportionate mortality for CVDs in the study countries, The global burden of

disease 2015

Country Proportionate

mortalityLebanon 43%Kuwait 39%

Palestine 39%Iraq 36%

Morocco 32%Sudan 31%

Bahrain 27%

Introduction

Good quality scientific evidence is an

effective tool to improve population’s health

by feeding in the decision making process.

Assessing and revising the available

evidence on this disease is crucial for the

health status improvement.

January 20, 20173

Objective

The objective of this study is to assess the temporal trends of scientific publications related to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in seven Arab countries:

Palestine, Sudan, Morocco, Iraq,Lebanon, Bahrain and Kuwait.

January 20, 20174

Methods

Scoping review on NCDs

Sub-analysis on CVD publications:

Coronary artery disease , myocardial infarction , angina pectoris, peripheral vascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, Stroke, cerebrovascular accident, ischemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke , Transient ischemic attack

Mainly descriptive: trends over time, types of publications, impact factor, risk factors…

Findings

2000 2013497 CVD publications in the 7 Arab courtiers

LMIC

Palestine

27

6.8

Morocco

76

2.3

Sudan

16

0.5

UMIC

Lebanon

180

41.0

Iraq

35

1.1

HIC

Kuwait

135

51.6

Bahrain

28

27.0

#

PPmP

#: number of publications PPmP: publication per million population

Average number of publications per

million population (PPmP) by general

income categories

LMIC

1.7

UMIC

6.1

HIC

44.8

January 20, 20177

January 20, 20178

Number and impact factor (IF) for CVD

publications by year in seven Arab countries

14

18 21

14 2328

31

3637

62

37

61

48

67

4.9

2.12.3

2.6

1.9

2.4 2.3 2.22.5

2.9

1.7 1.6 1.81.5

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Ave

rage

Imp

act

fact

or

pe

r ye

ar

Nu

mb

er

of

Pu

blic

atio

ins

Year of publication

Number of publications IF

Impact factor for the CVD publications in the

seven Arab countries 2000-2013

January 20, 20179

IF <136%

IF 1-346%

IF > 318%

Median Impact Factor (IQR) by country

CVD Publications in Seven Arab countries (2000-2013)

0.000

0.500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

3.000

Type of study

January 20, 201711

Observational studies

62%

Experimental studies

19%

Systematic review / Meta-

analysis2%

Qualitative1%

Other16%

Other include literature review, commentary, letter to editor

Percentage of publications by type of study (2000-2013) and country N=497

Palestine

Sudan Morocco Iraq Lebanon Bahrain Kuwait Total

Ohter 16% 38% 13% 9% 20% 7% 14% 16%

Qualitative 4% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 1% 1%

Systematic review / Meta-analysis 0% 0% 3% 3% 2% 14% 1% 2%

Experimental studies 0% 6% 18% 14% 18% 11% 28% 19%

Observational studies 80% 56% 66% 74% 59% 68% 56% 62%

Pe

rce

nt

ou

t o

f co

un

try

Study Setting

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Palestine Sudan Morocco Iraq Lebanon Bahrain Kuwait Total

Other: letters to editors, commentaries, and sometimes reviews, Special interest group, … Hospital and population base

Laboratory based (mostly medical studies)

Population based (surveys and correlational studies mostly)

Hospital based

CVD risk factors addressed in relevant publications

2000-2013

DM

HTN

Cholestrol

Tobacco

Obesity

Genetics

SDH

Family history

Nutrition

Physical inactivity

Alcohol and substance abuse

Metabolic syndrome

Salt and Soduim Intake

33%

27%

20%

20%

16%

15%

14%

7%

5%

4%

2%

1%

1%

Main messages

Small number of publications despite the high

burden of the disease

Number of publications were increasing overtime.

IF of publishing journals was decreasing overtime

Mostly observational studies

Mostly hospital based studies

Less emphasis was given to the risk factors of the a

multi-factorial preventable disease.

There are cross country variations

Thank You