The burdens of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasing in Africa. T2D and CVD are the result of the complex interaction between inherited characteristics, lifestyle, and environmental factors. The epidemic of obesity is largely behind the exploding global incidence of T2D. However, not all obese individuals develop diabetes and positive family history is a powerful risk factor for diabetes and CVD. Recent implementations of high throughput genotyping and sequencing approaches have advanced our understanding of the genetic basis of diabetes and CVD by identifying several genomic loci that were not previously linked to the pathobiology of these diseases. However, African populations have not been adequately represented in these global genomic efforts. Here, we summarize the state of knowledge of the genetic epidemiology of T2D and CVD in Africa and highlight new genomic initiatives that promise to inform disease etiology, public health and clinical medicine in Africa.
Keywords: Africa; BP; Blood pressure; CAD; CVD; Cardiovascular diseases; Coronary artery disease; Epidemiology; GWAS; Genetics; Genome wide association study/studies; H3Africa; HDL-C; HUFS; HapMap; High density lipoprotein cholesterol; Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative; International project that aims to catalogue genetic variations in human beings; LD; LOD; Linkage disequilibrium a measure of the degree of correlation between loci on the same chromosome; Logarithm of the odds (LOD) is a statistical test commonly used in genetic linkage analysis. It compares the likelihood of obtaining the test data if two loci are indeed linked, to the likelihood of observing the same data purely by chance; MH-GRID; Minority Health Genomics and Translational Research Bio-Respository Database; NCD; NFH; Negative family history; Non-communicable diseases; OR; Odds ratio; PFH; PPARG; Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (gene); Positive family history; RAF; Risk allele frequency; SBP; SNP; SSA; Single nucleotide polymorphism; Sub Saharan Africa; Systolic blood pressure; T2D; TCF7L2; The Howard University Family Study; Transcription factor 7 like 2 (gene); Type 2 diabetes.
© 2013.