Abstract 4141524: Patient education in cardiovascular disease in Sub-Saharan Africa: the “Heart School” pilot project at IPMS/Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal

Background: Patient education is a core component of cardiac rehabilitation program and a part of the consensus statement for Cardiac rehabilitation delivery model for low resource settings. To our knowledge, there is little to no evidence regarding cardiac patient education implementation in sub–Saharan Africa, despite all the benefits and the urgent need for prevention in our settings. Purpose: To describe a patient education (PE) pilot project named “the Heart School” at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. Methods: In this cross sectional study were included 45 patients addressed for a patient education program. Patient education was delivered on weekly one-on-one sessions. Content of the educational program is shown in figure 1. Progression was assessed through self-evaluation scales with scores ranging from 0 to 10 administered before and after the program. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 18 with a level of significance set at p<0.05. Results:: Coronary artery disease was the primary indication in 87% of cases. At the end of the program, there was a significant improvement in knowledge of the disease (4.5 vs. 7.4; p <0.001) and its treatment (4.7 vs. 6.8; p <0.001), as well as good practices of physical activity (4.5 vs. 7; p <0.001), cardioprotective diet (4.2 vs. 7; p <0.001) and motivation to change lifestyle (5.6 vs. 7.8; p <0.001). Conclusion: Results from this pilot project were promising. However long-term follow up is necessary to better assess the sustainability of these results.