A philosophical perspective on pulmonary hypertension : what is 'rare'?
Date
2020-05-27
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ASSAf
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a fatal disease and public health concern.1 The global prevalence of PH is
not known1 and a major focus is to establish registries in order to determine the actual prevalence of PH per
country2. PH prevalence is largely subject to aetiology, geographical region and the tools used to make a diagnosis
(e.g. echocardiography or right heart catheterisation).1 In Africa, the prevalence of PH that is secondary to HIV differs
from its prevalence that is secondary to rheumatic heart disease or schistosomiasis. For example, PH prevalence
in HIV is approximately 14%3, while the prevalence can be 1% or 10% in schistosomiasis4. In comparison with
a world population of some eight billion people, the relatively ‘low’ number of people who have been diagnosed
with or who have succumbed to PH has triggered the assumption that it is a rare disease, which is how it is also
reported throughout the literature.
Description
CITATION: Maarman, G. J. 2020. A philosophical perspective on pulmonary hypertension : what is 'rare'? South African Journal of Science, 116(5/6):#7939, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/7939.
The original publication is available at https://www.sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at https://www.sajs.co.za
Keywords
Pulmonary hypertension, HIV-infected persons, Diseases -- Mortality, Comorbidity
Citation
Maarman, G. J. 2020. A philosophical perspective on pulmonary hypertension : what is 'rare'? South African Journal of Science, 116(5/6):#7939, doi:10.17159/sajs.2020/7939.