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Subject: search.filters.subject.Cholesterol

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    Hypercholesterolemia : the role of homoeopathy
    (1996) Hillermann, Roland; Till, Hettie
    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Taraxacum 5CH in the treatment of hypercholesterolemic patients, in terms of measuring the extent of change in serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LOL) and high density lipoprotein levels (HOL). The expected result was a resultant lowering of bath the TC and LOL levels, as well as an increase of the HOL levels. Convenience sampling was employed to draw patients from Technikon Natal, a Durban company and the general public from the greater Durban area. Only persons with raised TC and LOL levels were accepted into the trial. Of these one half constituted the control group and received only placebo, the remaining half made up the trial group and were treated with Taraxacum 5CH. The remedies were prepared and dispensed by a qualified pharmacist. Venous blood was obtained from all subjects before the trial and monthly, for three consecutive months, during the trial. A reputable pathology laboratory was employed to obtain lipogram studies of all blood samples. The participants were asked not to change their then present diets or lifestyles. Performing paired T-tests on the initial versus the final values of the control group revealed no statistically significant changes in the TC, LOL and HOL levels, whereas in the trial group a significant reduction was computed for the TC and LOL levels, as well as an insignificant increase of the HOL levels. Unpaired T-tests showed that the trial and control groups were not significantly different at the beginning ot the trial, but were found to have changed to become significantly different by the end of the trial with respects to TC and LOL levels. The HOL levels were dissimilar initially, but were shown to be significantly similar at the end of the trial.
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    Homoeopathy in hypercholesterolaemia
    (1994) Joseph, Jeanine Dorothy; Anderson, Hettie
    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Chelidonium 3X in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia in terms of changes in the blood cholesterol levels in order to determine the extent to which homoeopathic medicine could be used in the treatment of this condition. It was hoped that there would be a drop i n the total cholesterol levels and an increase in the ratio of high density / low density lipoprotein. Participants in the trial were drawn from the staff at Technikon Natal, convenience sampling being used. For acceptance into the trial, 'participants had to have an elevated total cholesterol level together with a raised low density lipoprotein value according to age. Drawing of blood was performed following an overnight fast. Of those participants meeting the above criteTicrthirty were chosen to participate in the trial. Half constituted the control and were given a placebo and the other half made up the experimental group and were treated with Chelidonium 3X. This was a double blind study with the medicine being dispensed on a random basis by a qualified pharmacist. After commencement of the trial venous blood was collected once a month for three consecutive months from both the control and experimental groups. The participants were asked to make no changes to their normal lifestyle. Statistical analysis of the results using paired T-tests revealed no statistical difference between the initial and final total cholesterol or ratio reading of the control group. However, with the experimental group a statistical difference was noted between both the initial and final total cholesterol reading
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    Comparative assessment of absolute cardiovascular disease risk characterization from non-laboratory- based risk assessment in South African populations
    (BioMed Central, 2013-07-24) Gaziano, Thomas A.; Pandya, Ankur; Steyn, Krisela; Levitt, Naomi; Mollentze, Willie; Joubert, Gina; Walsh, Corinna M; Motala, Ayesha A.; Kruger, Annamarie; Schutte, Aletta E.; Naidoo, Datshana Prakash; Prakaschandra, Dorcas Rosaley; Laubscher, Ria
    Background All rigorous primary cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention guidelines recommend absolute CVD risk scores to identify high- and low-risk patients, but laboratory testing can be impractical in low- and middle-income countries. The purpose of this study was to compare the ranking performance of a simple, non-laboratory-based risk score to laboratory-based scores in various South African populations. Methods We calculated and compared 10-year CVD (or coronary heart disease (CHD)) risk for 14,772 adults from thirteen cross-sectional South African populations (data collected from 1987 to 2009). Risk characterization performance for the non-laboratory-based score was assessed by comparing rankings of risk with six laboratory-based scores (three versions of Framingham risk, SCORE for high- and low-risk countries, and CUORE) using Spearman rank correlation and percent of population equivalently characterized as ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk. Total 10-year non-laboratory-based risk of CVD death was also calculated for a representative cross-section from the 1998 South African Demographic Health Survey (DHS, n = 9,379) to estimate the national burden of CVD mortality risk. Results Spearman correlation coefficients for the non-laboratory-based score with the laboratory-based scores ranged from 0.88 to 0.986. Using conventional thresholds for CVD risk (10% to 20% 10-year CVD risk), 90% to 92% of men and 94% to 97% of women were equivalently characterized as ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk using the non-laboratory-based and Framingham (2008) CVD risk score. These results were robust across the six risk scores evaluated and the thirteen cross-sectional datasets, with few exceptions (lower agreement between the non-laboratory-based and Framingham (1991) CHD risk scores). Approximately 18% of adults in the DHS population were characterized as ‘high CVD risk’ (10-year CVD death risk >20%) using the non-laboratory-based score. Conclusions We found a high level of correlation between a simple, non-laboratory-based CVD risk score and commonly-used laboratory-based risk scores. The burden of CVD mortality risk was high for men and women in South Africa. The policy and clinical implications are that fast, low-cost screening tools can lead to similar risk assessment results compared to time- and resource-intensive approaches. Until setting-specific cohort studies can derive and validate country-specific risk scores, non-laboratory-based CVD risk assessment could be an effective and efficient primary CVD screening approach in South Africa.