congestive heart failure in children: a survey of 114 patients

during a period of four years between june, is, 1988 to june, is, 1992 one hundred and fourteen patients with congestive heart failure (chf) were admitted to the pediatric department of taleghani general hospital. during the above period, 192 patients with heart disease were hospitalized at this department and chf was the cause of admission in 59.4% of them. congenital heart disease (cho) was the most common cause (65 cases, 57%) of heart failure in this group, followed by rheumatic heart disease (rho) (26 cases, 23%) and cardiomyopathy (cm) (23 cases, 20%). sixty-five patients (57%) were male and forty-nine (43%) were female (m/f = 1.3/ i). the youngest patient was 2 days old while the oldest one had 13 years. the mean age of the patients was 4.5 years. forty-nine (43%) were under one year of age and the majority (44/49, 90%) suffered from cho. all the children with rho were between 6 to 13 years of age. 14 patients (12%) died. cho was the most common cause of death. the variations in the pattern of heart failure according to different age groups in this study are compatible with those in other developing countries.