Pattern of heart failure in a Nigerian teaching hospital

BACKGROUND Congestive cardiac failure (CCF) has emerged as a major public health problem worldwide and imposes an escalating burden on the health care system. OBJECTIVE To determine the causes and mortality rate of CCF in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), south Nigeria, over a five-year period from January 2001 to December 2005. METHODS A retrospective study of CCF cases were identified from the admission and discharge register of the medical wards of UPTH and the case notes were retrieved from the medical records department and analyzed. RESULTS There were 423 patients: 242 males and 181 females. Their ages ranged from 18 to 100 years with a mean of 54.4 +/- 17.3. The commonest causes of CCF were hypertension (56.3%) and cardiomyopathy (12.3%). Chronic renal failure, rheumatic heart disease, and ischemic heart disease accounted for 7.8%, 4.3%, and 0.2% of CCF, respectively. Peripartum heart disease was rare despite being commonly reported in northern Nigerian females. Eighteen patients died from various complications with a mortality rate of 4.3%. CONCLUSION The burden of CCF in the Niger Delta is mainly attributed to hypertension. Efforts should be geared towards hypertension awareness, detection, treatment, and prevention in the region.