Mortality associated with cardiovascular diseases in three hospitals of Lomé-city

The aims of present study were; to determine the mortality rate related to cardiovascular diseases and the causes of those deaths in local hospitals. We conducted a cross sectional study carried out from January 2005 to June 2006, in three hospitals of Lomé. All deaths registered in the departments of cardiology and neurology from cardiovascular diseases were taken into account. The number of patients who died from cardiovascular diseases was 200 on 2386 admitted patients (11.86%). The average age was 54.4 ± 15.6 years (range: 18-102). Cerebrovascular stroke was the most represented disease (56.9%), followed by heart failure (35.7%), and cardiac arrhythmias (15.9%). Hospital mortality due to cardiovascular afflictions was high in Lome-city due to the deficient organization of the cardiovascular resuscitation units. Better organization, more equipment for cardiovascular care units and better public health efforts surrounding control of cardiovascular risk factors could go a long way towards the reduction of this high mortality rate of cardiovascular diseases in our hospitals.