Dataset Information

Heart diseases and echocardiography in rural Tanzania: Occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of underappreciated cardiac pathologies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Little is known about heart diseases and their treatment in rural sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to describe the occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of heart diseases, and the medication taken before and prescribed after echocardiography in a rural referral Hospital in Tanzania.

Methods

This prospective descriptive cohort study included all adults and children referred for echocardiography. Clinical and echocardiographic data were collated for analysis.

Results

From December 2015 to October 2017, a total of 1'243 echocardiograms were performed. A total of 815 adults and 59 children ?15 years had abnormal echocardiographic findings; in adults 537/815 (66%) had hypertension, with 230/537(43%) on antihypertensive drugs, and 506/815 (62%) were not on regular cardiac medication; 346/815 (42%) had severe eccentric or concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, and 182/815 (22%) had severe systolic heart failure. Only 44% demonstrated normal left ventricular systolic function. The most frequent heart diseases were hypertensive heart disease (41%), valvular heart disease (18%), coronary heart disease (18%), peripartum cardiomyopathy (7%), and other non-hypertensive dilated cardiomyopathies (6%) in adults, and congenital heart disease (34%) in children. Following echocardiography, 802/815 (98%) adults and 40/59 (68%) children had an indication for cardiac medication, 70/815 (9%) and 2/59 (3%) for oral anticoagulation, and 35/815 (4%) and 23/59 (39%) for cardiac surgery, respectively.

Conclusion

Hypertension is the leading etiology of heart diseases in rural Tanzania. Most patients present with advanced stages of heart disease, and the majority are not treated before echocardiography. There is an urgent need for increased awareness, expertise and infrastructure to detect and treat hypertension and heart failure in rural Africa.

SUBMITTER: Raphael DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6306243 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Heart diseases and echocardiography in rural Tanzania: Occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of underappreciated cardiac pathologies.

Raphael Dominick M DM Roos Laurine L Myovela Victor V Mchomvu Elisante E Namamba Jabir J Kilindimo Said S Gingo Winfrid W Hatz Christoph C Paris Daniel H DH Weisser Maja M Kobza Richard R Rohacek Martin M

PloS one 20181226 12

<h4>Background</h4>Little is known about heart diseases and their treatment in rural sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to describe the occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of heart diseases, and the medication taken before and prescribed after echocardiography in a rural referral Hospital in Tanzania.<h4>Methods</h4>This prospective descriptive cohort study included all adults and children referred for echocardiography. Clinical and echocardiographic data were collated for analysis.<h4 ...[more]

PMID: 30586432

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Dataset Information

Heart diseases and echocardiography in rural Tanzania: Occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of underappreciated cardiac pathologies.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Heart diseases and echocardiography in rural Tanzania: Occurrence, characteristics, and etiologies of underappreciated cardiac pathologies.

Similar Datasets

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