Abstract
BackgroundMalnutrition and cachexia are serious consequences of numerous chronic diseases. Severe heart failure patients could be related with marked weight loss. Malnutrition is associated with poor prognosis among heart failure patients. Despite its implication, factors associated with malnutrition among heart failure patients in Africa and Ethiopia was not addressed. Hence, in this study we tried to determine factors associated with malnutrition among heart failure patients on follow up at Jimma University specialized hospital, Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was done on 284 randomly selected heart failure patients. The nutritional status of the patients was assessed based on their serum albumin level (normal value 4–5 mg/dl) and triceps skin fold thickness. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with malnutrition among heart failure patients using SPSS 20.0.ResultsBased on serum albumin and triceps skin fold thickness, 77.8 % of patients were malnourished. Mean age of the patients was 48.3 ± 15.9 years. The commonest cause of heart failure was ischemic heart disease (34.9 %). Hypertension (36 %) was the commonest co morbid disease. Forty four percent of patients had New York heart association functional class II heart failure. Serum hemoglobin (AOR = 0.77, 95 % CI: 0.67–0.92) was found to be significantly associated with nutritional status of heart failure patients. As serum hemoglobin increases by 1gm/dl, the risk of malnutrition decreased by 15 % (P value = 0.03).ConclusionsThe majority of patients were malnourished. A higher hemoglobin concentration was associated with reduced odds of being malnourished.
Highlights
Malnutrition and cachexia are serious consequences of numerous chronic diseases
As serum hemoglobin increases by 1gm/dl, the risk of malnutrition decreased by 15 % (P value = 0.03) (Table 3)
This study revealed younger heart failure patients as compared to a multicenter European study [27] and a study from America [22] but in line with systematic reviews done by Kengne et al and Sliwa et al showed African patients were relatively younger as compared to their counterparts in the rest of the world [2, 28]
Summary
Malnutrition and cachexia are serious consequences of numerous chronic diseases. Severe heart failure patients could be related with marked weight loss. Factors associated with malnutrition among heart failure patients in Africa and Ethiopia was not addressed. In this study we tried to determine factors associated with malnutrition among heart failure patients on follow up at Jimma University specialized hospital, Ethiopia. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death. With some variation in epidemiology due to the factors associated with life style, behavioral risk factors, genetic and racial differences; there is a rise in the burden of cardiovascular diseases in low and middle income countries. Over three quarters of cardiovascular deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries such as Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa [1]. A systematic review performed on heart failure and diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa, showed that heart failure accounts for over 30 % of hospital admission in specialized cardiovascular units and 3–7 % in general internal medicine [2]. There are no published data showing the national prevalence of heart failure from Africa and Ethiopia
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