Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are increasingly emerging as a major health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, but information on the epidemiology, clinical characteristics and spectrum of the diseases are scanty. Epidemiological data regarding the incidence and prevalence of CVDs in different geographical regions are essential to our understanding of global distribution and evolution of CVDs. We conducted a retrospective observational study to determine the prevalence and spectrum of cardiovascular diseases in patients seen at the out-patient cardiac clinic of the Directorate of Medicine, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana. Medical records of 432 patients selected from the cardiac clinic using simple random sampling. The medical history, including the socio-demographic information, was examined. The results of the patients’ laboratory tests, chest X-ray, electrocardiography, M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography with Doppler and colour flow imaging of the patients were also examined. The patients were aged between 13 - 97 years with the mean age (±standard deviation) of 55.35 (±19) years. There were more females (53%; n = 229) than males (47%; n = 203). The main cardiovascular diseases seen included: hypertensive heart disease (35.6%; n = 154), valvular heart disease (19.7%; n = 85), cardiomyopathies (18.5%; n = 80), arrhythmias (6.3%; n = 27) and coronary artery disease (4.2%; n = 18). The most common causes of valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathies and arrhythmias were rheumatic heart disease, dilated cardiomyopathy and complete heart block respectively. In conclusion, our study has shown that hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease and cardiomyopathies were the main cardiovascular diseases,seen in 73.8% of the patients in this study.
Highlights
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constitute the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide and they are set to overtake infectious diseases in the developing world as the most common cause of mortality [1] [2] [3] [4]
We conducted a retrospective observational study to determine the prevalence and spectrum of cardiovascular diseases in patients seen at the out-patient cardiac clinic of the Directorate of Medicine, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana
The present study provides important update regarding trend and spectrum of cardiovascular disease morbidity, which may be helpful to health planners and policy makers in Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constitute the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide and they are set to overtake infectious diseases in the developing world as the most common cause of mortality [1] [2] [3] [4]. For a very long period, CVDs were considered as negligible in sub-Saharan Africa, especially compared with other public health issues such as infectious diseases. The modern epidemiologic transition associated with greater urbanisation, socioeconomic development, and modernisation of dietary patterns and lifestyles has contributed hugely to an increase in the burden of CVDs [6]. The increasing longevity in Africa has provided longer periods of exposure to the risk factors of CVDs, resulting in a greater probability of clinically manifest CVDs events [7]
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