title: Childhood heart failure in Ibadan.
abstract: One hundred consecutive admissions of children with a diagnosis of congestive cardiac failure to the paediatric department of the University College Hospital, Ibadan were evaluated during a 10-month period. They were aged 8 days to 12 years. They constituted 5.8% of the total paediatric admissions during the study period. The most frequent underlying causes of heart failure were acute lower respiratory tract infections (36%), intrinsic heart disease (31%) and severe anaemia (28%). Other less common causes of heart failure were renal disorders (3%) and septiceamia (2%). Heart failure remains a common problem encountered in emergency paediatric practice in Nigeria, with the majority of cases resulting from preventable causes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Lagunju
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Omokhodion
mesh_terms: D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies