Ischaemic heart disease in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria: a 5 year review.
BACKGROUND
Socio-economic changes and rural urban migration have led to emergence of non-communicable disease including ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and many others. The actual prevalence of IHD in Nigeria is not known. The non communicable disease (NCD) survey sought to determine the prevalence of major risk factors, rather than the prevalence of the disease itself. The prevalence is generally considered low in Nigeria but the current impression about its importance stems mostly from anecdotal reports. We therefore set out to describe the prevalence as well as the spectrum of IHD at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.


METHODS
Between July 2000 and June 2005, we reviewed the prevalence as well as the spectrum of presentation of IHD in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. Information was obtained from the medical records of patients in the medical unit of the hospital. Age, sex, diagnosis, risk factors for IHD, other relevant clinical and laboratory data and outcome of patients for myocardial infarction (MI) were extracted from the records. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 10.0 software.


RESULTS
There were 5124 medical patients admitted over the period under review, out of which 1347 had cardiovascular diseases. Forty six patients were diagnosed to have IHD giving it a prevalence of 0.9% of medical conditions and 3.4% of all cardiovascular cases. There were 33 males and 13 females (M : F = 2.5:1). Twenty two patients (47.8%) had myocardial infarction, 14 (30.4%) had ischemic cardiomyopathy and 10 (21.7%) had angina. The patients consist of 41 (89.1%) Nigerians, 3 (6.5%) Lebanese, 1 (2.2%) Indian and 1 (2.2%) Pakistani. The risk factors found were Hypertension in 37 (80.4%) of patients, diabetes in 16 (34.8%), and Dyslipidaemia in 20 (43.5%). Others were cigarette smoking and obesity.


CONCLUSIONS
IHD is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in our population. There is need for us to be on the alert and prepare ourselves to manage these cases. Focus should be on preventive cardiology.
Sani
M U
MU
Department of Medicine, Aminu Kano Teachig Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.
Adamu
B
B
Mijinyawa
M S
MS
Abdu
A
A
Karaye
K M
KM
Maiyaki
M B
MB
Borodo
M M
MM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014507:Urbanization