title: Case-control study of factors associated with chronic Chagas heart disease in patients over 50 years of age.
abstract: A case-control study on chronic Chagas heart disease (CCHD) was carried out between 1997 and 2005. Ninety patients over 50 years of age were examined for factors related to (CCHD). Fourty-six patients (51.1%) with Chagas heart disease (anomalous ECG) were assigned to the case group and 44 (48.9%) were included in the control group as carriers of undetermined forms of chronic disease. Social, demographic (age, gender, skin color, area of origin), epidemiological (permanence within an endemic zone, family history of Chagas heart disease or sudden death, physical strain, alcoholism, and smoking), and clinical (systemic hypertension) variables were analyzed. The data set was assessed through single-variable and multivariate analysis. The two factors independently associated with heart disease were age--presence of heart disease being three times higher in patients over 60 years of age (odds ratio, OR: 2.89; confidence interval of 95%: 1.09-7.61)--and family history of Chagas heart disease (OR: 2.833, CI 95%: 1.11-7.23). Systemic hypertension and gender did not prove to hold any association with heart disease, as neither did skin color, but this variable showed low statistical power due to reduced sample size.
authors: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30130-100, Brazil. silvanadearaujosilva@hotmail.com
authors: Silvana de Araújo
authors: Sde A
authors: Silva
authors: Eliane Dias
authors: ED
authors: Gontijo
authors: Carlos Faria Santos
authors: CF
authors: Amaral
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors