title: Pattern of heart failure in Abuja, Nigeria: an echocardiographic study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite heart failure having been identified in subjects in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 60 years, there is still a dearth of data, especially echocardiographic data on heart failure. We therefore set out to analyse the clinical and echocardiographic features of all consecutive subjects presenting with heart failure in a tertiary institution in Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred and forty subjects with heart failure, according to the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology, were studied. Each patient had two-dimensional guided transthoracic echocardiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients was 50.60 +/- 15.29 years, and 50.9% of the study population were males while 49.1% were females. The commonest cause of heart failure identified was hypertension in 61.5% of the patients; 75.5% had systolic heart failure, whereas 23.5% had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Untreated hypertension has been identified as the leading cause of heart failure in Abuja, Nigeria, which is similar to that in many other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Coronary artery disease is a rare cause of heart failure in this population group.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Unit, Department of Medicine, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria. dikeojji@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Ojji
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alfa
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Ajayi
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Mamven
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Falase
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013318:Stroke Volume; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left; D055815:Young Adult