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THESUS-HF study reveals trends in acute HF in Africa
Acute HF has a predominantly nonischemic cause in African patients, according to results of a study of patients at 12 hospitals in nine African countries.
Acute HF in this patient population was most commonly due to hypertension (45.4%) and rheumatic heart disease (14.3%). Less common was ischemic heart disease (7.7%), researchers reported in Archives of Internal Medicine.
“The condition occurs in middle-aged adults, equally in men and women, and is associated with high mortality,” Albertino Damasceno, MD, PhD, and colleagues wrote.
THESUS-HF was a prospective, observational, multicenter study of 1,006 patients. The researchers’ goal was to describe the characteristics, treatment and outcomes of patients with acute HF in sub-Saharan Africa. Patients studied were enrolled from July 2007 to June 2010. The mean age of the patients was 52.3 years and the predominant race was black African (98.5%).
In other results, most patients were treated with renin-angiotensin system blockers at discharge. Patients were not treated with beta-blockers at discharge, and hydralazine hydrochloride and nitrates were rarely used.
Patients also presented with concurrent renal dysfunction (7.7%), diabetes (11.4%), anemia (15.2%) and atrial fibrillation (18.3%). Median hospital stay was 7 days with an in-hospital mortality of 4.2%. The estimated 180-day mortality was 17.8%.
“The outcome [of acute HF] is similar to that observed in non-African acute HF registries, suggesting that acute HF has a dire prognosis globally, regardless of the cause,” the researchers concluded.
For more information:
Damasceno A. Arch Intern Med. 2012;doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3310.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.