Heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract
The heart failure syndrome has been recognized as a significant contributor to cardiovascular
disease burden in sub-Saharan African for many decades. Seminal knowledge regarding
heart failure in the region came from case reports and case series of the early 20th
century which identified infectious, nutritional and idiopathic causes as the most
common. With increasing urbanization, changes in lifestyle habits, and ageing of the
population, the spectrum of causes of HF has also expanded resulting in a significant
burden of both communicable and non-communicable etiologies. Heart failure in sub-Saharan
Africa is notable for the range of etiologies that concurrently exist as well as the
healthcare environment marked by limited resources, weak national healthcare systems
and a paucity of national level data on disease trends. With the recent publication
of the first and largest multinational prospective registry of acute heart failure
in sub-Saharan Africa, it is timely to review the state of knowledge to date and describe
the myriad forms of heart failure in the region. This review discusses several forms
of heart failure that are common in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., rheumatic heart disease,
hypertensive heart disease, pericardial disease, various dilated cardiomyopathies,
HIV cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, endomyocardial fibrosis, ischemic
heart disease, cor pulmonale) and presents each form with regard to epidemiology,
natural history, clinical characteristics, diagnostic considerations and therapies.
Areas and approaches to fill the remaining gaps in knowledge are also offered herein
highlighting the need for research that is driven by regional disease burden and needs.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Africa South of the SaharaCardiomyopathies
Causality
Comorbidity
Endomyocardial Fibrosis
HIV Infections
Heart Failure
Humans
Hypertension
Myocardial Ischemia
Pulmonary Heart Disease
Rheumatic Heart Disease
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16080Collections
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Gerald Bloomfield
Associate Professor of Medicine
Eric J. Velazquez
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine
LeadershipEric J. Velazquez, MD, is a Professor of Medicine with tenure at Duke University.
As section chief for Cardiovascular Imaging in the Division of Cardiology and director
of the Cardiac Diagnostic Unit and Echocardiography Laboratories for Duke University
Health System, he coordinates a high-volume enterprise and an outstanding group of
clinician-investigators and clinical staff who make important contributions across
patient care, research and educational
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects
their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.
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