Chandrakala Guruprasad Yelwanti1, Venkatesh Amalappa Desai2
BACKGROUND
The heart failure is a worldwide health problem with ever increasing proportion and is a major health problem in elderly persons. It has many aetiological factors. It is one of the most frequently encountered illnesses in day-to-day practice and most common cause of death in patients with cardiac disease. This study was done to determine the age and sex distribution and to evaluate clinical features and aetiological factors in patients admitted with heart failure at Khaja Banda Nawaz Teaching and General Hospital, Gulbarga, on the basis of clinical assessment, electrocardiography and echocardiography.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A prospective study was done in Department of General Medicine at Khaja Banda Nawaz Teaching and General Hospital, Gulbarga, from January 2015 to June 2016 on patients with heart failure to determine the clinical and aetiological profile. A total of 100 cases above the age of 20 years were included in the study. The patients below the age of 20 years and known cases of congenital heart disease were excluded.
RESULTS
Out of 100 patients, the heart failure was seen more commonly in men than in women between the age groups of 46-65 years of age. Breathlessness was the most common presentation followed by pedal oedema, orthopnoea, etc. In our study, the primary aetiology for heart failure was found to be coronary artery disease (47%) followed by dilated cardiomyopathy (20%), hypertension (14%), rheumatic heart disease (7%), anaemia (6%), cor pulmonale (4%) and others (2%). Dyslipidaemia was the common risk factor followed by obesity and smoking.
CONCLUSION
The heart failure commonly occurs in elderly people and the incidence was higher in men than in women. The commonest presentation was breathlessness followed by pedal oedema. The commonest cause of heart failure was coronary artery disease followed by dilated cardiomyopathy and then hypertension combined with ischaemic heart disease.
