Heart Failure in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is currently experiencing multiple burden of disease as a result of demographic and epidemiologic transition. This is occasioned rapid urbanization, unhealthy diets rich in fats and salt, western lifestyle and sedentary living. Heart failure (HF) has become a global public health issue. It is associated with high morbidity and mortality, frequent hospitalization and high economic cost. In SSA, HF is a disease of young and middle-aged adults with the attendant high disability-adjusted life years. This is unlike to the clinical profile and pattern of HF in high-income countries of North America, Western Europe and Japan where HF is a disease of the elderly. In addition, while ischaemic heart disease is the commonest aetiologic risk factor for HF in high income countries, HF in SSA is essentially non-ischaemic in origin. Hypertensive heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, rheumatic heart disease, pericardial diseases and HIV associated cardiomyopathy are the common risk factors. The chapter reviews the contemporary information on HF in SSA in terms of socio-demographic features, clinical characteristics, aetiological risk factors, management, prognosis and economic burden.

Clinical Pharmacist’s Intervention to Improve Medication Titration for Heart Failure: First Experience from Sudan

“… 7 Both findings were similar to data from SSA, which revealed that HF is a disease of young and middle age. 17 Nonetheless, the mean age is about 8 years younger than patients in studies reported from developed countries. 18 This might be due to the younger population structure in Sudan.…”

Prevalence of atrial fibrillation in Bengo Province, Angola: Results from a population-based study

“…The prevalence of congestive heart failure was 0.3%. Heart failure in Sub-Saharan Africa represents approximately 9.4-42.5% of all medical admissions and 25.6-30.0% of admissions into cardiology units (Agbor et al, 2018;S. Ogah et al, 2019).…”

Heart failure care and outcomes in a Tanzanian emergency department: A prospective observational study

“…The burden of cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has increased as it proceeds through the epidemiological shift from infectious diseases to chronic non-communicable diseases [1]. Heart failure (HF) is a terminal complication of many cardiovascular diseases, and is responsible for a growing number of hospitalizations in SSA [2][3][4][5][6]. With the rapid increase in the prevalence of HF risk factors in SSA, the burden of HF is expected to grow in future years [1,7].…”