Child’s Cardiopathies at the Hospital De La Paix in Ziguinchor (Senegal)

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood heart disease consists of congenital and acquired heart disease. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological profile and the clinical and aetiological characteristics of childhood heart disease at the Hôpital de la Paix in Ziguinchor. Method: This was a retrospective study from 1 January 2016 to 1 June 2020 in the cardiology and paediatrics departments of the Hôpital de la Paix in Ziguinchor. We included in the study all patients aged 0 - 18 years, hospitalised with heart disease confirmed by cardiac ultrasound. Results: In total, we included 57 patients in the study. The hospital prevalence was 1.6%. The average age was 67.85 ± 65 months. The predominance was male with a sex ratio of 0.96. The majority of mothers (50%) were between 15 and 30 years old. In our study, 8.85% of patients had a history of previous angina. Trisomy 21 was present in 12.35% of our patients. Severe acute malnutrition was found in 21.05% of cases. Lower limb oedema (82.4%) and dyspnoea (59.6%) were the most frequent clinical signs. On cardiac ultrasound, 52.6% of patients had congenital heart disease and 47.4% of patients had acquired heart disease. Ventricular septal defect (33.33%) was the most common congenital heart disease. Among the acquired heart diseases, mitral insufficiency predominated with 70.8% of cases. Infective endocarditis was the main complication observed. Management was mainly drug-based with diuretics and ACE inhibitors. No patient had undergone surgery. The in-hospital evolution was favourable in 85.9% of cases and the mortality rate was 10.5%. Conclusion: Our study showed that congenital heart disease was more frequent than acquired heart disease and that management, particularly surgery, was lacking.