Comparison of spectrum of heart diseases between an Indian and a Nigerian tertiary centre: An echocardiographic study

Background: Changing epidemiographic profile with increase in cardiovascular risk factors in developing nations is well documented. Our study sought to describe how this has affected the cardiovascular disease profile of patients reviewed by echocardiography in two hospitals, one in South-East Nigeria and the other in South-East India. Objective: We compared the range of cardiovascular diagnoses encountered in a Nigerian hospital and an Indian hospital. The underlying objective was to document any difference in cardiovascular disease patterns between the two tertiary hospitals in different regions of the developing world. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, retrospective study of echocardiographic records of the two hospitals: November 19, 2012 to September 20, 2013 for Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Nigeria and March 4, 2013 to April 30, 2013 for Madras Medical Mission (MMM), Chennai, India. Results: In FMC, Umuahia, hypertensive heart disease was the only common echocardiographic abnormality. Valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathy were also frequently encountered. In the MMM, ischemic heart disease and valvular heart disease were common echocardiographic abnormalities. Echocardiographic diagnosis correlated significantly with gender in MMM. Conclusions: The findings of this limited study underscore the need for the intensification of therapeutic measures and lifestyle modifications to reverse the trend in India as well as Blood pressure control and other strategies to avert the gathering cardiovascular storm in Nigeria.