Cardiomyopathies among Children Attending a Tertiary Hospital in South-western Nigeria

Background: Acquired heart diseases such as myocarditis, cardiomyopathies and rheumatic heart diseases are important noncommunicable diseases responsible for morbidity and mortality in children. We aim to describe the pattern and distribution of cardiomyopathies in children less than 13 years in a tertiary hospital in Southwestern Nigeria and compare with patterns in the subregion. Methods: Prospective and cross sectional, involving consecutive patients diagnosed with cardiomyopathy using echocardiography at the Paediatric Department of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos Nigeria between January 2007 and December 2014. Results: Cardiomyopathy was documented in 31 (2.75%) children with structural heart disease and constituted 25% of patients with acquired heart disease during the study period. The prevalence of cardiomyopathy amongst the children attending the study centre was 9 in 100,000 children over an 8 year period. The mean age of the children was 5.48±4.0 with male to female ratio of 1:1.30. Congestive cardiac failure was the commonest indication for echocardiography, in 48.38% of all the patients. Dilated cardiomyopathy was the most common disease accounting for 71% of the cardiomyopathies, followed by Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (16.1%) and Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (12.9%) respectively. The subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy were younger than the subjects with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Conclusions: Cardiomyopathy is an important cause of congestive cardiac failure in children. Dilated cardiomyopathy is the predominant type of cardiomyopathy in our subjects followed by hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathy. The subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy were younger than the subjects with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Endomyocardial fibrosis is the predominant form of restrictive cardiomyopathy in our subjects.