Structural heart diseases in Nigerian children

Cardiovascular diseases both in adults and children constitute a major public health problem and structural heart diseases are an important group of disorders in children worldwide. The pattern of this group of disorders however, varies between regions and countries and even within countries. Recognizing the structural cardiac conditions that prevail in a particular area is important in health planning and for improving health care services. The present survey sets out to describe the pattern of structural heart diseases among children in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano from our echocardiography data.

The echocardiographic reports of all children seen in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano between August 2002 and September 2004 (24 months) were reviewed. Information obtained from the records includes age, gender, clinical diagnosis and echocardiographic findings. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 10.0 software.

A total of 108 children, aged between two weeks and eighteen years, were referred for echocardiographic examination in the 2-year study period. Of these, 88 had an abnormal echocardiogram. There were 55 boys and 31 girls, giving a male and female ratio of 1.8:1. Congenital heart diseases accounted for 55 (62.5%) of the studied subjects while acquired heart diseases were responsible for 33 (37.5%). Isolated ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the commonest congenital heart disease. Rheumatic valvular heart diseases were the commonest acquired structural heart disease.

With the establishment of tertiary healthcare institutions in Nigeria, availability of echocardiographic facilities as well as increasing number of paediatric cardiologists, more of these cases are likely to be seen in the future. There is an urgent need for the government to establish a well equipped cardiothoracic surgical centre to cater for these patients either free or at highly subsidized rates.