[Clinical presentation of chronic Chagas disease in elderly individuals]

This study had the aim of evaluating the clinical presentation of chronic Chagas disease among the elderly. It was a retrospective analysis of clinical records at an outpatient referral service. The sample was divided into two groups: elderly (>or= 60 years old) and non-elderly. Sex, comorbidities, clinical form, electrocardiogram and serological titers were evaluated. In the elderly group (61 cases), the mean age was 66.03+/-5 years; 67.2% were female; 59% presented comorbidities (most frequently systemic arterial hypertension, in 39.3%); 1.6% had the indeterminate clinical form, 88.5% the cardiac form and 36% the digestive form; and abnormalities were frequently found on electrocardiograms: 41% presented anterosuperior left bundle branch block (AS-LBBB), 32.8% presented right bundle branch block (RBBB) and 22.9% presented ventricular ectopic beats (VEB). In the non-elderly group (61 cases), the mean age was 39.30+/-8.36 years; 54.1% were female; 50.8% presented comorbidities (most frequently systemic arterial hypertension, in 26.2%); 18% had the indeterminate clinical form (p<0.05), 78.7% the cardiac form and 32.8% the digestive form; and abnormalities were frequently found on electrocardiogram: 24.6% presented AS-LBBB, 21.3% RBBB and 18% VEB. It was concluded that there were no clinical differences between elderly and non-elderly Chagas patients. The indeterminate clinical form predominated in patients less than 60 years old.