Cardiovascular disease in Papua New Guinea

The chest X-ray films of 251 patients with cardiovascular lesions, collected in the major hospitals of Papua New Guinea, were reviewed. Cor pulmonale (18%) and rheumatic heart disease (16%) were the predominant cardiac disorders, and cor pulmonale was the most common cause of cardiac failure (58%). Cardiomegaly or cardiac failure of unknown cause, possibly due to cardiomyopathy or myocarditis, made up 9% of the group and may be more important than has been thought previously. Aortic-arch calcification typical of atheroma was present in 21% of the patients, and is thus quite common, even though ischaemic heart disease remains very rare (1%). More than half of the patients with aortic atheroma had chronic lung disease, and though this could be explained by the coincidental frequency of both conditions, the possibility of an association or link in pathogenesis between them deserves further consideration. Anaemia was a common cause of cardiac enlargement (14%), and sometimes led to cardiac failure. Only 16 patients had hypertension (essential in 10 patients and renal in six), and this may indicate a change from the previously reported predominance of renal hypertension in Papua New Guinea towards a more equal incidence of the two conditions. Aneurysms of unknown cause were encountered in three fairly young patients. They had some resemblance to the aneurysms in arteritis of obscure origin described in Africa. There were also two dissecting aneurysms and one syphilitic aneurysm of the aorta. Congenital lesions (8%), pericarditis due to various causes (including tuberculosis), bacterial endocarditis (in four patients with rheumatic heart disease), and miscellaneous conditions made up the remainder of the series.