Incidence, pattern and outcome of cardiovascular admissions at the Abia state university teaching hospital, Aba: a five year review.

The aim of this study was to determine the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Aba -a cosmopolitan town undergoing increased urbanization in the last decade. The study involved 756 case notes of patients with records of CVD between January 2008 and December 2012. Information extracted from each case note included age, sex, type of CVD, length of hospitalization and treatment outcome. The data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The student t-test was used and p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The mean age of the patients was 54 ±6.5 years with a slight male preponderance. The highest incidence of CVD was seen between the age ranges of 50 -59 years (25.80%). Majority (61-6%) of the patients were admitted on account of hypertension. Diseases associated with heart failure include hypertension (19.40%), cardiomyopathy (9.20%), anaemia (5.60%), rheumatic heart disease (2.70%) and valvular disease (1.5%). Mean duration in hospital was 10±6 days with 201 (26.60%) deaths. Majority of the dead patients (51.74%) were those with cerebrovascular accident resulting from hypertension. Most of the deaths occurred within 8 days of hospital stay. Thus CVDs constitutes a significant health burden in our community requiring urgent attention.Key words: Cardiovascular diseases, admissions, outcome, Aba