Is the Incidence of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Nigerians Increasing?

Myocardial infarction is thought to be rare in Nigerians. This assumption may not be tenable any longer. We report 4 cases of acute myocardial infarction within one year out of which 3 were Nigerians. This seemingly increasing incidence may not be unconnected with the increase in the number of trained cardiologists and diagnostic tools, the rising incidence of the predisposing factors to myocardial infarction such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia etc. This report is meant to further increase our awareness of the slow but rising incidence of the disease. There is therefore the need for adequate preventive and control measures targeted at the predisposing factors.L'infarctus du myocarde est consid\ue9r\ue9 d'\ueatre rare parmi les Nig\ue9rians. Cette pr\ue9tention parait n'\uea tre plus d\ue9fendable. Nous rapportons 4 cas d'infarctus du myocarde aigu dans une p\ue9riode d'un an dont 3 \ue9taient des Nig\ue9rians. Cette incidence apparemment croissante est tributaire \ue0 l'augmentation du nombre de cardiologues qualifi\ue9s et d'outils diagnostiques, l'augmentation des incidences des facteurs pr\ue9disposant \ue0 l'infarctus du myocarde tels que l'hypertension, diab\ue8te sucr\ue9, et hyperlipid\ue9mie. Ce rapport vise, de plus, \ue0 augmenter notre conscience de l'incidence lente mais montante de la maladie. Il y a donc le besoin de mesures pr\ue9ventives ad\ue9quates et de contr\uf4les vis\ue9s aux facteurs pr\ue9disposant