Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Report about 64 Cases Followed at the Heart Institute of Abidjan

Abstract

Objective: To describe the epidemiological and etiological features of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in our context. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study that was carried out over a 12-monthperiod, from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, in the hospitalization department of the Heart Institute of Abidjan. It was about patients hospitalized for heart failure who had received a dose of NT-proBNP and who had had an electrocardiogram, and a Doppler echocardiography. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) was defined from the symptoms and signs of heart failure, the level of NT-proBNP and from echocardiography data based on the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) > 50%, the dilatation of the left atrium. The diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle was assessed by the ratio E/E’ > 13. We defined as heart failure with decreased ejection fraction (HFDEF) symptoms and signs of heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction LVEF < 40%. A computer file was completed. It included epidemiological and etiological data. Results: The study involved sixty-four patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction out of 257 patients with heart failure that is a prevalence of 25%. The mean age was 57.3 ± 16 years. There was a male predominance that is 52% of cases. Congestive heart failure was predominant in 67%. NT-proBNP levels were 365 pg/ml on average. The average length of stay was 5.5 ± 3.1. Intra-hospital deaths were 4.6%. The etiologies are dominated by high blood pressure in 85.9%, followed by obesity in 28.1%, then by ischemic heart disease in 4.6%. There were no diabetic patients in this group. Conclusion: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is characterized in our regions by its occurrence in young male subjects. Congestive heart failure prevailed. The dominant etiology was high blood pressure.