Common Precipitating Factors of Heart Failure in Our Community.

Abstract

The study was designed to determine the frequent precipitating factors of heart failure in patients admitted through emergency and/or outpatient department of Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Only those patients with established heart failure presenting with decompensation were included in the study. The prospective study was conducted on fifty patients of heart failure suffering from cardiac decompensation. Diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical history, examination and routine investigation followed by chest x-ray, ECG, echocardiography, thyroid function tests, liver function tests, urea and electrolytes. The results showed the non-compliance with diet and drug therapy as the single most common precipitating factor followed by respiratory and urinary tract infections in 8(16%) cases, cardiac arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation in 8(16%) and uncontrolled hypertension in 6(12%) cases.