Cardiomyopathies in children. Clinical, epidemiological and prognostic evaluation.

In this article, the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 137 children with cardiomyopathy admitted to the Hacettepe Pediatric Cardiology Unit were studied and the prognosis was evaluated after a follow-up period of 24 +/- 5 months. It was found that the highest proportion of patients were residents of Ankara, followed by the Northern and the Central Anatolian regions, and consanguinity between their parents was more common than the proportion for Turkey as a whole. Most of the patients had dilated cardiomyopathy (78.9%) and the age at which symptoms appeared varied according to the type of cardiomyopathy. A high proportion of patients came to the hospital with complaints of dyspnea and a decrease in effort capacity. The most common findings on the physical examination were hepatomegaly and tachycardia. Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic evaluations were made for all patients and cardiac catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy were performed when necessary. The outcome was as follows: 34.5% improved, 45.7% remained stable, 9.5% deteriorated and 10.3% died.