PNEUMONIA COMPLICATED BY CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE IN NIGERIAN CHILDREN.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate heart failure in patients with pneumonia.

SETTING

The paediatric wards of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

SUBJECTS: One hundred and four patients were studied.

RESULTS

The mean age was 10.3 ± 11.0 months and 53(51.0%) were males. Of the 104, 41(39.4%) also had Congestive Cardiac Failure (CCF). All 41(100%) patients with CCF compared to 38 of 63 (60.3%) with pneumonia only had cardiomegaly (p = 0.0001). Ten of 61(16.4%) patients with chest X ray had a cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) > 60%. Ten children had dilated ventricular chambers, eight (80.0%) had dilated inferior vena cavae and seven (70%) had myocarditis.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of CCF complicating pneumonia was high. Tender hepatomegaly, increased CTR and myocarditis were pointers to CCF complicating pneumonia.