Echocardiographic predictors of outcome in acute heart failure patients in sub-Saharan Africa: insights from THESUS-HF.

Background: The role of echocardiography in the risk stratification of acute heart failure (HF) is unknown. Some small studies and retrospective analyses have found little change in echocardiographic variables during admission for acute HF and some echocardiographic parameters were not found to be associated with outcomes. It is unknown which echocardiographic variables will predict outcomes in sub-Saharan African patients admitted with acute HF.

Symptoms and Signs of Heart Failure at Admission and Discharge and Outcomes in the Sub-Saharan Acute Heart Failure (THESUS-HF) Registry.

Background: Symptoms and signs of heart failure (HF) are the most common reasons for admission to hospital for acute HF (AHF) and are used routinely throughout admission to assess the severity of disease and response to therapy.

Methods And Results: The data were collected in The Sub-Saharan Africa Survey on Heart Failure (THESUS-HF) study, a prospective, multicenter, observational survey of AHF from 9 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 1006 patients, ≥12 years of age, hospitalized for AHF were recruited.

Gender differences in clinical characteristics and outcome of acute heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa: results of the THESUS-HF study.

Background: The impact of gender on the clinical characteristics, risk factors, co-morbidities, etiology, treatment and outcome of acute heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa has not been described before. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sex differences in acute heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa using the data from The sub-Saharan Africa Survey of Heart Failure (THESUS-HF).

Methods And Results: 1,006 subjects were recruited into this prospective multicenter, international observational heart failure survey.

Readmission and death after an acute heart failure event: predictors and outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: results from the THESUS-HF registry.

Aims: Contrary to elderly patients with ischaemic-related acute heart failure (AHF) typically enrolled in North American and European registries, patients enrolled in the sub-Saharan Africa Survey of Heart Failure (THESUS-HF) were middle-aged with AHF due primarily to non-ischaemic causes. We sought to describe factors prognostic of re-admission and death in this developing population.

Methods And Results: Prognostic models were developed from data collected on 1006 patients enrolled in THESUS-HF, a prospective registry of AHF patients in 12 hospitals in nine sub-Saharan African countries, mostly in Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa.