The inaugural meeting of the Africa Heart Rhythm Association (AFHRA)

Cardiorhythm Africa, the inaugural conference of AFHRA, was conceived during the biennial PASCAR congress held in Johannesburg in November 2019, with the ambition to be the largest ever pan-African conference focused purely on arrhythmia. Significant aims were to (1) bring together arrhythmia specialists from across Africa and from the diaspora; and (2) announce the newly formed African Heart Rhythm Association (AFHRA), an affiliate organisation of PASCAR formed from the amalgamation of the Cardiac Pacing and Arrhythmias taskforces. The meeting held in Nairobi (29­31 January 2020) was organised to provide a focus on resource-constrained arrhythmia management within the African context and novel/advanced and potentially home-grown solutions. There was full representation from all five PASCAR regions (North, East, West, Central and Southern Africa). This report summarises the scope and perspective of the first Cardiorhythm Africa meeting and presents the future directions for this annual meeting

Electrocardiographic Abnormalities in Patients with Heart Failure : Cardiovascular Topics

Background : The morbidity and mortality from heart failure (HF) differ between patients with reduced ( 50) and with preserved ( 50) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on account of many factors; including abnormalities detected in the electrocardiogram (ECG). The aim of this study was to determine and compare the ECG abnormalities between HF patients with reduced and with preserved LVEF. Methods : The study was cross-sectional in design and carried out in Aminu Kano teaching hospital and Murtala Mohammed specialist hospital; Kano; Nigeria; from April 2005 to June 2006. We studied the resting electrocardiograms of all HF patients aged 15 years and older who were referred to the two centres for echocardiography. Results: A total of 113 patients were studied and 98.2of them had abnormal ECGs. Forty-two patients (37.2) had preserved LVEF while the remaining 71 (62.8) had reduced LVEF. Left ventricular hypertrophy ( LVH) was the commonest ECG abnormality; found among 55 patients (77.5) with reduced LVEF; and 21 patients (50) with preserved LVEF (p = 0.0026). The commonest arrhythmia was atrial fibrillation; found among 10 patients (14.1) with reduced LVEF and eight patients (19.1) with preserved LVEF (p = 0.486). Prolonged corrected QT interval was found among 30 (71.4) and 56 patients (78.9) with preserved and reduced LVEF; respectively (p = 0.370). Conclusion: Most of the patients with heart failure studied in Kano; Nigeria had abnormal electrocardiograms; and the most common abnormality was LVH