Clinical, echocardiographic, and therapeutic aspects of congenital heart diseases of children at Douala General Hospital: A cross-sectional study in sub-Saharan Africa.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases in pediatric pathologies have emerged in the recent years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with congenital heart diseases (CHDs) being the most frequent. Unfortunately, their diagnosis is usually delayed, thereby increasing childhood morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES: Describe the clinical, echocardiographic, and therapeutic aspects of CHDs of children at Douala General Hospital. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study over a 10-year period, from January 2006 to December 2015. Files and reports of cardiac ultrasounds of patients aged ≤ 15 years were reviewed. RESULTS: We reviewed the medical records of 1616 children, of which 370 (22.9%) had CHD. The age range was 1 day to 15 years, with a mean of 26 months. Heart murmur was the most frequent clinical sign, seen in 72.3% of the cases. CHD with left-to-right shunt was seen in 61.8%, with ventricular septal defect being the most common (29.8% of all cases). The second most common CHDs were those due to obstruction (20.4%), mainly pulmonary stenosis (19.6% of all cases). Cyanogenic CHDs accounted for 17.8% of cases, dominated by tetralogy of Fallot (7.4% of all cases). Indications for surgical treatment was found in 171 (46.2%) patients, but due to financial constraints, only 48 (28.1%) patients were operated. Among those who underwent surgery, 66.7% were operated abroad, and Humanitarian organizations financed the surgical management of 58.3% of those operated. CONCLUSIONS: CHDs are seen in one out of five children seen in the pediatric cardiology unit of our Hospital for suspected heart disease. Most cases are diagnosed late in life as toddlers. The rate of surgical correction remains low due to financial constraints, with most cases operated abroad with the assistance of Humanitarian organizations.

Epidemiology and outcomes of children with renal failure in the pediatric ward of a tertiary hospital in Cameroon.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric nephrology is challenging in developing countries and data on the burden of kidney disease in children is difficult to estimate due to absence of renal registries. We aimed to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of children with renal failure in Cameroon. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 103 medical records of children from 0 to 17 years with renal failure admitted in the Pediatric ward of the Douala General Hospital from 2004 to 2013. Renal failure referred to either acute kidney injury (AKI) or Stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease (CKD). AKI was defined and graded using either the modified RIFLE criteria or the Pediatrics RIFLE criteria, while CKD was graded using the KDIGO criteria. Outcomes of interest were need and access to dialysis and in-hospital mortality. For patients with AKI renal recovery was evaluated at 3 months. RESULTS: Median age was 84 months (1QR:15-144) with 62.1% males. Frequent clinical symptoms were asthenia, anorexia, 68.8% of participants had anuria. AKI accounted for 84.5% (n = 87) and CKD for 15.5% (n = 16). Chronic glomerulonephritis (9/16) and urologic malformations (7/16) were the causes of CKD and 81.3% were at stage 5. In the AKI subgroup, 86.2% were in stage F, with acute tubular necrosis (n = 50) and pre-renal AKI (n = 31) being the most frequent mechanisms. Sepsis, severe malaria, hypovolemia and herbal concoction were the main etiologies. Eight of 14 (57%) patients with CKD, and 27 of 40 (67.5%) with AKI who required dialysis, accessed it. In-hospital mortality was 50.7% for AKI and 50% for CKD. Of the 25 patients in the AKI group with available data at 3 months, renal recovery was complete in 22, partial in one and 2 were dialysis dependent. Factors associated to mortality were young age (p = 0.001), presence of a coma (p = 0.021), use of herbal concoction (p = 0.024) and acute pulmonary edema (p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: Renal failure is severe and carries a high mortality in hospitalized children in Cameroon. Limited access to dialysis and lack of specialized paediatric nephrology services may explain this dismal picture.