Spectrum of Heart Diseases at a referral tertiary care hospital in Somalia, Mogadishu: An echocardiographic study

Objective: To investigate the frequencies and patterns of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), assessed by echocardiographic examinations in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Material and Methods: This retrospective, descriptive registry reviewed the pathological echocardiographic findings of 1140 patients aged 0-100 years who were admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinic in a tertiary training hospital in Mogadishu. Results: Out of the 6782 patients reviewed, 1140 patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Hypertensive heart disease (HHD) (39.8%) and degenerative valvular disease (34.6%) were the most common comorbidities. Congenital heart diseases (CHD)were detected in 13.2% of the patients, with the most common ones including atrial septal defect (ASD) (3.2%) and ventricular septal defect (VSD) (2.3%). Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) was detected in 84 (7.4%) patients, among whom the most common age range was 21-30 years (28.6%), followed by 31-40 years (25%) and 11-20 years (19.1%). Conclusion: In the present study, we found that HHD was the most common comorbidity (39.8%), followed by degenerative valvular disease (34.6%), HFrEF (%30.8), and IHD (24.4%). Moreover, the most common valvular disease was mitral insufficiency (47.5%) and the most common CHD was ASD(3.2%).