Descriptive epidemiology and short-term outcomes of heart failure hospitalisation in rural Haiti.

OBJECTIVE: There is increasing attention to cardiovascular diseases in low-income countries. However, little is known about heart failure (HF) in rural areas, where most of the populations in low-income countries live. We studied HF epidemiology, care delivery and outcomes in rural Haiti. METHODS: Among adults admitted with HF to a rural Haitian tertiary care hospital during a 12-month period (2013-2014), we studied the clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes including length of stay, inhospital death and outpatient follow-up rates. RESULTS: HF accounted for 392/1049 (37%) admissions involving 311 individuals; over half (60%) were women. Mean age was 58.8 (SD 16.2) years for men and 48.3 (SD 18.8) years for women; 76 (41%) women were <40 years of age. Median length of stay was 10 days (first and second quartiles 7, 17), and inhospital mortality was 12% (n=37). Ninety nine (36%) of the 274 who survived their primary hospitalisation followed-up at the hospital's outpatient clinic, and 18 (6.6%) were readmitted to the same hospital within 30 days postdischarge. Decreased known follow-up (p<0.01) and readmissions (p=0.03) were associated with increased distance between patient residence and hospital. Among the one-quarter (81) patients with echocardiograms, causes of HF included: non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (64%), right HF (12%), hypertensive heart disease (7%) and rheumatic heart disease (5%). One-half of the women with cardiomyopathy by echocardiogram had peripartum cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS: HF is a common cause of hospitalisation in rural Haiti. Among diagnosed patients, HF is overwhelming due to non-atherosclerotic heart disease and particularly affects young adults. Implementing effective systems to improve HF diagnosis and linkage to essential outpatient care is needed to reduce long-term morbidity and mortality.

Kidney care in Haiti--the role of partnerships.

Establishing a programme for the prevention and treatment of acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease in a developing country involves unique challenges. We became involved in a collaborative effort to improve nephrology care in Haiti after participating in the emergency response to the 2010 earthquake. The focus of this ongoing project is overcoming barriers to implementation with the goal of improving training and resources for Haitian health-care workers and developing programmes for renal disease prevention and treatment in a setting of limited resources. Here, we offer practical advice for nephrologists who would like to help to advance medical care in developing countries. Rather than technical issues related to the prevention and treatment of renal disease, we focus on collaboration, education and the building of partnerships.