ABSTRACT
Introduction: Heart failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients globally. It is a prevalent syndrome with poor prognosis, for which identification of variables that increase mortality and are treatable might lead to improved survival. This study aimed to find the pattern of socio- clinical demographics and the risk factors of heart failure at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done looking at 175 inpatient and outpatient heart failure cases diagnosed using Framingham’s criteria and transthoraxic echocardiography.
Results: The mean age was 56.33+/-16.94 years. There were more males than females, with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Majority(54.3%) of the patients studied were in the occupational class I(Senior public servants, professionals, managers, large scale traders, businessmen and contractors). About 15% of patients had no formal education, while about 40% had a tertiary level education. A majority had a history of hypertension (61.1%), while about 25% had a history of diabetes. There was a history of alcohol use in 44% of participants with a history of angina being present in about 20% of patients. Fifteen percent had a history of tobacco use, while the least represented risk factors were history of valvular heart disease (3.4%), family history of sudden death (2.9%), and family history of heart disease (0.1%).
Conclusion: Heart failure was more common in middle age group, males, married individuals, social class 1 and those with a tertiary level of education. Orthopnea was the most common presenting feature. Hypertensive heart disease was the most common risk factor, and other risk factors included  and alcohol use.