Pulmonary arterial hypertension in Latin America. The age and comorbidity paradox

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has been classically described as a disease in young adults, predominantly females with no comorbidities. However, in recent registries, the epidemiology has changed to older patients with comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, systemic hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, there is not enough inclusion of these patients in clinical trials. In contrast, in Latin America, registries have shown that PAH patients are younger and have fewer comorbidities, which raises the question of whether Latin American patients present a different phenotype or if we are lagging behind developed countries and whether we will experience a change in epidemiology in the next couple of years. We analyzed these trends in this review.