Clinical grading of pediatric heart failure in Egypt: a single-center study

Abstract

Background The inability of the heart to satisfy the demands of the target tissues’ metabolism as a result of alterations to the cardiac anatomy or function is known as heart failure (HF). Objective With a focus on the relationship between HF grade and other factors, the study sought to investigate clinical, laboratory, mortality, and severity of HF in children. Patients and methods From April 2022 to September 2022, an analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the Pediatric Department of the Fayoum University, Faculty of Medicine. A total of 30 children with congestive HF, ranging in age from 3 days to 10 years, made up the study group. The patients’ medical information was gathered from medical records kept in hospital patient files. For grading, the original Ross Classification for pediatric HF was applied. The diagnosis was clinically and echocardiographically verified. Results and conclusion For clinical and therapy evaluation, the severity of HF was determined according to Ross classification. HF cases of classes II, III, and IV were reported in 53.3, 33.3, and 13.3% of the current study population, respectively. A large proportion of the research group patients had anemia (80%), hypoalbuminemia (73.3%), and higher creatinine levels (40%), whereas a lesser proportion had lower sodium and calcium levels. Hypokalemia brought on by diuretics is uncommon in the research group (6.7%). Because anemia correlates well with Ross classification and the quantity of cardiac drugs taken, it has a negative effect on the severity of congestive HF and treatment regimens, with P value less than 0.05. The other side of the coin is that additional adverse effects are brought on by higher drug use. The main causes of death in patients with congestive HF were verified to be severe infections and malnutrition by the high mean of C-reactive protein and low mean of albumin, among nonsurvived cases, with P value less than 0.05.