Prevalence and Etiologies of Dyspnea in Adults at the General Hospital of Douala, Cameroon

Introduction: Dyspnea is a subjective feeling of discomfort. It can be acute or chronic onset. Our objective was to determine the frequency and etiologies of dyspnea in adults at the medical and surgical emergencies of the Douala General Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted from January 1, 2018 to February 28, 2020. Patients over the age of 18 who came to consult for dyspnea were enrolled. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 25 software. Results: Of the 565 files collected, 55.93% were women. The mean age was 47.66 ± 17.87 years. The frequency of dyspnea was 4.18%. Married people represented 53.63% of the workforce. History of high blood pressure (39.14%), chronic kidney disease (26.70%) and HIV infection (12.21%) were the most common. Acute dyspnea accounted for 89.56% of cases. The etiologies were dominated by: cardiovascular conditions (24.43%), non-tumor bronchopulmonary and pleural pathologies (20.88%), tumoral conditions (10.27%). The most common cardiac and pulmonary causes were acute pulmonary edema (78.26%), lower respiratory infections (52.54%) and exacerbations of asthma (23.73%). Conclusion: Dyspnea represents 4.18% of admissions to the medicosurgical emergency department of the Douala General Hospital. Etiologies are dominated by cardiac and lower respiratory causes.