Mortality prediction in Chagas heart disease

Abstract

Chagas disease continues to be an important cause of cardiac disease in many countries of Latin America. Dilated cardiomyopathy constitutes the more severe manifestation and main cause of death in the disease. Typical clinical presentations include three basic syndromes: heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia and thromboembolism. The identification of markers related to the progression of Chagas heart disease is relevant for appropriate patient management. The most important predictors of death are New York Heart Association functional class, left ventricular systolic dysfunction and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, which reflect the severity of myocardial damage. Several other potential prognostic factors have recently been reported. Scores for mortality prediction using a combination of prognostic variables have contributed to overall improvement in risk stratification in the setting of Chagas disease.

Keywords::

• cardiomyopathy
• Chagas disease
• heart failure
• mortality
• sudden death

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was partly supported by grants from Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brasília, Brazil; and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.