[Cardiovascular Emergencies in the Emergency Department of the Chu Gabriel Touré].

Cardiovascular disease is a global public health problem. The management of cardiovascular emergencies is urgent due to the immediate life-threat.. Indeed, cardiovascular emergencies are responsible for 12 million deaths a year worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, its prevalence and burden are still poorly understood. Our study aimed to determine the prevalence and etiologies of cardiovascular emergencies.MATERIAL AND METHODS:We conducted a 12-month prospective study from May 1st, 2014 to April 30th, 2015 at the Emergency Department of CHU Gabriel Touré, Bamako. It Included all patients aged ≥ 15 years old (y.o) hospitalized for cardiovascular emergency during the study period. The data were collected in a questionnaire and analyzed with EPI - info French version 6.04.RESULTS:During this study, we collected 510 cases of cardiovascular emergency from 21600 ER admission, a prevalence of 1.2%.The average age was 57.07y.o ± 17.17. The female gender predominated with 57.3% with a sex ratio of 0.7. Patients had a low socio-economic status in 62.6% with 33% cases of unemployment. .Patients arrived in a taxi in 71.2% of the cases and they came right at the onset of the symptoms between 8 P.M and 12 A.M.28.7%Dyspnea was the most frequent reason for consultation with 23.7%. High blood pressure (HTA) was the most common cardiovascular risk factor with 54 % (Table I).Stroke was the most common diagnosis with 51.4% followed by global heart failure (15.1%) and coronary syndrome (10.1%) (Table II). The overall mortality rate was 23.3% (Table III).CONCLUSION:The frequency and burden of cardiovascular emergencies are still underestimated due to the lack or scarcity of diagnostic tools.