Southern African cardiomyopathy in the Republic of South Africa, 1978-1980

Abstract

Data on deaths from all cardiovascular conditions (CV) and from cardiomyopathy (MY) are analysed from death certificates for the black populations of the Republic of South Africa. Current rates of death, compared with rates standardized against the notional world standard. suggest that marked increases of CV mortality are to be expected. Regional patterns of MY contrast markedly with the distributions of CV deaths, and Zulu seem less liable to either CV or MY than Xhosa or Tswana. A sample of hospitals also recorded CV and MY for a year among admitted patients, and this morbidity information is compared with the mortality data. Overall it seems likely that increasing numbers of black CV patients pose a threat to the viability of the nation's medical services and warrant stringent surveillance for both economic and humanitarian reasons.