Building a national network of heart failure management teams to improve the care of heart failure patients in Ghana: The GHI-HF Registry (Preprint)

Abstract

The prevalence of heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing rapidly, with heart failure leading the mortality charts in most countries, including Ghana. However, epidemiological profiles, treatment patterns, and survival data are scarce, and the national capacity to manage heart failure is not well established. The Ghana Heart Initiative is a health system-strengthening effort to improve cardiovascular disease care. This study is intended to build capacity, determine the epidemiology and medium-term outcomes of patients with heart failure in Ghana and form the basis for a national registry for heart failure

To build national capacity to manage heart failure and to assess the epidemiological profile and clinical characteristics of heart failure patients in Ghana

This study is a prospective, multicenter, multi-level cross-sectional observational study of patients with heart failure from January to May 2023. Approximately 5,000 patients presenting with heart failure to 9 hospitals including teaching, regional and municipal hospitals will be recruited and evaluated according to a standardized protocol, including the use of echocardiogram and NT-proBNP test. Guideline-directed medical treatment of heart failure will be initiated for 6-12 months, and the medium-term outcomes of interventions, including rehospitalization and mortality assessed. Patient data will be collated into a heart failure registry for continuous assessment and monitoring. Preliminary analyses will be conducted by the end of the second quarter of 2023, and results are expected to be publicly available by mid-year 2024.

This intervention will generate the necessary information on the etiology of heart failure, clinical presentations, diagnostic yield of various tools and management outcomes. In addition, it will build the necessary capacity and support for heart failure management in Ghana. As at 30th July, the training and onboarding of all the 9 centers completed.

This study will provide the necessary data on heart failure which will inform decisions on prevention and management of heart failure and form the basis for future research

Study Registration Study Ghana heart failure registry 44028 registered in ISRCTN registry as ISRCTN18216214 Ethical Consideration Ethical approval has been obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of KBTH, CCTH and KATH: Protocol IDs KBTH-IRB 000152/2022, CCTHERC/EC/2023/019. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants of the study.