Geographical variation in the clinical presentation of endomyocardial fibrosis in India?

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical presentation, clinical profile and survival of two groups of endomyocardial fibrosis patients. METHODS: The study was a prospective cohort study, or a prospective case series, comparing all consecutive echocardiographically proven patients with endomyocardial fibrosis seen in Medical College Trivandrum with the patients seen in Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha(Alleppey) (or TD Medical College). In all patients the clinical details like age, sex, type of endomyocardial fibrosis, the presence of anaemia, eosinophilia, neutrophilia and type of rhythm(Sinus or atrial fibrillation) etc were compared by both simple X2 and by Kaplan Meier survival curves. RESULTS: The mean age and the sex distribution was same in both places Briefly the incidence of biventricular endomyocardial fibrosis was more from Trivandrum than Alleppey, 64.9% vs 14.3% (p < 0.0.001), the incidence of atrial fibrillation was more in Trivandrum 44.2% vs 16.3%. (p < 0.001)The overall survival of Trivandrum patients was poorer (p < 0.0001). The six year survival was 61% in the Trivandrum population whereas it was 91.5% in the Alleppey population. CONCLUSIONS: These differences may have been due to the better nutrition of the Alleppey patients due to a higher exposure to fish compared to the Trivandrum population. Better nutrition would protect against Magnesium deficiency and prevent the absorption of Cerium in the patients from Alleppey, compared to those from Trivandrum.