During eight years (1982-1990) the evolution of chronic chagasic cardiopathy and its relation to parasitemia was evaluated in 279patientes. 85 men and 194 women, studied by resting eletrocardiography and xenodiagnosis. All patients were residents in Virgem da Lapa, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil and their ages varied from 7 to 76 years (average 42.6y). According to the results ojthe electrocardiograms the evolution ofchagasic cardiopathy was classified as a) unchanged- when there was no change of the initial pattern off the ECG, b) progessive - when there was deterioration of theECG pattern and c) regressive - when there was normalization or regression of the ECG alterations. Regarding xenodiagnosis 120 were considered with positive parasitemia, one or more xenodiagnoses positive, and 159 with negative parasitemia - alt xenodiagnoses negative. The results showed: a ) chagasic cardiopathy unchanged in 172 (61.6%) patients, bfprogressive in 99 (35.5%) patients and c) regressive in 8 (2.9%). There was no relation between the evolution of chagasic cardiopathy and parasitemia. Independent from parasitemia, the cardiopathy was progressive according to the age of the patients and significantly greater in males. In conclusion we can state that evolution of chronic chagasic cardiopathy is associated with the age and with the male sex, but not with parasitemia, and this may suggest that parasitemia is not related to the development of the chronic chagasic cardiopathy.
Chagas 'disease; Chronic chagasic cardiopathy; Longitudinal study; Parasitemia; Xenodiagnosis