Breathlessness on Admission Linked to Higher One-Year Mortality in Malawi Hospitals

Overview

• A prospective 12‑month cohort study published in Thorax followed 751 hospital patients in Malawi, 44% of whom presented with breathlessness.
• One-year mortality reached 51% among breathless patients compared with 26% among those without the symptom.
• Within the breathless group, mortality was 69% for heart failure, 57% for anaemia, 53% for pneumonia and 47% for TB.
• Multimorbidity was common at 63% and was associated with increased risk of death in this population.
• Authors report mortality in breathless patients remains roughly twice that seen in Europe despite post‑COVID expansions in oxygen access, underscoring the need to evaluate integrated care in low-resource settings.