BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease was hitherto a rarity in Africa. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) accounts for coronary artery disease–related morbidity and mortality. Reports on ACS in Africa are few. METHODS AND RESULTS: We enrolled 1072 indigenous Nigerian people 59.2±12.4 years old (men, 66.8%) with ACS in an observational multicentered national registry (2013–2018). Outcome measures included incidence, intervention times, reperfusion rates, and 1-year mortality. The incidence of ACS was 59.1 people per 100 000 hospitalized adults per year, and comprised ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction (48.7%), non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction (24.5%), and unstable angina (26.8%). ACS frequency peaked 10 years earlier in men than women. Patients were predominantly from urban settings (87.3%). Median time from onset of symptoms to first medical contact (patients with ST-segment– elevation myocardial infarction) was 6 hours (interquartile range, 20.1 hours), and only 11.9% presented within a 12-hour time window. Traditional risk factors of coronary artery disease were observed. The coronary angiography rate was 42.4%. Reperfusion therapies included thrombolysis (17.1%), percutaneous coronary intervention (28.6%), and coronary artery bypass graft (11.2%). Guideline-based pharmacotherapy was adequate. Major adverse cardiac events were 30.8%, and in-hospital mortality was 8.1%. Mortality rates at 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year were 8.7%, 9.9%, 10.9%, and 13.3%, respectively. Predictors of mortality included resuscitated cardiac arrest (odds ratio [OR], 50.0; 95% CI, 0.010– 0.081), nonreperfusion (OR, 34.5; 95% CI, 0.004–0.221), pulmonary edema (OR, 11.1; 95% CI, 0.020–0.363), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (OR, 4.1; 95% CI, 0.091–0.570), and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.302–3.367). CONCLUSIONS: ACS burden is rising in Nigeria, and patients are relatively young and from an urban setting. The system of care is evolving and is characterized by lack of capacity and low patient eligibility for reperfusion. We recommend preventive strategies and health care infrastructure-appropriate management guidelines.
