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Symptoms of dilated cardiomyopathy
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Symptoms of dilated cardiomyopathy are variable and depend mainly on the severity of circulatory failure. In the early stages, the disease is asymptomatic or asymptomatic, subjective manifestations are often absent, children do not complain. Cardiomegaly, changes in the ECG are often detected accidentally during preventive examinations or when visiting a doctor for another reason. This explains the late detection of dilated cardiomyopathy.
The first clinical manifestations of dilated cardiomyopathy in children are:
- shortness of breath, initially during physical exertion (feeding), cough;
- increased sweating, anxiety, refusal to breastfeed;
- abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, dyspeptic symptoms; syncope, dizziness;
- rapid fatigue, decreased tolerance to physical activity.
Often, dilated cardiomyopathy is initially assessed as pneumonia, although these symptoms in this case are a manifestation of left ventricular heart failure. As the severity of the heart damage progresses, right ventricular failure joins in. In this case, children are often hospitalized in infectious disease hospitals or surgical hospitals with suspected intestinal infection or acute surgical pathology.
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