Neglected Cardiovascular Diseases and Their Significance in the Global North

Due to increasing global migration, the spectrum of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is changing in developed countries. Up to 3% of migrants arriving in Europe have underlying CVD. Despite their high global prevalence, conditions such as rheumatic heart disease, Chagas disease, endomyocardial fibrosis, tuberculous pericarditis, peripartum cardiomyopathy, and pulmonary hypertension are often under-recognized, and, as a result, neglected in industrialized countries. Many of these conditions, and their causes, are often unfamiliar to the health-care providers in host countries. In this review, we summarize the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic work-up, and management of neglected CVDs that have an increasing prevalence in the Global North.