This study was carried out in Manchester Children's Hospital in the U.K. and aimed to compare between two groups of children with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The first group was 55 children from Damascus University Children's Hospital in Syria between 2000 and 2001 . The second group was 22 Children's Hospital in the UK between 1998 and 2002 . The age of onset in both groups was from 1 month to 13 years . More than two third were less than 2 years old . Females were more affected in both groups . Fifty eight percent of the children presented with cardiac failure with a preceding history of upper respiratory tract infection , which exaggerated the symptoms . The presentation of dilated cardiomyopathy was more in autumn and winter in the first group but in the second group there was no predilection to special season .