Morbidity pattern among non-urban dwellers, south west, Nigeria: findings from an opportunity survey

Abstract

Background: Morbidity is an ever present phenomenon among human population. Changing degree of life style sophistication has brought about inevitable changes in morbidity pattern. This has called for vigilance on the part of health care providers so as to be abreast of early changes in morbidity pattern among the practice population.

Method: This is an opportunity survey that was carried out during a free health mission in a non-urban setting. It was designed to throw light into the stage of the affected community along a morbidity transition. A total of 198 subjects came to asses care and necessary information were obtained using a proforma. Analysis was done using SPSS version17.

Result: The mean age of the subjects was 64.33± 18.7 yrs. There were 19.7% males and 80.3% females. The most common diagnosis were in cardiovascular component (28.3%) followed by the general component (23.2%). There was a significant relationship between age of subjects and blood pressure (chi square 36.143, P=0.007). About fourteen per cent (14.6%) of the subjects had normal blood pressure. The largest group was in the first stage hypertension range (37.4%) while 24.2% and 23.7% had first stage and pre-hypertension respectively.

Conclusion/recommendation: Finding from this survey has shown that morbidity among rural community is going beyond mere communicable diseases. 

It is recommended that health care providers in such settings should be competent in the management of noncommunicable as well as chronic diseases. The importance of healthy life style should also be part of patient counseling.

Keywords: morbidity pattern, opportunity survey, non-urban dwellers