Prevalence and pattern of neurological disorders in adult patients seen at an outpatient rural tertiary hospital setting

Abstract

Introduction: Neurological Diseases (NDs) are common and most disabling leading to significant morbidity and mortality globally particularly in resource constrained settings. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence, distribution and pattern of NDs seen at the outpatient family medicine clinics of Irrua Specialist Teaching hospital (ISTH), Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive, retrospective review of hospital record was conducted for 1086 adult patients presenting to the general outpatient clinics of ISTH from January to December 2021 using hospital records. The diagnosis as made based on clinical findings and laboratory and radiological investigations using the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and related Health Problems (ICD 10). Results were analysed using epi info version 3.5.4. level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: The prevalence of neurologic disorders was found to be 2.06%. The age of respondents ranged from 18 to 93 years with a mean age of 46±18 years. They were mostly females 678 (62.4%), married 678 (62.4%) with majority of them being traders 315 (29.0%). The most common disorder among respondents was neuropathy 372 (34.3%) followed by Headache 368 (33.9%), Seizure Disorder 144 (13.3%), Stroke 98 (9.0%) and Migraine 20 (1.8%). There was association between age (p <0.001), marital status (p <0.001) and occupation (p <0.001) with the above neurological disorders. Conclusion: Neurologic disorders were common among the respondents with neuropathy, headache, seizure disorders, stroke and migraine being the most common. The study also found an association between these conditions with age, marital status and occupation.