Medical Admissions in a Rural Teaching Hospital in Southern Nigeria: A Retrospective Review

Abstract

Background: Hospital-based morbidity and mortality records reflect the health status of host communities. This helps policymakers and industry actors  plan and allocate resources for health services, research, training, and development. This study aimed to determine the pattern and outcome of medical  admissions in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Methodology: This was a three-year retrospective review from 2019 to 2021.Data on morbidity andmortality were extracted from ward registers. The relevant data was analysed using the IBM SPSS software. Tests were considered significant at p values of less than 0.05.

Results: A total of 2544 patients were admitted during the study period. There were 1420 females (55.8%) and 1124 males (44.2%), and the majority (36.9%) of patients were middle-aged. The mean age was 53.81 ± 18.81 years, and the mean duration of hospital stay was 9.07 ± 8.41 days, with 97.2% of  the patients spending less than 30 days on admission. Non-communicable diseases (70.6%) were the most common causes of admissions. The top  disease-specific causes of admissions were diabetes mellitus with its complications (14.9%), renal failure (11.8%), heart failure (9.2%), hypertension and its  emergencies (9.2%), stroke (7.8%) and tuberculosis (7.0%). Cardiology (15.5%), endocrinology (15.1%), nephrology (15.0%), pulmonology (14.8%), and  neurology (13.3%) accounted for the majority (86.4%) of the admissions. The major causes of death were renal failure (16.2%), stroke (15.8%), diabetes  mellitus and its complications (12.5%) and HIV/AIDS (8.7%). The majority (86.7%) of patients were discharged, 10.4% died, 2.2% were discharged against  medical advice, and 0.7% were referred.

Conclusion: The study found an increased burden of non-communicable diseases relative to communicable diseases. Effective health education and  promotion initiatives must be implemented to combat the impact of the increasing prevalence of these diseases.