Prevalence and clinical outcomes of abdominal surgeries in a South Western Nigerian University Teaching Hospital between March 2017- October 2021

Abstract

Abdominal surgeries constitute a striking portion of surgeons' clinical experience and often present diagnostic and treatment challenges, particularly in poorly resourced environments with a lack of modern medical facilities. This study assessed predictors and outcomes of abdominal surgeries at Lagos University teaching hospital, Idi-araba. Lagos state.

A retrospective research design was adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from patients' records. The instrument used was a structured checklist. Two hundred and seventy-eight patients' records that were obtained from the health information department of the hospital were assessed for data collection. The data collected was processed and analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the results of the study.

Findings revealed that one third (42.4%) of the respondents were between the age of 31- 40 years. Most prevailing abdominal surgeries was Appendectomy (33.8%) followed by colostomy (27.7%) and Herniorrhaphy (23.7%). The foremost indications for abdominal surgeries were cancer (32.4%). Clinical outcome of abdominal surgeries showed a larger percentage (65.1%) were referred to ICU after the surgery with surgical site infections as the most resultant complication. Factors influencing the outcome of the abdominal surgeries were age, gender, level of education and occupation with a p value less than 0.05. This study concluded that Appendectomy is the most prevalent abdominal surgery and majority of the patients spent first 24 hours after surgery at the intensive care unit with Surgical site infection being the major complication following abdominal surgeries.