PATTERNS OF MORTALITY IN JIMMA UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL DURING SEPTEMBER 2001 TO AUGUST 2002 RETROSPECTIVE STUDY.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mortality studies provide fundamental information that can serve as a corner stone for monitoring health progress. So the aim of this study was to assess the patterns of mortalities to patients admitted to Jimma University Specialized Hospital

METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on patients admi University Specialized hospital from September 2007 to August 2002. Relevant hospital data were retrieved from the registration books and patient cards from different wards and central archieves of the hospital retrospectively. and also from central archieve of the hospital. The study included in-patient deaths in medical, surgical, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynaecology Departments, wereas deaths in the our patient Departments were excluded. The relevant data variables were documented onto specialized formats and subsequently grouping and analysis were made with appropriate statistical package.

RESULTS: Out of 5960 in-patients admissions 399 (6.7%) died within the study period with a crude death rate of 66.9 per 1000 patients. The overall male to female sex ratio was /:4:1. From all wards, tuberculosis 59 (18.6%), maternal causes 44 (13.8%), cardiac diseases 41 (12.6%), accidental injuries 38 (11.9%) and pneumonias 37(11.6%) were among the top ten causes of deaths. Most deaths occurred in medical wards 211 (51.9%) with tuberculosis 54 (26.5%) and cardiac diseases 36 (17.1%) as the most common causes of death. On the other hand, chronic liver disease and cardiac diseases contributed to high mortality rate by scoring the highest case-fatality rates 47.5% and 29.2%, respectively. Accidental injuries such as physical violence 24 (34.8%) and road traffic accidents 14 (20.3%) in surgical wards: pneumonias 18 (24.3%), and malnutrition 12 (16.2%) in pediatrics wards were the most frequently documented causes of deaths. Ruptured uterus 13 (28.9%) and abortions 9 (20.0%) were the most common causes of mortalities in obstetrics-gynaecologic wards during this study period.

CONCLUSION: This study tried to surface out the patterns of deaths in south western part of Ethiopia where it hinted local health implementers for strong preventive precautions in order to lower deaths from easily managable health problems such asobstetric conditions and physical injuries. The study could as well serve as a baseline for subsequent studies.