Background:The 4th millennium development goals (2002) reported that sub-Saharan Africa countries including Nigeria have a persistently high childhood mortality rates in-spite of all the preventive and interventional measures to reduce this ugly trend.Patients and Methods:Childhood mortality data was obtained from the medical records department and post-mortem records of the pathology departments over a 5-year period from January 2007 to December 2011. The selection criteria include all case notes with mortality records involving children admitted into the paediatrics department through the labour ward and the obstetrics theater, children emergency unit (CHER), paediatric out-patient clinic.Results:A total of 12,442 children were admitted during this period. Of this, 711 paediatric deaths were documented accounting for 17.5%. The male to female mortality ratio was 1.4:1. The age range was from birth to 17 years. Neonatal deaths accounted for the most common cause of death constituting 344 (48.4%) of all deaths. Among the neonatal mortality patterns, severe birth asphyxia/perinatal asphyxia was the most common cause of early neonatal deaths accounting for 97 (28.2%). Septicaemia accounted for the most frequent cause of infant mortality accounting for 28 (21.8%). Among the under-5 age group, severe malaria constituted the most common cause of death accounting for 52 (36.6%) cases while malignancy topped the list of 5-17 years mortality rate constituting 15 (15.4%) cases.Conclusion:Perinatal and neonatal deaths constitute the vast majority of death in our environment with most of the deaths resulting from severe birth asphyxias, prematurity. Again in the post-neonatal period, infections and other preventable diseases constitute the most common cause of death in children of under age group of five years. Above 5 years childhood malignancies constitutes the highest mortality pattern.

Background: Cancer is a poorly addressed major cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria.Aim: The study aims at analyzing the age, gender and topography of cancer in Delta State, Nigeria.Setting: The research was conducted in the State tertiary health care center, the major referral center in Delta State, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This is a 6-year (2014-2019) descriptive retrospective study of all histologically diagnosed cancer cases in the department of Histopathology, DELSUTH.Results: Cancer accounted for 668 (28.9%) of the 2300 histologically diagnosed cases, involving 461 females and 207 males with mean ages of 48.40 and 54.14 respectively. The combined sex mean age and age range were 50.17 and 1-98 years respectively. The peak occurred in the 7th decade for males and the 6th decade for females. The most common cancers are breast (36.5%), colorectal (11.7%), prostate (8.1%) cervical (7.2), soft tissue (6%), non-melanoma skin (5.2%), ovarian (4%),metastatic (4%), gastric (2.6%), thyroid (1.8%), and salivary gland (1.4%) cancers. The peak incidence for breast and thyroid cancers; lymphomas; colorectal and cervical cancers; ovarian; and prostate cancers occurred in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th decades respectively.Conclusion: Cancer constitute a major disease burden, increases in incidence with age, and affects more females than males with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers as most common cancers. Understanding the local epidemiological characteristic is fundamental to planning for proper preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

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Background:Currently, in developing countries, there is a paradigm shift in the mortality patterns from communicable to non-communicable diseases.Objective:This study is aimed at providing a broad spectrum on the mortality patterns in elderly within a 5-year-period in a tertiary healthcare provider in Nigeria.Materials and Methods:This study is a retrospective review of mortality patterns of elderly patients from January 2007 to December 2011 occurring in Irrua specialist teaching hospital, (ISTH), Irrua and its environs. Information derived from the request cards include age, sex, clinical history, diagnosis, duration and cause of death.Results:During this period a total of 3,002 elderly (>65 years) admissions were seen. Of this, 561 patients were confirmed dead. Among this, 317 and 244 cases were elderly male and female patients, respectively. Hence the ratio of male to female was 1.3:1.0. The peak age group was 65-70 years accounting for 147 patients (26.2%). The age range of patients was 65-104 years while the modal and mean ages were 69 years and 74 years ΁ 4.2 standard deviation (SD), respectively. The most commonly encountered cause of mortality was cerebrovascular accident constituting 141 (25.1%) cases. The 2nd and 3rd majority of mortality cases were malignancies and diabetes mellitus (metabolic disorder) accounting for 85 (15.2%) and 45 (8%) cases, respectively. Others include congestive cardiac failure 35 (6.2%), Septicaemia 29 (5.2%), trauma 26 (4.6%) while chronic renal failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease consist of 22 cases (3.9%) each.Conclusion:Non-communicable diseases particularly cerebrovascular diseases and malignancies were the most commonly encountered cause of elderly mortality in our environment. Notwithstanding a large percentage of mortality patterns also results from communicable diseases with sepsis as the leading cause of mortality.

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