Cause of death among Ghanaian adolescents in Accra using autopsy data

Abstract

BackgroundThere is limited data on adolescent mortality particularly from developing countries with unreliable death registration systems. This calls for the use of other sources of data to ascertain cause of adolescent mortality. The objective of this study was to describe the causes of death among Ghanaian adolescents 10 to 19 years in Accra, Ghana utilizing data from autopsies conducted in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH).FindingsOut of the 14,034 autopsies carried out from 2001 to 2003 in KBTH, 7% were among adolescents. Of the 882 deaths among adolescents analyzed, 402 (45.6%) were females. There were 365 (41.4%) deaths from communicable disease, pregnancy related conditions and nutritional disorders. Non-communicable diseases accounted for 362 (41%) cases and the rest were attributable to injuries and external causes of morbidity and mortality. Intestinal infectious diseases and lower respiratory tract infections were the most common communicable causes of death collectively accounting for 20.5% of total deaths. Death from blood diseases was the largest (8.5%) among the non-communicable conditions followed by neoplasms (7%). Males were more susceptible to injuries than females (χ2 = 13.45, p = .000). At least five out of ten specific causes of death were as a result of infections with pneumonia and typhoid being the most common. Sickle cell disease was among the top three specific causes of death. Among the females, 27 deaths (6.7%) were pregnancy related with most of them being as a result of abortion.ConclusionsThe autopsy data from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital can serve as a useful source of information on adolescent mortality. Both communicable and non-communicable diseases accounted for most deaths highlighting the need for health care providers to avoid complacency in their management of adolescents presenting with these diseases.

Willingness to Know the Cause of Death and Hypothetical Acceptability of the Minimally Invasive Autopsy in Six Diverse African and Asian Settings: A Mixed Methods Socio-Behavioural Study

“…These include, among others, the poor or non-existent acceptability of the typical and highly disfiguring CDA procedure, the lack of pathology expertise and infrastructure in low-resource regions, and the fact that in such settings the majority of deaths occur outside of formal health system premises [1,2]. The practice of the CDA is therefore restricted to research projects, forensic investigations for medico-legal purposes, and deaths reaching referral hospitals in the few countries that have functional pathology services capable of routinely performing autopsies [3–5]. As a consequence of such challenges, the use of less invasive post-mortem sampling techniques, such as the minimally invasive autopsy (MIA), is being considered as a potential substitute for the CDA [6–8].…”

Religious affiliation and health-seeking behavior related to non-communicable diseases among children in Ghana

“…[10] There is scarce data on prevalence of NCDs among children in Ghana. However, a study conducted by Agyemang et al (2005) among children aged [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] in the Ashanti Region showed that blood pressure increased with increasing age. Results from the study further showed that rural boys had a lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure than semi-urban boys and lower systolic blood pressure than urban boys.…”

“…[13] A study by Ohene et al (2009), examining autopsy cases at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana revealed that 41% of adolescents aged 10-19 years died of NCDs. [14] These initial facts underscore the urgent need for public health measures to prevent increasing prevalence of NCDs from becoming a public health burden in Ghana among children or adolescents.…”

Abortion Care in Ghana: A Critical Review of the Literature

“…Mills and colleagues 44 found abortion-related causes to be the leading cause of maternal death in rural northern Ghana, as did Baiden and colleagues 10 . Ohene et al 45 discovered that the majority of adolescent maternal deaths at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra were due to complications from unsafe abortion. Abortion complications were the leading cause of death among the youngest women in a sample of maternal deaths at Tamale Teaching Hospital, and the fourth leading cause overall 45 .…”