Pattern of wounds in Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos

Abstract

Wound represents a major health burden in Africa and most parts of the world. In this study, woundrelated visits and hospitalization in a teaching hospital in Northern Nigeria were documented; this involved a retrospective on-site medical record review of wound-related hospital admissions from 1st April 2014 through 31st June 2014. Out of 139 patients that visited the hospital for wound-related cases, 63.4% were males, month of June had the highest admission (43.9%), and the age group 21-30 years formed the largest proportion (38.9%). The leading cause of wound was incision (54.0%), followed by avulsion (33.1%), analgesics were the most prescribed drugs (34.2%), antibiotics ranked the second prescribed drugs (32.9%), pentazocine was the most analgesic commonly administered (33.0%) and 60.3% of the patients that visited the hospital for wound-related cases stayed up to 7 days. There were significant association between the gender of the patients and causes of wounds, drugs prescribed, types of analgesics prescribed as well as a significant association between causes of wounds and length of stay at 0.01 level (2-tailed). This study provides considerable information on major causes of wounds and will be useful for planning program of education and health care policy.

A Survey of Wound Carein a Surgical Department in an Urban Clinical Setting in Northern Part of Nigeria

“…This conforms to study conducted in a similar teaching hospital where young adult males account for the majority of wounds located on the upper extremities, head and neck region [16]. Almost all the respondents were admitted to the surgical department of this hospital as a result of automobile accident similar to previous studies in low and middle income countries [1,16,20].…”

“…Also in men and women the incidence of woundsvary markedly between age groups, environment, and occupation [2], therefore in this study, wounds were more predominant in males similar to previous studies in different settings [1,11]. One of the more commonly proposed explanations for differences in sex distribution in the wound care surveyobserved between men and women, isthe characteristic sex difference in size and physical capacity which could be attributedto the more physically demanding jobs [1,12].…”

“…For many years, studies have shown that the relationship between age and relative risk of wound did not change [13]. In this survey, majority of the wounds belonged to the age groups (young-aged groups), followed by middle-age groups, these are the groups of people that are face with higher relative risk of open-wound injuries as well as a higher relative risk for both traumatic and non-traumatic musculoskeletal wounds similar to several other studies [1,14].…”

“…Other factors, such as balancing the demands of work and family, may also contribute to the difference in wound rate observed between men and women [21]. Also wound survey conducted by Builders and Oseni-Momodu in 2017 indicated a significant association between gender and causes of wound [1].…”

“…Wound care represents a major health burden in Africa and most parts of the world [1,2]. With increasing recognition of wound care as a medical specialty and as a public health concern that consumes extensive resources, therefore attention to patient focused symptoms and quality of life measurement are necessary [3].…”