Prognostic Factors of Comas in the Intensive Care Unit of the University Teaching Hospital of Parakou (Benin)

Abstract

Background: Coma is a highly frequent situation associated with several diseases. Objective: That is to assess the prognostic factors of comas at the intensive care unit of the university teaching hospital of Parakou. Patients and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with descriptive and analytical purpose based on prospective gathering of data. It has been performed from March 1 to July 31, 2014. The population study consists of 100 adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit for coma. The vital and functional prognosis data are studied. Results: The admission frequency of comatose patients to the intensive care unit is 44.4%. Patients' mean age is 27 ± 13.9 years with extremes of 16 and 88 years. The average length of stay in the intensive care unit is 5.2 ± 5.6 days with extremes of 2 hours 30 minutes and 30 days. Mortality rate is 30%. Poor prognostic factors are: average Glasgow score of 6.8 ± 2.9 (p = 0.01), average outpatient simplified severity index (OSSI) of 9.1 ± 3.5 (p = 0.02), pupillary abnormality (p = 0.00), motor weakness (p = 0.00), average glycemia of 1.5 ± 0.82 g/L (p = 0.02), average systolic blood pressure of 130.9 ± 44.5 mm Hg (p = 0.03), average diastolic blood pressure of 80.8 ± 22.3 mm Hg (p = 0.03), average respiratory rate of 30.9 ± 10.6 cycles/min (p = 0.03) and average temperature of 37.8˚C ± 1.2˚C (p = 0.03). Conclusion: Coma is a pathological entity with high frequency in clinical medicine. Its positive diagnosis is easy, * Corresponding author. but etiological research is hard. Hospital mortality is high and influenced by several factors. Taking into account, those factors in care strategies can improve their prognosis.