Spectrum of diseases in a medical ward of a teaching hospital in a developing country

Abstract

Communicable and respiratory tract diseases especially chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are the main reasons of admission in medical ward of low and middle income countries. This is different from the developed countries where non communicable diseases are the main reasons of hospital admission. In developing countries the data of hospital admission are still lacking. Therefore this study will help us to assess the common patterns of diseases admitted in a medical ward, the average length of hospital stay etc. The record of 1040 hospitalized patients in medical ward was analyzed for the period of six months from Jan 2010 to Jun 2010. Patient’s medical records were retrieved and data analysis was done to obtain age, sex, common diagnosis, the affected system and the duration of the hospital stay. The data was analyzed by using SPSSV 16. After reviewing the data the most common age of patients being admitted were between 46-65 years (31.5%) followed by more than 65 years (25%) between 26-45 years (21.28%) and less than 25 years (21.28%). Among the admitted patients females were more than the males except in neurolog ward. The most effected system was respiratory (31.73 %),and the most common diagnosis was Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (23.17%). The next common system involved was gastroenterology including liver (18.64%) ,genitourinary (12.01%), cardiovascular ( 11.34%), neurology (9.23%), endocrine (4.80%) hematology (2.30%). The cause for hospital admission by infection in different system was (30.08%) The average duration of hospital stay of the patients was less than 7 days. The respiratory diseases and the infectious disease are the most common disease in Nepal. The communicable diseases still hold a greater position, while non communicable diseases are main reasons for admission to the medical wards in developed countries. Journal of College of Medical Sciences-Nepal,2012,Vol-8,No-2, 7-11 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jcmsn.v8i2.6831

Spectrum of Diseases, Disease Related Mortality and Overall Financial Burden of Hospitalized Patients in Medical Wards of Tertiary Care Public Hospital

“…With somewhat contradictory to our study pattern, an earlier Nepalese study showed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) being the most common disease followed by UTI, pneumonia, poisoning, enteric fever, acute gastroenteritis and hypertension [14]. While later a Sudanese study revealed that gastroenteritis was responsible for 24.4% of all gastrointestinal diseases followed by pneumonia, stroke, hypertension, malaria and diabetes [15].…”

“…Overall 51% of cases could be attributed to infections in this study which are relatively higher than 31% and 43% respectively reported by Pokharel et al and Haitham et al [14] [15]. With somewhat contradictory to our study pattern, an earlier Nepalese study showed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) being the most common disease followed by UTI, pneumonia, poisoning, enteric fever, acute gastroenteritis and hypertension [14].…”

“…(>45 years) in contemporary studies [14] [16] [17]. Majorly in different to researches, length of patients stay at ward was less than 7 days (61%), however, in our study average length of stay was slightly higher than reported by certain other researches [14] [15] [18].…”

“…With exception of Elias et al which reported as 21 to 30 years age group to be the most frequently involved age group, most researchers report similar or relatively older age group cases i.e. (>45 years) in contemporary studies [14] [16] [17]. Majorly in different to researches, length of patients stay at ward was less than 7 days (61%), however, in our study average length of stay was slightly higher than reported by certain other researches [14] [15] [18].…”

The Pattern of Respiratory Disease Morbidity and Mortality in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern-Eastern Nigeria

“…In Ilorin Central Nigeria, chest infections were the most important causes of respiratory disease hospitalisation with tuberculosis and pneumonia occupying the first and third most frequent indications for hospitalisation [10]. This contrasts sharply with observations from other parts of the world where chronic noninfective respiratory diseases predominate [11, 12]. …”