Pattern of medical admissions at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba - a two year review

Atwo-year retrospective evaluation of the pattern of medical admissions at the FederalMedical Centre (FMC),Asaba,Delta State,Nigeria. Case notes of all admissions and deaths in the medical wards between November 2005 and October 2007 were retrieved and reviewed. Themean, standard deviation and percentages of relevant data were derived and presented in simple descriptive statistics. One thousand, eight hundred and sixty patients were admitted over the study period. One thousand and eight of these [1008; 54.2%], were male, while eight hundred and fifty two [850; 45.8%] were female, making a female/male ratio of 1:1.18.The patients ages ranged between fifteen and ninety years, with amean of 51.56 ± 18.35 years.The age range ofmale patients ranged from16 to 88 years,with amean of 55.55 ± 17.99 years,while that of the female patients ranged from15 to 90 years,with amean of 57.14 ± 13.79.The length of stay in theward ranged from1 to 97 days,with amean of 10.32 ± 10.93 days.Therewere 23.25 patients per bed per year and a bed occupancy rate of 65.74%. There were 240 deaths [12.90% of total admissions]. The interval between admission and death ranged between 1 and 31 days, with a mean of 7.14 ± 6.7 days. One hundred and twenty four patients [124; 6.7%] were referred to other health facilities, while ninety six [96; 5.2%] left against medical advice.The commonest causes of admission in males was hypertension, diabetes mellitus and HIV, while in females, it was HIV, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Commonest causes of death in males were hypertension, HIV and diabetes, while in female subjects, itwasHIV, hypertension and diabetes. Non-communicable diseases- [hypertension, diabetesmellitus] and HIV/AIDS were themajor causes of admissions and death in both genders.Keywords: Pattern, Medical admissions, Asab