title: Mortality pattern among Nigerian children in the 1980s.
abstract: A study of paediatric deaths in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria during a 4-year period (January 1984-December 1987) showed an overall mortality of 80 per 1000 paediatric admissions. A majority (47%) of the deaths were the newborn with a decline (7%) in children aged 61 months to 14 years. Major causes of death were tetanus, low birthweight and birth asphyxia in the newborn; malnutrition, pneumonia and measles in the pre-school age, and anaemia in the older children. Neonatal tetanus and malnutrition played a leading role in the overall mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Calabar, Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Asindi
authors.forename: E O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Ibia
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Udo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D009549:Nigeria