Surgical mortality in the emergency room.
We reviewed retrospectively 125 surgical deaths in the accident and emergency department of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, a major health facility in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, between April 2000 and March 2003. Data were extracted from the casualty records. The male-to-female ratio was 2.8:1. The mean age was 36.5+16.9, with 84 being between 20 and 49 years. Road traffic deaths constituted the highest toll ( n=52). Head injury was the commonest primary cause of death ( n=37), while cardio respiratory arrest ( n=59) was the commonest secondary cause of death. The majority of patients died within 24 h. Surgical deaths constitute a significant load in emergency room deaths. Most of these are from road trauma, and efforts at prevention are advocated.
Ekere
Aniekan Udoh
AU
Division of Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. aniekere@yahoo.com
Yellowe
Bob Evans
BE
Umune
Steve
S
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies