title: Causes for hospitalizations at upazila health complexes in Bangladesh.
abstract: Morbidity and mortality data are important for planning and implementing healthcare strategies of a country. To understand the major causes for hospitalizations in rural Bangladesh, demographic and clinical data were collected from the hospital-records of five government-run rural health facilities (upazila health complexes) situated at different geographical regions of the country from January 1997 to December 2001. During this period, 75,598 hospital admissions in total were recorded, of which 54% were for male, and 46% were for female. Of all the admissions, diarrhoeal disease was the leading cause for hospitalization (25.1%), followed by injuries (17.7%), respiratory tract diseases (12.6%), diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (10.5%), obstetric and gynaecological causes (8.5%), and febrile illnesses (6.7%). A considerable proportion (8.3%) of the hospitalized patients remained undiagnosed. Despite the limitations of hospital-based data, this paper gives a reasonable insight of the important causes for hospitalizations in upazila health complexes that may guide the policy-makers in strengthening and prioritizing the healthcare needs at the upazila level in Bangladesh.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Sciences Division, ICDDR,B, GPO Box 128, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. suahmed@icddrb.org
authors.forename: Sirajuddin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Siddique
authors.forename: Anwarul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.forename: F K M Nurur
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Md Noor
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: Md Arif
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sobhan
authors.forename: Md Rafiqul
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Sack
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D001459:Bangladesh; D015984:Causality; D005260:Female; D006292:Health Priorities; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006767:Hospitals, District / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
references.citation: Bull World Health Organ. 2002;80(9):746-51
references.pmid: 12378294
references.citation: Glob Health Action. 2009 Jun 19;2:
references.pmid: 20027273
references.citation: Bull World Health Organ. 2001;79(6):512-7
references.pmid: 11436472
references.citation: Health Policy Plan. 2009 Nov;24(6):467-78
references.pmid: 19720721
references.citation: J Trop Med Hyg. 1986 Aug;89(4):193-211
references.pmid: 3783813
references.citation: Asia Pac J Public Health. 2003;15(1):3-9
references.pmid: 14620491
references.citation: J Pak Med Assoc. 1993 Aug;43(8):159-64
references.pmid: 8264096
references.citation: J Trop Pediatr. 2004 Jun;50(3):170-4
references.pmid: 15233194
references.citation: Indian J Med Res. 1987 Jun;85:706-13
references.pmid: 3500123