A Two-year Retrospective Review of Paediatric Mortality in a Tertiary Facility in North-western Nigeria

Introduction: Mortality pattern is reflective of both the severity of illness and the quality of treatment given.

Objective: To identify the age, time and cause of death in the paediatric wards of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of mortalities in children 5weeks to 15 years at the paediatric wards of UDUTH from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2017. The bio-data, duration of illness, diagnoses, complications and duration of hospital stay were extracted from the mortality case files and analysed.

Results: There were 121 mortalities, representing 2.3% of 5,355 total admissions during the study period. Sixty-seven (55.4%) were males (M: F ratio 1.2:1). Seventy-five (62.0%) were under-fives and mean age ± standard deviation was 54 months ± 46.3. Most deaths 76 (62.0%) occurred between July and December and majority 96 (79.3%) occurred ≥ 24 hours after admission. Severe acute malnutrition [SAM] 31 (41.3%), severe malaria 12(16.0%), and septicaemia 9 (12.0%), were the leading causes of death in the under-fives, whereas severe malaria 8 (17.4%), meningitis 7(15.2%) and malignancy 5 (10.9%) predominate in those > 5 years [P<0.001]. There was delayed presentation ≥ 7 days in 87 (71.9%) children and 90 (74.4%) had at least one or more complications.

Conclusion: Severe acute malnutrition and severe malaria were the leading causes of mortalities in our facility. It is needful to scale up preventive and curative services targeted at curbing these diseases in Sokoto and environs.