Gender Disparities In Mortality Among Medical Admissions Of A Tertiary Health Facility In Ilorin, Nigeria

We retrospectively assessed sex-related differences in duration of hospital stay and mortality among medical admissions at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Nigeria between January 1996 and December, 2005. Seventeen thousand six hundred and fifty patients, consisting of 10,040 (56.9%) males and 7,610 (43.1%) females were admitted during the period under review. Of these, 4220 died which was made up of 2624 (62.2%) males and 1596 (37.8%) females with overall percentage mortality of 23.9%. Mortality rate was significantly higher (Chi=62.5, p=0.0001) in males (26.1%) than in females (20.97%). The percentages of deaths due to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Tuberculosis (TB), neoplasms and haematological disorders were higher in females than in males (p=0.0001, 0.0001 and 0.0001 respectively). However, deaths from gastrointestinal system and liver, and endocrine system were higher in males (p=0.0001 and 0.02 respectively) than in females. We recommend gender specific community interventions for the control of HIV/AIDS, TB and liver diseases in the population studied.