Disease mortality audit in a Nigerian tertiary care center

Background: Mortality audit is in developing countries is sparse despite its importance in guiding decision-making toward reversing the present high death rate. Objective: The study aims to study the profile of in-hospital mortality in a Nigerian hospital. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective review of the records of all in-hospital mortalities at Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, from 2016 to 2018. Information extracted from the records included age, sex, year, and cause of death. The causes were further classified with Global Burden of Disease 2017 classification. Analysis was with SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 1044 mortalities were recorded during the 3-year period, giving a mortality rate of 12.6%, with a male to female ratio of 1.3:1 and a mean age of 42.36 ± 25.23. The peak fatality were in early neonatal and 50–54 years of age group accounting for 96 (9.1%) and 87 (8.3%) cases, respectively. Communicable, maternal and nutritional diseases, noncommunicable diseases and injuries accounted for 276 (26.4%), 642 (61.5%), and 126 (12.1%) fatalities, respectively. The leading causes of fatality are stoke (17.1%), road injuries (7.7%), neonatal disorders (7.6%), HIV/AIDS (6.0%), chronic kidney disease (5.7%), diabetes mellitus (4.6%), chronic liver disease (4.4%), maternal disorders (2.6%), upper digestive system diseases (2.3%), and breast cancer (2.3%). Conclusion: The mortality pattern show male predominance, peak at neonatal period and preponderance of noncommunicable diseases, road injury and HIV/AIDS-related deaths. Increased government funding, universal health coverage, public education, and lifestyle modification are paramount to reducing mortality.