Mortality in Shahid Mohammadi hospital of Bandar Abbas, first half of 2004

Introduction: Hospital mortality makes the highest proportion of all mortalities in the general population. According to the results of a national survey in Iran in 2000, over 50%, 30%, 35% and 40% of mortalities occurred respectively due to infectious diseases, cancers, cardiovascular diseases and accidents in hospital. The present study was conducted to determine the different causes of death in Shahid Mohammadi hospital of Bandar Abbas. Methods:. This cross-sectional study was conducted as a six month survey in 2004. Medical records of all cases of death were studied within the first 48 hours of death. As some medical records were not available, we obtained the information from the attending physician via interview. Statistical analysis was performed by Epi info and SPSS software, and results are presented by frequency tables. Results:. 10435 cases referred to emergency department and 15317 cases were admitted to the hospital wards. Totally 400 cases died during the study period. Most of them were residents of Bandar Abbas or nearby villages (56.3%). The mean age at the time of death for all cases was 51.4±22.8, and those of traumatic patients, cardiovascular diseases patients and cerebrovascular accident (CVA) patients were 33.2±19.8, 64.6±3.8, and 64.6±14 respectively. Five percent of patients had no attending or resident reports. The mean time between admissions until death in this group was 1.6±1 hours. Ninety four percent of the expired cases were admitted to emergency department on arrival. Thirty eight percent of all deaths occurred in emergency department. The most common causes of death in this hospital were CVA (15%), head trauma (10.59%), myocardial infaction (9.75%) and septicemia (4.25%). Cancers caused 6.8% of all deaths. There was no final diagnosis in 4.3% of the expired patients. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the mortality rate of this hospital is in acceptable range. CVA, head trauma, MI and septicemia were the main causes of mortality. Given the fact that hypertension is considered the principal risk factors in CVA and since the study indicated that CVA accounts for the highest mortality rate in this hospital, proper evaluation and management of hypertensive patients is vitally important