A mortality profile of patients admitted to Dr George Mukhari Hospital in 2008

Abstract

Introduction: Mortality profiles form very important components of the public health information system and are used widely to inform important planning decisions at managerial level. Aim: To determine and describe the mortality profile of patients admitted to Dr George Mukhari Hospital in 2008. Methods and quality: Cause of death information was collected from the death notification register situated in the hospital mortuary. A representative sample of 6 months out of the 12 months of the year was chosen in such a way as to represent all the seasons of the year to minimize bias from seasonal variation that could influence cause of death patterns. A total of 3790 deaths were captured in the death register for 2008 and 1968 deaths (52%) of the deaths were analyzed. 53% of the deaths occurred in males while 47% were in females. Most of the records captured were complete with very minimal missing data variables for analysis. Findings: Non-communicable conditions contributed to the highest burden of mortality at 43%, followed by communicable diseases at 38%. HIV and AIDS seemed to be prominently contributing to mortality in Dr George Mukhari Hospital. In keeping with global statistics, cancer was also a leading cause of death in the older age groups. The neonatal period was the highest risk period for death in children under 5 years of age. Post neonatal children die more from pneumonia, diarrhoeal conditions and malnutrition. Discussions and conclusions: Routine statistics collected by the hospital should be modified to include some important variables such as additional information on the broad causes of death or even utilization of the National Injury Surveillance System to assist with decision making. There should be strategies to improve more accurate capturing of HIV and AIDS deaths and Injury related deaths. Based on the similarity of the mortality profile to the rest of the province and the country, existing national and provincial programme strategies can be used for better planning for the illustrated health service needs.