Ogunmola O. Olarinde and Oladosu Y. Tunji
There are scarce data available on adult mortality from medical causes of deaths and almost none existed for a rural setting in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aimed at patterns of mortality and to determine the frequency and causes of deaths in a t ertiary health centre located in a rural area of Nigeria. This retrospective study was carried out o f all deaths recorded at the accident and emergency department of the Federal Medical Centre Ido Ekiti, Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria from January 2011 to December 2012. Data was analyses u sing SPSS version 16 software. A total number of 92 deaths were recorded from 1769 patients’ atte ndance with a crude mortality rate of 5.2% during the study period and there were 52 male deaths (56. 5) and 40 female deaths (43.5%) with male to female ratio 1.3:1. The age range was 18 to 87year s averaging 52.49 + 18.78years with more deaths occurring in the young and middle ages. The most f requent cause of deaths was non-communicable diseases with stroke topping the list followed by h yperglycaemic emergencies. Our study suggests that non-communicable diseases affect a much higher proportion of people during their prime working years in the rural centre. This is of part icular concern because of the scarce health care resources available and high level of poverty in ru ral population of Nigeria.
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