Non-Traumatic Childhood Coma in Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital; Abakaliki; South Eastern Nigeria
Niger. j. clin. pract. (Online)
; 14(1): 43-46, 2011.
Article
in En
| AIM
| ID: biblio-1267053
Responsible library:
CG1.1
ABSTRACT
Background:
Coma is a medical emergency; and optimal management; especially in a resource-poor setting; would depend on the knowledge of its etiology and predictors of outcome. This communication reviews the etiology and outcome of non-traumatic childhood coma in Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital (EBSUTH); Abakaliki.Objective:
To determine the incidence; etiology and outcome of non-traumatic coma in children seen at the EBSUTH; Abakaliki. Materials andMethods:
This is a retrospective analysis of records of all children admitted to the children emergency ward of EBSUTH in coma of a non-traumatic origin between 1 st of January and 31 st of December; 2007.Results:
Forty children presented with coma out of 673 children admitted during the study period; giving an incidence rate of 5.9. The majority of the children (62.5) were aged between 1 and 5 years of age; and 79.5of them were deeply comatose on admission. Most of the cases (85) of non-traumatic coma were due to infective causes; mainly cerebral malaria (47.5); pyogenic meningitis (17.5) and septicemia (10). Twenty-four (60) children recovered while 13 (32.5) died.Conclusion:
Infections were the predominant causes of non-traumatic coma in EBSUTH. In view of the high mortality among this group of patients; efforts at the control of malaria and other infections would significantly reduce the incidence of non-traumatic coma in this study site
Full text:
1
Main subject:
Teaching
/
Child
/
Incidence
/
Coma
/
Hospitals
Type of study:
Incidence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Niger. j. clin. pract. (Online)
Year:
2011
type:
Article