ABSTRACT
To study trends of hospital morbidity among adults in the region of Monastir during a period of 12 years [1996 - 2007]. We analyzed data from the morbidity database of the university hospital of Monastir [Tunisia] between 01/01/1996 and 31/12/2007. Data were drawn from the register of hospital morbidity implemented in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology since 1995. The International Classification of Diseases [tenth revision] was used to identify and classify morbid conditions. During the study period, we collected 150749 admissions with male tendency [sex-ratio = 1.27]. Among these admissions 24.4% were over than 64 years. Morbid conditions were dominated by Ischemic Heart diseases [4.24%] followed by cancers and diabetes mellitus [3.3% and 2.52% respectively]. Chronological trends, using Spearman correlation rank test, showed that overall rate of chronic conditions increased significantly from 4.4% in 1996 to 9.1% in 2007 [r'= |0.88|, p-value < 0.001]. In contrast, the rate of infectious and parasitic diseases decreased from 4.3% to 2.9% [r'= |0.98|, p-value < 0.001]. Morbidity trends reflect the epidemiological transition of our country and call to a backing of the ambulatory system and the development of specific services able to decrease the needs of hospitalizations