Disease pattern and outcome among Afghan patients: our experience in tertiary care hospital in Quetta

ABSTRACT

There is paucity of studies focused on Afghan resident patients who come to Pakistan. These patients are either referred or come here due to lack of facilities in their home country. This study was done to show the spectrum of illness brought to Pakistan and if they were different from illnesses in their parent country. Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study. This study was conducted at Paediatric Unit-I, Bolan Medical College Hospital, Quetta from June 2006 to May 2011. All admitted patients who were bonafide citizens of Afghanistan were included in this study. The patients were divided into three groups to determine the frequencies of illness in each group. Percentages were calculated for various ages and diseases. A total of 4416 patients were admitted from June 2006 to May 2011, out of these 110 were Afghan patients and the rest were Pakistanis. 58.18% patients were in group I, 29% were in group II while 14.5% were in group III. The 34.5% were suffering from tuberculosis, 13.6% patients were malnourished, 9% had nephrotic syndrome, 10% had various malignancies, 6.6% had infectious diseases, 4.54% had haematological causes, 3.6% had celiac disease, and 4.54% had liver disorders, while 14% had miscellaneous disorders. Tuberculosis, malnutrition and infectious diseases are most common in afghan patients