Mortality trends in a tertiary care hospital in Mysore

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study is to find out the various causes of mortality in a tertiary care hospital over a 1-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All deaths occurring in the study period were retrospectively analyzed by analyzing the hospital records from the Medical Records Department for causes of death and various epidemiological parameters such as age and sex. RESULTS: A total of 1028 deaths were included the study. Deaths were more in males than females. More deaths were observed in the fifth and sixth decades of life. The maximum deaths, i.e., 356 were due to sepsis (34.6%) of which pneumonia was the cause in a majority of sepsis-related deaths (36.51%). Cardiovascular causes of death were 184 (17.89%) of which a majority of 130 (70.65%) were related to ischemic heart disease. The other causes of deaths included 137 (13.3%) from road traffic accidents, 117 (11.3%) due to cerebrovascular accidents, 73 (7.1%) due to gastrointestinal tract-related causes, 58 (5.64%) due to primary renal diseases, 45 (4.37%) from chronic respiratory ailments, 32 (3.11%) due to malignancies, 18 (1.75%) due to poisonings, and 4 (0.38%) deaths due to hematological disorders. CONCLUSION: The most common cause of overall mortality was sepsis followed by cardiac causes. Road traffic accidents also significantly contributed to the overall mortality. Steps are needed to be taken to educate the medical fraternity and the people about the prevalence and preventive strategies for communicable and noncommunicable diseases.