Paediatric Surgical Admissions In A Tertiary Hospital In Western Nigeria

Abstract

There is paucity of data on paediatric surgical admission in sub Saharan Africa. This study was done to elucidate the spectrum of childhood surgical conditions as seen in tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Data were prospectively collected over a period of one year. There were 135 paediatric surgical admission representing 15.5% of the total paediatric admissions with a mean age of 6.2yrs±4.2SDand male to female ratio of 2.3:1. Three most common diagnostic categories were injuries in 42.2%, surgical infections in 31.1% and congenital anomalies in 12.6% of the patients. 66.7% of the children needed a surgical procedure. There were 3 deaths giving a mortality of 2.2%. It was concluded that injuries is single most common cause of paediatric surgical admission. Measures targeted at injury prevention will help reduce the incidence of these conditions.