Pattern of Common Diseases in Hospitalized Patients at an University Hospital in Saudi Arabia; A Study of 5594 Patients

Abstract

To assess the prevalence and the pattern of medical disorders by affected system among patients admitted with medical disorders; to determine the frequency of the most common diagnoses and the length of stay for hospitalized patients. The records of 5594 hospitalized with common medical diseases were analyzed from January 2000 to December 2005. From the patients' medical records; age, sex, and nationality, admission and discharge diagnoses, associated diseases, and length of stay in hospital were obtained. 54% were males and 44% were Saudis. The majority was in the age group of 46 - 65 years (38.0%). Cardiovascular was the most commonly affected system (19.9%), followed by respiratory (14.5%). Diabetes mellitus (10.5%), ischemic heart disease (8.6%) and bronchial asthma (5.8%) were having the highest frequency among hospitalized patients. The most affected age groups were 46 - 65 followed by 26-45 except for hematology where the most affected age group was 13 - 25 year (p < 0.001). Overall mean length of stay was 8.3 ± 6.3 days. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, similarly to the West, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were the most affected systems while diabetes, ischemic heart disease and bronchial asthma were leading causes of hospitalization.