Admission of hypertensive patients at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: There is a suggestion of an identifiable impact of hypertension on all cause mortality in rural Africa. There is however paucity of hard data on the impact of morbidity or modality from this disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the contribution of hypertension (HT) to adult morbidity and mortality at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Benin City, Nigeria.

DESIGN: Retrospective study.

SETTING: University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

SUBJECTS: Adult hypertensive admissions (HTA) in Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria during the period January 2000 to December 2002.

RESULTS: There were a total of 2,852 adult medical admissions during the study period out of which 575 were because of hypertension related morbidity. Only 302 (52.5%) of these were previously diagnosed as hypertensives). The most common hypertensive complication was cerebrovascular accident followed by congestive cardiac failure and chronic renal failure in order of decreasing frequency. The annual adult mortality rate from medical admissions was 5.6%. Mortality due to hypertensive complications constituted 10.5% of overall hospital adult mortality and 16.1% of deaths from medical causes. The annual mortality rate among HTA was 22.1% (252/1000) with a male:female ratio of 2:1.

CONCLUSION: The contribution of systemic hypertension to adult morbidity and mortality is very significant. There is need for more concerted effort to create hypertension awareness, and to achieve good control and prevention of hypertensive complications.