Review of morbidity and mortality among patients adimitted to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Caring for the critically ill is a challenge in developing country including Ethiopia, where heath needs often outstrip available resources. There is scarce data available on morbidity and mortality of surgical intensive care unit patients in Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: To describe mortality, morbidity and outcomes of patients under the care of surgical intensive care unit team between September 2010 and August 2011.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a hospital based retrospective review of morbidity and mortality among surgical patients admitted to Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the period between September 2010 and August 2011.

RESULTS: The study reviewed 441 surgical intensive care unit admissions over one- year period Age ranged from 10 to 90 years mean 37.55 ± 16.56 years. Mortality was high in 21-30 years age group, 9.1%. The highest admission was from cardiothoracic surgery unit, 37.4%, the average length of hospital stay was 4.52 days (range 1 to 87 days). Significant number 52 (33.3%) of patients who died under surgical ICU care belongs to General surgery unit. Two Hundred eighty (63.5%) patients had an uneventful course, while 156 (35.4%) and 161 (36.5%) died and developed complications respectively. Age of the patient at the time of admission, mode of admission, and post admission complications were significantly and positively associated with mortality (p = 0.0001) while gender did not show any association with mortality at SICU (p = 0.528).CCONCLUSION:The highest admission was from department of cardiothoracic surgery, while mortality rate was high-st from general surgery side. There are significant and positive associations ofa ge, urgency ofa dmission, and complications with mortality while gender did not show any association.