Analysis of mortality in the emergency department at a university hospital in Pleven

OBJECTIVE: To identify the demographic patterns of mortality, the time spent before death in the emergency department (ED), and the causes of fatal outcomes. METHODS: We performed a 5-year (01/01/2011 to 01/01/2016) retrospective analysis of all non-traumatic deaths in the ED of the UMHAT – Pleven. To extract the necessary information, we used the registers in the ED until the patients’ death. RESULTS: Among 156,848 patients in the study period, 381 died and the mortality rate was 2.4/100000. The male:female ratio was 1.48:1. The 71–80 years age group was the most affected. The mean (SD) age of patients who died in the ED was 69.9 ± 8.4 years. Most non-traumatic deaths (222 cases) were due to cardiovascular disease. Most patients (70.9%) died within 2.3 h after arrival. The factors contributing to mortality included poverty, transporting the patient to hospital too late, and a lack of developed care centres for terminally ill patients. CONCLUSION: Most patients die within approximately 2 h after arrival at the ED. The main cause of death is acute myocardial infarction. Pulmonary embolism remains unrecognized in most patients (69%). Oncological pathology is among the main causes (7.4%) of mortality.