Trends in mortality at Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria 2006-2014

INTRODUCTION: vital events registration is not accurately done in Nigeria. Hence, mortality data is often not available. Health facility-based data can provide useful information on the trends in mortality of a population. This study describes the trend of deaths in a tertiary health facility. METHODS: a retrospective review of the medical records of all patients that died in the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria from 2006 to 2014 was conducted. Data extracted from the records included age, sex, primary cause of death and date of admission and death. Frequencies were done and the median age of male and female deaths were compared using Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: a total of 1,326 deaths occurred in the hospital. The median age at death was 46 years (range: 0-110), median age was 49 years in males and 43 years in females (p = 0.025). One fifth (20.9%) of deaths was in infants. The median length of hospital stay was 4 days (range: 0-277). The highest proportion of death (16.4%) was in 2009 and on Wednesdays (15.9%). More deaths occurred in January (11.5%) and (10.3%) in February than in other months. The leading cause of communicable disease death in age 1 and above were HIV (15.2%) and TB (2.5%). Birth asphyxia (39.3%) and low birth weight (46%) were the commonest cause of death in infants. CONCLUSION: over the years the leading causes of mortality were preventable. Infant mortality remains a public health problem. Hospital mortality data could guide health decision making and interventions in Nigeria. Interventions to reduce death from communicable diseases and in infants are urgently recommended.