Epidemiology, Risk Factors and Etiology of Altered Level of Consciousness Among Patients Attending the Emergency Department at a Tertiary Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia

INTRODUCTION: An altered level of consciousness (ALOC) means that the patient is not as awake, alert, or able to understand or react to the surrounding environment. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology, risk factors, and etiology of altered levels of consciousness among patients attending the Emergency Department. METHODS: The study was conducted in the Mogadishu-Somali-Turkey Training and Research Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, as a prospective observational study. A total of 155 adult patients with a GCS ≤12 were admitted to the emergency room for traumatic and non-traumatic ALOC between March and June 2021. RESULTS: Our study enrolled 155 (2.6%) of the 6000 patients hospitalized in the emergency room. 60% (n = 93) were males and 40% (n = 62) were females. The mean age of the participants was 46.7 ± 22.4 years. The most common presenting features were dyspnea (21.9%), injuries (20%), hemiplegia (16.8%), convulsion (16.8%), and oliguria (12.3%). 119 (77%) cases had a GCS = 3–8, while 36 (23%) had a GCS = 9–12. Most of the participants with ALOC had a history of hypertension (27.7%, n = 43), 34 (21.9%) had diabetes, 6 (3.9%) had epilepsy, and 4 (2.6%) had chronic renal disease. Cerebro-vascular-accidents (24.5%) were the most common cause of ALOC, followed by organ failure and traumatic brain injury (22% each), infections (12.2%), diabetic emergencies, hypoglycemia (11.6%), shock, and status epilepticus (4% each). CONCLUSION: Male sex, older age, hypertension, and diabetes were the main risk factors for our study participants, while uremic encephalopathy, ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, sepsis syndrome, and subdural hematoma were the most common causes of ALOC.