Intestinal Obstruction among Patients Admitted in the Department of Surgery of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Although intestinal obstruction is a very common surgical emergency, there is a dearth of evidence regarding its prevalence at our institute. The objective of this study is to find out the prevalence of intestinal obstruction among patients admitted to the Department of Surgery of a tertiary care centre. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study on a total of 6735 admitted patients' in Department of Surgery a tertiary care centre was conducted from 1(st) January, 2014 to 31(st) March, 2015. Data were collected retrospectively with ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 106/071/072). All patients admitted to the surgery ward of the hospital with an age of 18 and above were included in the study. Convenience sampling was used. The data were recorded and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16.0. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: Out of the 6735 admitted cases, the prevalence of intestinal obstruction among the admitted patients in the surgery department of the tertiary care centre was found to be 100 (1.48%) (1.19-1.77 at 95% Confidence Interval). The most common presentations were pain in the abdomen 93 (93%), vomiting 74 (74%), and abdominal distension 55 (55%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of intestinal obstruction in our study was lower than the similar studies done in similar settings.