Pattern of Mortality in Children Aged 1 month up to 5 years in a Teaching Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Ethiopia has one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the world. This retrospective study was designed to determine the pattern of under-five mortality in Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All deaths among infants and children in the age group I-59 months that occurred during September 200 I to August 2002 were included in the study. From a total of 1556 admissions, 297 died making the mortality rate 19.1%, with 95% confidence interval of 17.1 -21.1%. Among 263 deaths, the documents of which coUld be retrieved, the majority (70%) were infants (below 12 months). Deaths occurred in the first 48 hours in 61.6% of the cases. The median duration of illness was 7 days. Nearly one third of the deaths had severe protein-energy  malnutrition. The top five causes of death were pneumonia, gastroenteriti s, tuberculosi s, pyogenic meningitis and sepsis. Serology for HIV was positive in 5 cases and the infection was suspected in another 60 cases. Further study on the impact of HIV on under-five mortality is recommended.