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Presentation of the major causes of morbidity and mortality by month DISCUSSION Children under the age of 5 years made up majority of the admissions. This finding was consistent with the results of similar studies in the south east region of Nigeria (Anyanwu et al, 2014; Ezeonwu et al, 2014; Ndukwu and Onah, 2015).This population group is at considerably higher risk of developing severe diseases like malaria, and acute gastroenteritis, than others (Pelletier et al, 1995; Oguonu et al, 2014; WHO, 2015; Mohammed and Tamiru, 2014; UNICEF, 2012).
Source publication
Pediatric emergency services are expected to form a key component of attaining universal coverage of quality healthcare as a target of the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to achieve this, accurate information about the causes of morbidity and mortality is essential. This retrospective study was conducted at the Children Emergency Room (CHER...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... tended to follow the pattern of admission with highest mortalities occurring between November and March, Figure 1. Figure 2 compares the major causes of morbidity and mortality in relation to the months of the year. AGE peaks at the beginning of the year which is dry season and it's at its lowest ebb during the rainy season. ...
Citations
... In Kano, Northwest, Belonwu et al. 9 reported an incidence of 1.2%, Oba-Daini et al. 8 reported 1.4% in Sagamu and Olatunya et al. 13 1.54% in Ekiti, both in Southwest Nigeria. While in Enugu, Southeast, Ndu et al. 14 reported 0.5%. These variations between the developed and developing countries may reflect the lifestyle and health-seeking behavior in those settings. ...
... 5,7,11,19 The majority of poisoned patients belonged to the lower socioeconomic class, aligning with previous reports from Nigeria. 2,8,9,11,14,17 Most cases occurred in the second half of the year, with the highest rate between July to September, corresponding to the peak of the rainy and farming season when most farmers use organophosphates as either pesticides or herbicides. Kerosene poisoning was the most commonly observed form, consistent with previous reports from Nigeria. ...
Childhood Poisoning is a common cause of emergency room presentation, more so in underdeveloped countries where it contributes to a high incidence of hospitalization with variability in morbidity and mortality. This study retrospectively assessed the sociodemographic profiles, poisoning agents, clinical features and management of cases of childhood poisoning admitted at Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu. It was a 10-year retrospective study of all the cases of childhood poisoning admitted within the period of study at the Children’s Emergency Room of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), Enugu. The prevalence of childhood poisoning in the study was 0.3%. Of all the subjects, 78.4% were ≤5 years and more than half were males and from lower socioeconomic classes. Accidental poisoning accounted for 70.3%; the predominant agents were kerosene and organophosphates. Palm oil was used by 67.6% of the participants as an intervention before presentation. Pneumonitis was the most common complication. Patients with peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) < 95% were 14 times more likely to have complications than those with SpO2 ≥ 95%. The duration of hospital stay was ≤3 in 59% of the cases and no mortality was recorded in this study.Childhood poisoning remains prevalent in our environment with kerosene being the commonest agent. Palm oil administration as a predominant pre-hospital intervention worsens outcomes. Duration of hospitalization depends on SpO2 at presentation, need for antibiotic therapy, and intention.
... In other words, in Ethiopia, 1 in every 35 children dies within the first month, 1 in every 21 children dies before celebrating their first birthday, and 1 in every 15 children dies before reaching their fifth birthday [2]. Studies in several developing countries have shown that infectious diseases are the most common cause of admissions and mortality in hospital pediatrics wards; specifically, acute gastroenteritis, malaria, pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, and malnutrition are the most common conditions [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Death that occurs before reaching the existing life expectancy of a particular country is called premature death, and it is the best single alternative measure to reflect differences in the health status of the population [9]. ...
... The study of the causes of hospital admissions and the magnitude of premature deaths is a vital parameter for evaluating the quality of child healthcare and will be a significant input for modifying health policies. Furthermore, it helps to provide better quality care, hospital resource allocation, and institute adequate preventive measures [4,5]. Although knowing the causes of childhood admission and hospital outcomes enables the setting of appropriate priority and intervention planning [7,13], there is limited information regarding the magnitude and causes of pediatric admission, premature mortality, and associated years of potential life lost among hospitalized children in Ethiopia, particularly in Jimma City. ...
... This study provides insights into the pattern of admissions and years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to premature death among pediatric admissions in Jimma City public hospitals in southwest Ethiopia. The results of this study indicated that pediatric patients admitted to hospitals were mostly under five years of age, and male predominance was observed, in keeping with findings in other studies carried out elsewhere in Africa [5][6][7][8][14][15][16]. However, this finding is inconsistent with another study conducted in Nigeria, which reported no age or gender variations. ...
Introduction:
although evidence suggests recent reductions in infant and child mortality, little is known about the magnitude, and causes of pediatrics admission, premature mortality, and associated years of potential life lost among hospitalized children in Ethiopia, particularly in Jimma City.
Methods:
a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on hospital's care registries of pediatric patients who presented with acute disease over three years period, from September 7th, 2014, to September 10th, 2017, at Jimma Medical Canter and Shenen Gibe Hospital in Jimma City. The data were cleaned and imported to statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) V.23.0 for descriptive statistical analysis.
Results:
a total of 7612 children were admitted to two public hospitals in Jimma City during the study period. Among them, 4457(58.6%) were males. The mean (SD) age of the children at admission was 4.1± (4.25) years. The major cause of admission was pneumonia in 2274 (29.9 %) children. The major causes of premature mortality were Pneumonia 36 (22.1%), sepsis 25 (15.3%), and severe acute malnutrition 25 (15.3%). A total of 9633 years were lost due to premature deaths, of which the majority 7663 (79.6%) were attributed to communicable and nutritional diseases. Pneumonia was responsible for the highest proportion of years of life lost 2178 (22.1%).
Conclusion:
it is indicated that the leading causes of hospital admissions and deaths were communicable and nutritional diseases. A significant number of years of life have been lost because of preventable and curable diseases. Therefore, early detection and initiation of an appropriate intervention could reduce the hospital´s burden and years of potential life lost due to these diseases.
... The vulnerability of children to these pathologies is thought to be one of the causes of the early development of this type of complications. Severe malaria was the primary etiology of PLTE, as similarly reported by several previous studies[5] [7] [11][12] [15]-[20]. These results confirm that severe malaria remains the lead-ing cause of morbidity, particularly in children aged 0 -5 years. ...
Abstract
Introduction: In the absence of health coverage in resource limited-settings, life-saving pediatric emergencies remain a challenge. The objective of our study was to describe the epidemiological profile of life-threatening pediatric emergencies
at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala (HLD). Methods: A cross- sectional study was carried out for a period of 3 months, from March to May 2017 in the pediatric emergency unit of HLD enrolling all children presenting a life threatening emergency on admission. Local emergency kits and an internal deferred cost recovery voucher or “green voucher” were used to facilitate access
to care for children on admission. The socio-demographic, clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary characteristics were collected and analyzed using SPSS software version 20.0. Results: A total of 135 children were enrolled and the sex ratio was 1.54. The mean age was 3.8 years ± 4.05 and 80.7% of the children were under 5 years old. The majority of children (82.9%) admitted to the emergency room came from peripheral health structures. The hospital prevalence of life-saving emergencies was 42.4%. The mean time to consultation after the onset of symptoms was 5.9 days and 66.0% of admissions were made during the 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. time slot. More than 4/5 of emergencies were neurological, respiratory and cardio-circulatory emergencies representing 35.6% and 18.5% respectively. Severe malaria accounted 31.9% of the etiologies, bronchopneumopathies and meningo-encephalitis were involved in 18.5% and 17.8% of cases respectively. Patients were managed within 30 minutes of admission in 75.6% of cases and 52.6% of them received a “green voucher”. The average length of stay in the emergency room was 6 days. The death rate from life-threatening emergencies was 17.8% and represented 61.5% of total deaths recorded in pediatric emergencies.
Conclusion: The profile of life threatening emergencies at the HLD was that of a child under 5 years old, coming from a peripheral health facility and presenting a neurological emergency.
Keywords
Vital Emergencies, Pediatrics, Douala Laquintinie Hospital, Cameroon
... The pattern of paediatric conditions seen in the children emergency room (CHER) together with their outcomes when monitored periodically, could provide information and data that give insight into the quality of existing services and help in stimulating provisions of better and effective quality healthcare services [1,2]. The CHER is a key healthcare services area in many Nigerian tertiary hospitals [3]. ...
... Similarly, a retrospective study which reviewed the attendance register of all children seen at the emergency paediatric unit of a teaching hospital in Benin-City Nigeria found that 56.3% of those admitted were males with a male to female ratio of 1.3:1 [9]. Again, in Enugu Nigeria, a descriptive retrospective study conducted in the CHER revealed a male to female ratio of 1.3:1 [2] Majority of the patients admitted in CHER were under 5-year patients and formed 79% of the patients in the CHER. This finding could be a reflection of poor development of immunity within the first five years of life. ...
... Also the high vulnerability of this class of people to different medical ailments and poor practice of childhood survival strategies that prevent common childhood morbidities and mortalities could be contributory to this finding. Other authors have also observed paediatric medical conditions as being the commonest conditions in the CHER in their studies [1,2,8,9,11].Malaria (26.3%) was the most common condition seen in CHER. This was followed closely by AGE which constituted 23.3%, pneumonia (13.4%) and sepsis (7.4%) respectively. ...
Background: Children Emergency Room (CHER) is a vital health care services point in many hospitals and can contribute beneficially in the evaluation of many hospitals ncluding tertiary ones. It enables many paediatric cases to be managed in the hospitals without being admitted into the paediatric wards with good outcomes. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study involving review of records of all the children seen in the CHER between January 2012 and June 2012. The objectives were to look at the pattern and outcome of paediatric conditions in CHER with the aim of providing data for further evaluation and improvement. A proforma developed by the authors was used in collecting the relevant information from the patients’ records. The data collected was simply analyzed. Results: The total of 486 paediatric patients who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria were seen in the CHER. Those less then one year of age constituted 58.6% of the patients. Majority (56.8%) of the patients were males. Also 52.9% of the patients lived in the rural areas. There was preponderance (96.7%) of medical conditions. Majority of both the males (78.6%) and females (72.4%) were discharged. Only 6.17% of the patients died while 15.6% were admitted into the wards. Conclusion: There was a preponderance of varieties of medical conditions in our environment with infections constituting the majority with resultant relative high mortality. Thus improvement in the uptake of the different childhood survival strategies including immunization and breast feeding will help in minimizing these problems.
... However, most of the risk factors of PRES in children such as severe sepsis, are very common in developing countries, including Nigeria. 22,23 Despite this, there has been little interest and limited published works in pediatric PRES by researchers in resource-poor settings. This narrative review aims to draw attention to the possible existence of PRES in children in a developing country like Nigeria and to identify factors responsible for the difficulty in making the diagnosis. ...
... 44,45 It is therefore imperative to closely monitor blood pressure in such patients and avoid further precipitants. Close differential diagnoses of PRES in children regarding clinical presentation include infectious encephalitis, autoimmune or paraneoplastic encephalitis, tumors, subcortical leukoaraiosis, CNS vasculitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, osmotic demyelination syndrome, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, toxic leukoencephalopathy. 27 Infectious diseases such as meningitis, acute gastro-enteritis (AGE), malaria, pneumonia, sepsis, and septic shock have been identified as the commonest causes of admission into emergency wards in Nigeria, 22,23 have also been implicated in the etiology of PRES. [46][47][48][49][50][51] These have sometimes also been misdiagnosed as PRES. ...
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a rare clinical syndrome that has been observed in different age groups, including pediatric patients. Identified triggers of PRES in both children and adults have included immunosuppressive and cytotoxic agents, organ transplantation, severe sepsis, blood transfusion, or evidence of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). Its clinical and radiological courses have been reported as mostly benign and reversible over days to weeks. Computed tomography (CT) scans are helpful in diagnosis, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains the gold standard. Unfortunately, because of the prohibitive costs of such medical equipment, diagnosis remains a challenge in developing countries. There is a dearth of information about pediatric PRES in resource–poor settings. This narrative aims to draw attention to the possible existence of PRES in children and to identify factors responsible for the difficulty in making the diagnosis. This review will hopefully increase awareness of PRES among pediatricians in order to make early diagnosis and institute appropriate management of this condition.
... During our study period, the mortality rate was at 3.63 per 1000. While comparing our results to similar available series from countries outside of Morocco, we found that our rate was way underneath that of the Bassey et al. [5] study with 27 per 1000, the Robison et al. [6] study (37.9 per 1000), the Ndu et al. [7] study (58 per 1000), the Joffiro et al. [8] study (41 per 1000) and the Santhanam study (122 per 1000) [9]. These disparities can be explained at least partially by the socio-economic level of each country. ...
... More thanone third of the deaths in our ward occurred in the winter season coinciding with the peak of bronchopulmonary infections. This observation is reported in other studies especially from Africa [5,7]. Two-thirds of our patients died in the first 24 h compared to 32% for Jofiro et al. [8]. ...
... Our study noted a high level of mortality (93.3%) in children under 5 years old in our hospital, joining other studies carried out in developing countries [7][8][9]. The main causes of this mortality were dominated by pneumonia and meningitis there by correlating with results from other countries [8,10,20]. ...
Background:
The death of a child at the emergency ward is one of the most difficult problems that the clinicians of these wards have to deal with. In our country the published data concerning the causes and the factors related to pediatric mortality especially in the pediatric emergency wards is very rare. This study aimed to study the epidemiology of the pediatric mortality in the pediatric emergency department (PED), to determine its rate and identify its most frequent causes.
Methods:
It is a retrospective and descriptive study, over five years (1st January 2012 and 31st December 2016) including all children aged from 0 to 15 years old who died at the PED in the Mohamed VI Hospital in Marrakech.
Results:
During the period of the study a total of 172.691 patients presented to the PED, among which 628 died (pediatric mortality rate: 3.63%). The masculine gender was predominant (n = 383) with a gender ratio of 1.59. Two-thirds of the patients died in the first 24 h (n = 421). The median of time from admission to death was around 12 h. Majority of the deceased children (n = 471, 75%) were from a low socioeconomic status. The most frequent cause of admissions for deceased patients in the PED was respiratory distress (n = 296, 47%) followed by neurological disorders (n = 70, 11%). Neonatal mortality (≤ 1 month of age) was predominant (n = 472, 75.1%), followed by postnatal mortality (1 month to 1 year old) (n = 73, 11.6%). The most frequent causes of pediatric mortality, whatever the age range, were dominated by neonatal pathologies (n = 391, 62.3%), followed by infecious causes bronchopulmonary infections included (n = 49, 7.7%), birth deformities (n = 46, 7.3%) while traumas were merely at 0.9% (n = 6). The most frequent causes of neonatal mortality were neonatal infections (n = 152, 32.2%) and prematurity (n = 115, 24.4%).
Conclusion:
Our data once again underline the crucial importance of prevention. This requires correct follow-up of the pregnancies, an adequate assistance of births, and perfecting healthcare provision to newborns in order to attain proper assistance.
... During our study period, the mortality rate was at 3.63 per 1000. While comparing our results to similar available series from countries outside of Morocco, we found that our rate was way underneath that of the Bassey et al [5] study with 27 per 1000, the Robison et al [6] study (37.9 per 1000), the Ndu et al [7] study (58 per 1000), the Jo ro et al [8] study (41 per 1000) and the Santhanam study (122 per 1000) [9]. These disparities can be explained at least partially by the socio-economic level of each country. ...
... More thanone third of the deaths in our ward occurred in the winter season coinciding with the peak of bronchopulmonary infections. This observation is reported in other studies especially from Africa [5,7]. Two-thirds of our patients died in the rst 24 hours compared to 32% for Jo ro et al [8]. ...
... Our study noted a high level of mortality (93.3%) in children under 5 years old in our hospital, joining other studies carried out in developing countries [7][8][9]. The main causes of this mortality were dominated by pneumonia and meningitis there by correlating with results from other countries [8,10,20]. ...
Background : The death of a child at the emergency ward is one of the most difficult problems that the clinicians of these wards have to deal with. In our country the published data concerning the causes and the factors related to pediatric mortality especially in the pediatric emergency wards is very rare. This study aimed to study the epidemiology of the pediatric mortality in the pediatric emergency department (PED), to determine its rate and identify its most frequent causes.
Methods : It is a retrospective and descriptive study, over five years (1st January 2012 and 31st December 2016) including all children aged from 0 to 15 years old who died at the PED in the Mohamed VI Hospital in Marrakech.
Results : During the period of the study a total of 172.691 patients presented to the PED, among which 628 died (pediatric mortality rate : 3.63%). The masculine gender was predominant (n=383) with a gender ratio of 1.59. Two-thirds of the patients died in the first 24 hours (n=421). The median of time from admission to death was around 12 hours. Majority of the deceased children (n=471, 75%) were from a low socioeconomic status. The most frequent cause of admissions for deceased patients in the PED was respiratory distress (n=296, 47%) followed by neurological disorders (n=70, 11%). Neonatal mortality (≤ 1 month of age) was predominant (n=472, 75.1%), followed by postnatal mortality (1 month to 1 year old) (n=73, 11.6%). The most frequent causes of pediatric mortality, whatever the age range, were dominated by neonatal pathologies (n=391, 62.3%), followed by infecious causes bronchopulmonary infections included (n=49, 7.7%), birth deformities (n=46, 7.3%) while traumas were merely at 0.9% (n=6). The most frequent causes of neonatal mortality were neonatal infections (n=152, 32.2%) and prematurity (n=115, 24.4%).
Conclusion : Our data once again underline the crucial importance of prevention. This requires correct follow-up of the pregnancies, an adequate assistance of births, and perfecting healthcare provision to newborns in order to attain proper assistance.
... While comparing our results to similar available series from countries outside of Morocco, we found that our global rate was way underneath that of the Bassey et al [3] study with 27‰, the Robinson et al [4] study (37,9‰), the Ndu et al [5] study (58‰), the Joffiro et al [6] study 41‰ and the Santhanam study 122‰ [7]. These disparities can be explained by the socio-economic level of each country. ...
... More than one third of the deaths in our ward occurred in the winter season coinciding with the peak of bronchopulmonary infections. This observation is reported in other studies especially from Africa [3,5]. Two-thirds of our patients died in the first 24 hours compared to 32% for Jofiro et al [6]. ...
... On the other hand, increasing the number of adapted units and neonatology wards for a better approach of the healthcare provision seems to be a priority [18,21]. Our study noted a high level of mortality (93,3%) in children under 5 years old in our hospital, which rhymes with other studies in developing countries [5,6,8]. The main causes of this mortality were dominated by pneumonia and meningitis there by correlating with results from other countries [6,8,18]. ...
Background : The death of a child at the emergency ward is a real challenge. In our country the published data concerning the causes and the factors related to pediatric mortality especially in the pediatric emergency wards is very rare. This study aimed to determine the global rate of the pediatric mortality in the pediatric emergency departement (PED), to study its epidemiology and to identify its most frequent causes.
Methods : It is a retrospective and descriptive study, over five years (1st january 2012 and 31st december 2016) including all children aged from 0 to 15 years old who died at the PED in the Mohamed VI Hospital in Marrakech.
Results : During the period of the study a total of 172.691 patients were admitted, among which 628 died in the PED (global pediatric mortality rate : 3,63%). The masculine gender was predominant with a gender ratio of 1.59. Two-thirds of the patients died in the first 24 hours. The median of time from admission to death was around 12 hours. Majority of the deceased children (75%) were from a low socioeconomic status. The most frequent cause of admissions for deceased patients in the PED was respiratory distress (47%) followed by neurological disorders (11%). Neonatal mortality was predominant (75,1%), followed by postnatal mortality (11,6%). The most frequent causes of pediatric mortality, whatever the age range, were dominated by neonatal pathologies (62,3%), followed by infecious causes bronchopulmonary infections included (7,7%), birth deformities (7,3%) while traumas were merely (0,9%). The most frequent causes of neonatal mortality were prematurity (24,4%), neonatal infections (32,2%), perinatal asphyxia (15%) and neonatal respiratory distress (12,1%).
Conclusion : Our data once again underline the crucial importance of prevention. This requires correct follow-up of the pregnancies, an adequate assistance of births, and perfecting healthcare provision to newborns in order to attain proper assistance.
... During our study period, the mortality rate was at 3.63 per 1000. While comparing our results to similar available series from countries outside of Morocco, we found that our rate was way underneath that of the Bassey et al [5] study with 27per 1000, the Robison et al [6] study (37.9per 1000), the Ndu et al [7] study (58 per 1000), the Jo ro et al [8] study (41per 1000) and the Santhanam study (122per 1000) [9]. These disparities can be explained at least partially by the socio-economic level of each country. ...
... More than one third of the deaths in our ward occurred in the winter season coinciding with the peak of bronchopulmonary infections. This observation is reported in other studies especially from Africa [5,7]. Two-thirds of our patients died in the rst 24 hours compared to 32% for Jo ro et al [8]. ...
... Our study noted a high level of mortality (93.3%) in children under 5 years old in our hospital, joiningother studies carried out in developing countries [7][8][9]. The main causes of this mortality were dominated by pneumonia and meningitis there by correlating with results from other countries [8,10,20]. ...
Background : The death of a child at the emergency ward is one of the most difficult problems that the clinicians of these wards have to deal with. In our country the published data concerning the causes and the factors related to pediatric mortality especially in the pediatric emergency wards is very rare. This study aimed to study the epidemiology of the pediatric mortality in the pediatric emergency department (PED), to determine its rate and identify its most frequent causes.
Methods : It is a retrospective and descriptive study, over five years (1st January 2012 and 31st December 2016) including all children aged from 0 to 15 years old who died at the PED in the Mohamed VI Hospital in Marrakech.
Results : During the period of the study a total of 172.691 patients presented to the PED, among which 628 died (pediatric mortality rate : 3.63%). The masculine gender was predominant (n=383) with a gender ratio of 1.59. Two-thirds of the patients died in the first 24 hours (n=421). The median of time from admission to death was around 12 hours. Majority of the deceased children (n=471, 75%) were from a low socioeconomic status. The most frequent cause of admissions for deceased patients in the PED was respiratory distress (n=296, 47%) followed by neurological disorders (n=70, 11%). Neonatal mortality (≤ 1 month of age) was predominant (n=472, 75.1%), followed by postnatal mortality (1 month to 1 year old) (n=73, 11.6%). The most frequent causes of pediatric mortality, whatever the age range, were dominated by neonatal pathologies (n=391, 62.3%), followed by infecious causes bronchopulmonary infections included (n=49, 7.7%), birth deformities (n=46, 7.3%) while traumas were merely at 0.9% (n=6). The most frequent causes of neonatal mortality were neonatal infections (n=152, 32.2%), prematurity (n=115, 24.4%), perinatal asphyxia (n=71,15%) and neonatal respiratory distress (n=57, 12.1%). Conclusion : Our data once again underline the crucial importance of prevention. This requires correct follow-up of the pregnancies, an adequate assistance of births, and perfecting healthcare provision to newborns in order to attain proper assistance.
... During our study period, the mortality rate was at 3,63‰. While comparing our results to similar available series from countries outside of Morocco, we found that our rate was way underneath that of the Bassey et al [5] study with 27‰, the Robinson et al [6] study (37,9‰), the Ndu et al [7] study (58‰), the Jo ro et al [8] study 41‰ and the Santhanam study 122‰ [9]. These disparities can be explained at least partially by the socio-economic level of each country. ...
... More than one third of the deaths in our ward occurred in the winter season coinciding with the peak of bronchopulmonary infections. This observation is reported in other studies especially from Africa [5,7]. Two-thirds of our patients died in the rst 24 hours compared to 32% for Jo ro et al [8]. ...
... Our study noted a high level of mortality (93,3%) in children under 5 years old in our hospital, which rhymes with other studies in developing countries [7,8,9]. The main causes of this mortality were dominated by pneumonia and meningitis there by correlating with results from other countries [8,10,20]. ...
Background: The death of a child at the emergency ward is one of the most difficult problems that the clinicians of these wards have to deal with. In our country the published data concerning the causes and the factors related to pediatric mortality especially in the pediatric emergency wards is very rare. This study aimed to study the epidemiology of the pediatric mortality in the pediatric emergency department (PED), to determine its rate and identify its most frequent causes.
Methods: It is a retrospective and descriptive study, over five years (1st january 2012 and 31st december 2016) including all children aged from 0 to 15 years old who died at the PED in the Mohamed VI Hospital in Marrakech.
Results: During the period of the study a total of 172.691 patients presented to the PED, among which 628 died (pediatric mortality rate : 3.63%). The masculine gender was predominant (n=383) with a gender ratio of 1.59. Two-thirds of the patients died in the first 24 hours (n=421). The median of time from admission to death was around 12 hours. Majority of the deceased children (n=471, 75%) were from a low socioeconomic status. The most frequent cause of admissions for deceased patients in the PED was respiratory distress (n=296, 47%) followed by neurological disorders (n=70, 11%). Neonatal mortality (≤ 1 month of age) was predominant (n=472, 75.1%), followed by postnatal mortality (1 month to 1 year old) (n=73, 11.6%). The most frequent causes of pediatric mortality, whatever the age range, were dominated by neonatal pathologies (n=391, 62.3%), followed by infecious causes bronchopulmonary infections included (n=49, 7.7%), birth deformities (n=46, 7.3%) while traumas were merely at 0.9% (n=6). The most frequent causes of neonatal mortality were neonatal infections (n=152, 32.2%), prematurity (n=115, 24.4%), perinatal asphyxia (n=71,15%) and neonatal respiratory distress (n=57, 12.1%). Conclusion: Our data once again underline the crucial importance of prevention. This requires correct follow-up of the pregnancies, an adequate assistance of births, and perfecting healthcare provision to newborns in order to attain proper assistance.
