Pattern of admission and outcome of patients admitted into the Intensive Care Unit of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu: A 5-year review

Objective: The objective was to determine the pattern of admission and outcome of patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of all patients admitted into the general ICU at UNTH from 2008 to 2012. Data were collected from the ICU admission and discharge registers, and data analysis was done using Microsoft Excel 2007. Results: A total of 766 patients were admitted during the period, consisting of 501 (65.4%) males and 265 (34.6%) females. Ages ranged from 1-day to 89 years with a mean age of 38.2 +/- 18.2 years. The most common cases admitted were neurosurgical patients of which there were 316 (41.2%). Patients admitted as a result of critical incidents in anesthesia formed the lowest number of cases admitted 10 (1.3%). Of the 316 neurosurgical cases, 224 (70.9%) were due to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). An overall admission of 92.4% (207) was for severe TBI due to motor-vehicular accident (MVA). The average length of stay was < 24 h to 72 days with a mean of 4.9 +/- 3.2 days. A total of 16.7% (128) patients received invasive mechanical ventilation during their stay in ICU. Only 15% (34 patients) of all the cases of severe TBI patients received invasive mechanical ventilation. Mortality rate was 34.6% in this study. Conclusion: The highest number of admissions into the ICU was for severe TBI following MVA. Developing a viable trauma team and separately equipped neurosurgical ICU with adequately trained and motivated staff will help improve the outcome of patients.