Pattern and Trend of Medical Admissions of Patients of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Selected Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Although chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been of major importance in developed countries for several decades, currently it is becoming recognized as a major public health threats in the developing world too.The increasing NCDs burden is compounded by failure in provision of clear and up-to-date evidence on the burden for key decision makers. The present study is designed to collect retrospective secondary data from selected Government and Private Hospitals in Addis Ababa that offer services to out-patients of NCDs through special referral clinics. The Objective of this research is to depict the patterns and trends of common NCDs in Government and Private Hospitals in Adds Ababa, and provide decision makers with  information on the burden of NCDs at  health facility level. In order to collect retrospective data, four Governments and five Private owned Hospitals in Addis Ababa that offer referral clinic for NCD were selected. Data of NCD out-patients from 2007 to 2011 were considered for present study. Records of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, chronic kidney diseases and chronic pulmonary obstructive diseases including asthma were collected. The data were collected from Hospital registration and patient records anonymously by respective Hospital staff members assigned in the referral clinics. Records of 46,565 patients were collected and more than 60% data were obtained from TikurAnbessa Specialized Teaching Hospital and International cardiac center. Majority of the clients (77 %) were from urban areas while 23% from rural areas. With regard to gender, 56% of the patients are females and 44% males.  As age increases the proportion of patients with NCDs increased and there was a decline after 54 years. Among the patients who were attending outpatient clinics, the vast majority about 40% were patients were with cardiovascular diseases while diabetes and cancer each independently accounts 20% of the proportion. Patients with chronic pulmonary obstructive diseases including asthma, and chronic kidney diseases were 6% and 5%, respectively. Information regarding the status of patients while making follow-up was also collected. It resulted in about 56% of all NCDs out-patients were actively following their health condition by making   frequent visit to their respective out-patient referral clinics, about 2% were deceased and 1% referred to other hospitals, about 41.2% of all NCDs patients were found to be drop-out for unknown reasons. This research reveals that NCDs are becoming public health problems in Addis Ababa. Therefore, there is a need for population-based representative survey to quantify the burden with risk factors for policy formulation and interventions against this emerging epidemic. Moreover, further study is recommended to investigate the reasons of patients why they discontinue care & treatment offered at facility level.