Mortality Trends among Older Patients Admitted to the Geriatric Centre, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2013-2017.

BACKGROUND Attaining successful clinical outcomes in the management of hospitalised older patients in the overburdened healthcare services in Nigeria constitutes a major challenge against the backdrop of dearth of data on the predictors of mortality among them. OBJECTIVES To describe the mortality trends and associated factors among older patients (>60 years) at the Geriatric Centre, University College Hospital, Ibadan between January 2013 and December 2017. METHODS Hospital records of older patients admitted were analysed. Data extracted included socio-demographic, diagnoses, length of stay from date of admission to discharge or death. Results of vital signs, anthropometric measurements and laboratory tests carried out at admission were also obtained. RESULTS The mean age of the 1,091 older patients admitted was 73.6±8.6 years. The overall crude proportion of in-hospital deaths was 9.0% (males=11.3% > females=7.2%, p=0.024) and it increased from 4.1% in 2013 to 12.1% in 2017. The overall unadjusted 30-day mortality rate per 1000 patient-days was 28.9 deaths (95% CI 23.5-35.3). The predictors of mortality were increased length of stay on admission OR=1.061 (95% CI 1.005-1.119), being retired OR=1.672 (95% CI 1.011-2.778), stroke OR=4.019 (95% CI 2.258- 7.138), heart failure OR=3.435 (95% CI 1.455-8.100), Sepsis OR=2.176 (95% CI 1.294-3.654), Anaemia OR=2.820 (95% CI 1.320-6.017), Dementia OR=3.701 (95% CI 1.433-9.549) and malignancies OR=2.658 (95% CI 1.181-5.979). CONCLUSION There was a temporal increase in mortality among older patients. Similarly, staying longer on admission and chronic medical conditions with their complications were the most significant contributors to mortality.