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, gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, 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.