Disease pattern in earthquake affected areas of Pakistan: data from Kaghan valley

In 2005 northern parts of Pakistan were hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 on rector scale. Fatima Memorial Hospital established a Primary Health care centre in village of Jared in Kaghan valley. The objective of the study was to find the pattern of different diseases presetting to health centre.

All cases between August 2006 and December 2008 were included from the daily outpatient record of the centre. Data was analyses using SPSS-17. Frequency of different diseases and groups of diseases in different age groups, sexes and time of the year were the main outcome variables.

Total number of patients was 22,122 with a mean age of 26 +/- 16 years. The number of female patients was 12,634 (57.1%) and males were 9,488 (42.9%). The single most common condition in the study period was viral upper respiratory tract infection (5,042, 23%), followed by Scabies (3,757, 17%), Acid Peptic Disease (3,157, 14.3%), Urinary Tract infection (1,197, 5.4%) and Hypertension (n = 933, 4.2%). There was a high number of young patients with urinary tract infection and hypertension.

Communicable diseases like viral respiratory tract infection and scabies were the most common infections. Acid peptic disease was the most common non-communicable medical problem. Except eye conditions, all diseases were more common in summer and rainy season.