Admission and Inpatient Mortality of Hypertension Complications in Addis Ababa

The number of people with undiagnosed, untreated, and uncontrolled hypertension is higher in Ethiopia. This in turn increases the risk of developing complications and hospitalization. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of hypertension complication hospitalization among medical admissions and admission outcomes of hypertension complication patients in the medical ward of Saint Peter Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa.

We used a hospital-based cross-sectional study. Data were collected by reviewing all medical ward admission logbook records from January 1st, 2018 to December 30th, 2019. An individual patient folder of 308 patients admitted due to hypertension complications was selected for further detailed investigation and then entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 24 statistical software for analysis.

Of the total 2728 medical admissions, 308 (11.3%) were patients with hypertension complications. Hypertension complications account for 308 (11.3%) of all medical admissions. Their mean age and length of hospital stay were 59.85 (± 16.36) years and 11.45 (± 11.48) days, respectively. Near to two-third of 196 (63.6%) of them were stroke patients followed by 76 (24.7%) heart disease. Fifty-two (16.9%) hypertension complication patients died at admission which accounts for 52 (14.6%) of all medical ward deaths. As age increases, the risk of death at admission increases by 6.5%. Similarly, the risk of death increased by three-fold for a month increase in the duration of anti-hypertensive drug discontinuation. Rural residents had a 3.5% lesser risk of death than urban patients.

Hypertension complications had a significant share of the medical ward mortality rate. Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular complications were common causes of hospitalization and inpatient death. Old age, urban residence, and prolonged duration of anti-hypertensive drug discontinuation increased the risk of death at admission.