The disease profile of hospitalized Third World urban black adolescents

Our study evaluates the patients admitted to Baragwanath Hospital, which serves the city of Soweto, South Africa. A 5,175-patient sample (i.e., 50% of all adolescents admitted in 1980) was analyzed to determine the disease profile. The study population comprised 5,175 patients. Pregnancy and related states proved to be by far the commonest diagnosis (42.5%). These conditions were followed by trauma resulting from assault and violence (7.8%), epilepsy (3.6%), and minor surgical procedures for localized purulent infections (2.6%). Whereas rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart disease, and tuberculosis are rare conditions among teenagers of the first world, they proved to be not uncommon in this study. Emotional disturbances, including attempted suicide, were as prominent in Third World adolescents as in their peers in the first world. It appears that apart from some important differences, the problems of urban adolescents in the first and Third World are remarkably similar. It is hoped that by highlighting these problems attention will be focused on the Third World adolescent and the further planning of adolescent units in hospitals in developing countries.