The aim of this study was to evaluate socio-demographic profile of adults admitted in emergency for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) at the University Hospital of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. We performed a prospective study within a period of six months, into the surgical unit of the emergency department of the University Hospital of Brazzaville. A total of 2617 patients were recorded, among which 268 cases were TBI (10.25%) where 142 cases were sampled in our series. The average age was 36.7 ± 16.6 years. The sex ratio was 6.1. The TBI was mainly due to road accident in 121 cases (85.2%) described as follows: motorcycle accident about 48 cases (39.7%) and the pedestrian's injuries about 42 (34.8%). In the majority of the cases, cautions were not taken by the drivers; during the case of the motorcycle accident, about 97.9% of the riders did not wear a helmet. The TBI remains a growing public health concern in the low-income countries, like in Africa. Measurements on the road traffic regulation are to be strengthened to reduce the growth of this silent epidemic.
Aim: To describe the epidemiological aspects of the patients who died in polyvalent intensive care unit at University Hospital of Brazzaville. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study carried out in intensive care unit of University Hospital of Brazzaville, during period from January 2013 to December 2014. All patients who died at the unit regardless of age or sex were included. The parameters studied were age, sex, origin, reason for admission, causes of death, time of death, and length of hospitalization. Data were treated in Excel 2010 and Epi info 2007. Results: During the study period, 419 deaths out of 1121 admissions were recorded, representing a mortality rate of 37.4%. The average age was 46.2 ± 19.7 years with extremes ranging from 14 months to 90 years. The sex ratio was 0.9. Most of the deceased patients came from medical emergencies in 37.6% of the cases. Infectious (17.9%) and neurological (17.4%) pathologies were the most likely to cause death followed by cardiovascular pathologies (12.2%). Causes of death were dominated by severe sepsis and septic shock with 93.4% of infectious pathologies and stroke in 80.8% of neurological pathologies. In 42.3% of cases, the death occurred in the 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. time period. The average length of hospitalization for the deceased patients was 1.4 ± 0.5 days. All parameters studied significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The mortality rate of patients admitted to the polyvalent intensive care unit at University Hospital of Brazzaville was high at 37.4%. Most of these patients were aged 40 years and older, male, with infectious and/or neurological pathologies. All deaths occurred within 48 hours of admission.
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