Aim: To describe morbidity and mortality profile of patients discharged from chest ward of a university hospital. Materials and Methods: Prospectively selected information (age, gender, residence, length of stay, outcome and primary diagnosis) of all consecutive in-patients was recorded for six month reference period. Results: Out of 967 patients, mean age was 50.64 years (±15.71); M:F = 3.5:1; 81.3% were from rural area. Primary diagnosis was tuberculosis/sequel among 528 (54.60%) and non-TB among 439 (45.4%) patients (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases [COPD] - 20.3%; pneumonia - 15.8%; lung cancer - 5.0%; asthma - 1.6%; bronchiectasis - 0.9%, lung abscess - 0.8%, miscellaneous - 1.0%). Total deaths observed was 142 (14.7%) of all discharges and 54.25% of deaths occurred within 48 hours of admission suggesting criticality/late presentation; time distribution of death was similar considering 8-hourly period of 24-h cycle. Average length of stay for all patients was 6.91 (±5.14) days while it was 7.38 (±4.98) days for discharge live and 4.19 (±5.21) days for expired patients. Conclusion: Study provides a snapshot of patients discharged from chest ward that may aid in decision making, improving quality of care and initiation of educational activities at primary level.
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Sachdeva et al. (2014) studied this question.