Diseases of the middle-aged population: a study of 4,184 patients.

Within a seven-year period (1980-1986), 4,184 Nigerians aged 31-60 years were admitted into the medical wards of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. The clinical notes of these patients were analysed and the principal diagnoses for each case was coded in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases. Cardiovascular, infective, neoplastic and neuro-muscular diseases constituted the commonest disorders being 70pc of all diseases at admission in this age group. The relevance of these findings in the light of the pattern of diseases elsewhere is discussed.