McLigeyo S O
Department of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi.
East Afr Med J. 1993 Jan;70(1):37-9.
In a one year period (March 1990 to March 1991) the pattern of diseases in geriatric patients (over 60 years of age) admitted to the medical wards at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) was studied. In all, there were 1296 patients (M:F = 1.7:1) in this age group forming 11.5% of all admissions during the study period. 1008 (77.8%) of the geriatric patients were between 60 and 79 years of age. Most of the admissions (86.4%) were first admissions. The mean number of diseases per geriatric patient was 1.4. Hypertension and Cardiomyopathy were the commonest single diseases recorded, making up 43.9% of all diseases in this patient population. The commonest neurological diagnosis was stroke, which occurred in a setting of hypertension or cardiomyopathy in all the patients in whom it was diagnosed. The mean duration (+/- 2SD) of stay in the hospital in this patient population was 43 (+/- 19) days. Eighty eight (6.8%) of the patients died, the commonest cause of death being heart failure due to cardiomyopathy or hypertensive heart disease. It is concluded that geriatric patients form a sizeable proportion of our medical admissions and that a large proportion suffer from diseases of the cardiovascular system. It is thus recommended that further studies be carried out on the pattern of diseases in such patients and optimal management strategies for their ailments be outlined.
在一年期间（1990年3月至1991年3月），对肯尼亚国家医院（KNH）内科病房收治的老年患者（60岁以上）的疾病模式进行了研究。该年龄组共有1296名患者（男：女 = 1.7：1），占研究期间所有入院患者的11.5%。1008名（77.8%）老年患者年龄在60至79岁之间。大多数入院患者（86.4%）是首次入院。每位老年患者的平均疾病数为1.4种。高血压和心肌病是记录到的最常见的单一疾病，占该患者群体所有疾病的43.9%。最常见的神经科诊断是中风，在所有被诊断出中风的患者中，中风都发生在高血压或心肌病的背景下。该患者群体的平均住院时间（±2标准差）为43（±19）天。88名（6.8%）患者死亡，最常见的死亡原因是心肌病或高血压性心脏病导致的心力衰竭。研究得出结论，老年患者在我们的内科入院患者中占相当大的比例，并且很大一部分患者患有心血管系统疾病。因此，建议对这类患者的疾病模式进行进一步研究，并概述针对其疾病的最佳管理策略。
