ACTA SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL SCIENCES Volume 3 Issue 1 January 2019 Cause of Death in Diabetics at a Referral Hospital; A Retrospective Study of 74 Post mortem Cases of 7 Years Duration Ossei PPS 1 *, Ayibor WG 3 , Agagli BM 1 , Taylor J 1 , Fenteng EA 2 and Agyemang-Duah E 1 1 Department of Pathology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana 2 Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany 3 Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana *Corresponding Author: Ossei PPS, Department of Pathology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Research Article Received: November 08, 2018; Published: December 13, 2018 Abstract Keywords: Diabetes; Complications; Nephropathy; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Post mortem Introduction: Diabetes is almost becoming an endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and although some studies have been done on the disease, post mortem studies, which reveal the immediate cause of death among diabetics in Ghana, have not been carried out. This research is a retrospective study made on 74 post mortem cases at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital from 2008-2016 to establish the leading cause(s) of death in diabetics.Methods: Information on cause of death and other relevant detail as well as demograph- ics were extracted from the Autopsy Day Book of the department of pathology, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where the clinical diagnoses, pathological findings and other relevant data were gathered and kept secured. The data was then analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: Findings from the study of 74 cases of diabetic deaths from post mortem established various immediate and major com- plications and disorders resulting in deaths of the patients. The age ranges from as low as 20 to 89 years with the 70-79 year group recording the highest number of cases, 20(27.03%) and those <20 years together with the 30-39 years recording the least with 2 (2.70%) each. Most of the cases recorded were for those in their late middle years to over 60 years of age. The mean age was 60.78 and modal age was 50. Females accounted for the most cases with 39 (52.70%) of cases and males recorded 35 (47.30%) of the cases. Out of a total of 7 major causes established, renal complications (diabetic nephropathy) accounted for the majority of all diag- noses made with 20 (27.03%) of cases, slightly trailed by circulatory (cardiovascular) complications with 19 (25.68%) of cases. Both Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia recorded the least with two cases (4.05%). Conclusion: Mortality due to diabetes is on the rise and renal complications as well as circulatory complications being the most contributing factors to diabetic deaths. Females are also at a slightly higher risk for diabetes than men. The elderly is at most risk for According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death globally and the 6th commonest medical cause of death in Ghana [1], accounting for 2.58% of total deaths with a death rate of 36.81 per 100,000 of the population [2]. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) report in 2017 last year indicated that over 51,000 people in Ghana have diabetes and according to them, 75% of the cases remained undiagnosed Introduction [3], posing an increased danger of complications for people living with the disease. Quite a number of researches have been done on diabetes not only because it is a common disease but also due to the number of deaths ensuing from the disease globally each year. Most of these researches have been limited to bare statistics and pre- mortem suspected complications of the disease with only very few going further to do a post-mortem study to ascertain diagnoses and causes of mortality, no such study, however, has been conducted in our center or even Africa to a larger extent. Citation: Ossei PPS., et al. “Cause of Death in Diabetics at a Referral Hospital; A Retrospective Study of 74 Post mortem Cases of 7 Years Duration”. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 3.1 (2019): 54-59.