IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences (IOSR-JDMS) e-ISSN: 2279-0853, p-ISSN: 2279-0861.Volume 5, Issue 2 (Mar.- Apr. 2013), PP 12-15 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 12 | Page Mortality Pattern in Adult Accident and Emergency Department of a Tertiary Health Centre situated in a Rural Area of Developing Country. Dr Ogunmola J. O. 1 , Dr Oladosu Y. O. 2 , DrOlamoyegun M. A. 3 , DrAyodele L. M. 4 Cardiac Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Ido-EkitiEkiti State, Nigeria 1 Cardiac Centre, Department of Internal Medicine, Federal Medical Centre, Ido-EkitiEkiti State, Nigeria 2 Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Ladoke-Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho. Oyo State. Nigeria 3 Department of Psychiatry, Federal Medical Centre Ido Ekiti, Ekiti State. Nigeria 4 Abstract: Objective:Available literatures on pattern of adult mortality in accident and emergency (A and E) department of health institutions in many developing countries have been virtually restricted to centres in urban areas. This study aimed at highlighting the basic demographic patterns, the frequency and causes of death in a centre in a rural area of a developing country. Methods:A retrospective analysis of patients’ records admitted in A and E department of the Federal Medical Centre Ido Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria over a period of 2yearsfrom January 2011 to December 2012 was carried out. Analysis of data was done with simple descriptive statistics using Statistical Packaging for Social Science (SPSS Inc. Chicago IL) version 16. Results:A total number of 3162 patients attended the A and E department during the study period and there were 122 deaths. Male mortality was 76(62.0%) while female mortality was 46(38.0%) with male to female ratio 1:7:1. The age range was 15 – 87years with mean of 52.04 + 18.70years. More deaths occur in young and middle aged adults (70.4%). Deaths from non-communicable diseases (80.3%) were higher than that from communicable diseases (19.7%). The most common causes of deaths from the former were stroke and road traffic accident, while from the latter were sepsis, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in decreasing order. Conclusion:The commonest cause of death in adults is non-communicable disease at the prime productive age, worse in males than females. Many causes of deaths obtained in this report were comparable to what was obtained in urban centres except road traffic accident with lesser frequency and communicable diseases with higher frequency in rural centres. Key words: Mortality, Accident, Emergency, Rural, Developing country. I. Introduction In one of the objectives of the World Health Organization (WHO), pattern of death statistics is an important scientific information that should be available for constant evaluation of available health services as an integral part of the managerial process in health care delivery. 1 The health system of a country needs to be adjusted to patterns of morbidity and mortality to mitigate the income-erosion consequences of prolonged ill- health and premature death of adults. Most deaths in Nigeria and many countries in Sub-saharan Africa are not registered. Hospital-based data recorded by medically qualified staff have been the useful information to characterized mortality which has occurred in hospitals. Virtually all of these were generated from urban areas, commonly from tertiary health centres located in an urban centre. However, sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria inclusive) is still predominantly rural, with the majority of the population living in the rural setting. 2 In Nigeria, no recent data is available on adult mortality. 3 Therefore, this study sought to highlight the basic demographic patterns of mortality, and to determine the frequency and causes of accident and emergency (A and E) deaths in a tertiary health centre located in a rural community of a developing country. II. Materials And Methods The study design was a retrospective review of hospital records of patients attended to in A&E department of Federal Medical Centre Ido Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. This hospital located in a rural community of Ido Ekiti is the leading final referral centre in the state and serves about 2.4 million population apart from unestimated population from the neighbouring states. The period of study was 2years, starting from January 2011 to December 2012. The population under study were adults of 18years and above whose deaths were certified within A and E department. All prehospital deaths were excluded from the study. Records available