Cause of death among Ghanaian adolescents in Accra using autopsy data.

BACKGROUND: There is limited data on adolescent mortality particularly from developing countries with unreliable death registration systems. This calls for the use of other sources of data to ascertain cause of adolescent mortality. The objective of this study was to describe the causes of death among Ghanaian adolescents 10 to 19 years in Accra, Ghana utilizing data from autopsies conducted in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). FINDINGS: Out of the 14,034 autopsies carried out from 2001 to 2003 in KBTH, 7% were among adolescents. Of the 882 deaths among adolescents analyzed, 402 (45.6%) were females. There were 365 (41.4%) deaths from communicable disease, pregnancy related conditions and nutritional disorders. Non-communicable diseases accounted for 362 (41%) cases and the rest were attributable to injuries and external causes of morbidity and mortality. Intestinal infectious diseases and lower respiratory tract infections were the most common communicable causes of death collectively accounting for 20.5% of total deaths. Death from blood diseases was the largest (8.5%) among the non-communicable conditions followed by neoplasms (7%). Males were more susceptible to injuries than females (χ2 = 13.45, p = .000). At least five out of ten specific causes of death were as a result of infections with pneumonia and typhoid being the most common. Sickle cell disease was among the top three specific causes of death. Among the females, 27 deaths (6.7%) were pregnancy related with most of them being as a result of abortion. CONCLUSIONS: The autopsy data from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital can serve as a useful source of information on adolescent mortality. Both communicable and non-communicable diseases accounted for most deaths highlighting the need for health care providers to avoid complacency in their management of adolescents presenting with these diseases.

A study of autopsy procedures in Ghana: implications for the use of autopsy data in epidemiological analyses.

The study of cause of death certification remains a largely neglected field in many developing countries, including Ghana. Yet, mortality information is crucial for establishing mortality patterns over time and for estimating mortality attributed to specific causes. In Ghana, autopsies remain the appropriate option for determining the cause of deaths occurring in homes and those occurring within 48 hours after admission into health facilities. Although these organ-based autopsies may generate convincing results and are considered the gold standard tools for ascertainments of causes of death, procedural and practical constraints could limit the extent to which autopsy results can be accepted and/or trusted. The objective of our study was to identify and characterise the procedural and practical constraints as well as to assess their potential effects on autopsy outcomes in Ghana. We interviewed 10 Ghanaian pathologists and collected and evaluated procedural manuals and operational procedures for the conduct of autopsies. A characterisation of the operational constraints and the Delphi analysis of their potential influence on the quality of mortality data led to a quantification of the validity threats as moderate (average expert panel score = 1) in the generality of the autopsy operations in Ghana. On the basis of the impressions of the expert panel, it was concluded that mortality data generated from autopsies in urban settings in Ghana were of sufficiently high quality to guarantee valid use in health analysis.

Injury-related mortality among adolescents: findings from a teaching hospital's post mortem data.

BACKGROUND: Injuries are noted to be an important cause of death among adolescents. There is however limited data on the injury related deaths among adolescents in Ghana. FINDINGS: Using data from post-mortem records derived from the Department of Pathology of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Accra Ghana from 2001 to 2003, the causes of injury related deaths among adolescents 10 to 19 years were analyzed by gender and age groups 10 to 14 and 15 to 19 years. There were 151 injury-related deaths constituting 17% of the autopsies performed among adolescents in the study period. The male-to-female ratio was 2.1:1. Drowning was the most common cause of death (37%) in the study population. This was followed by road traffic accidents (RTA) (33%). Over 70% of the RTA victims were pedestrians knocked downed by a vehicle. Deaths from electrocution, poisoning, burns, stab/gunshot, hanging and other miscellaneous causes (example blast injury, traumatic injury from falling debris, fall from height) made up the remaining 30% of the injury related mortality. Among males and in both age categories, drowning was the leading cause of death. In females, the highest mortality was from road traffic accidents accounting for almost half (49%) of the deaths; significantly more than that occurring in males (25%, p = .004). CONCLUSIONS: Findings from Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital post-mortem data on adolescents show that drowning and road traffic accidents are the leading causes of injury-related mortality. Appropriate injury reducing interventions are needed to facilitate a decrease in these preventable deaths.