A Prospective Study of Wounds in a Teaching Hospital in Northern Part of Nigeria

Abstract

Acute and chronic wounds will continue to be an important health challenge in Africa as well as other parts of the world due to contemporary complex lifestyles that predisposes people to physical injuries and diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation between type of wounds and gender, age, therapeutic agents and routes of administration. A prospective study was conducted during October to January 2018 at the surgical department of Bingham University in Jos in Northern part of Nigeria. A comprehensive wound proforma was designed to record information on all wound cases reporting to the hospital. From 85 patients with wounds, 70 (82.4%) were male and 15 (17.6%) were female. Also from 72 patients with acute wounds, 60 (70.6%) were male and 12 (14.1%) were female. There was a significant relation between gender and type of wounds, majority of acute 20 (23.5%) and chronic wounds 4 (4.7%) were sustained by older men and women from 51years and above. There was no significant relation between age and type of wounds. Almost all the patients were prescribed analgesics for acute 70 (82.4%) and chronic 9 (10.6%) wounds, the relation between type of wounds and therapeutic agents was not statistically significant. Majority of the patients were placed on intravenous route of administration for acute wounds 62 (72.9%) and chronic wounds 12 (14.1%). The relation between type of wounds and routes of administration was significant. Gender and route of administration of drugs have significant impact on the type of wounds, therefore there is need to generate reliable and consistent information on the type of wounds and associated factors in order to design effective prevention strategies.