Epidemiology of Pediatric Surgical Conditions Observed in a First-Level Hospital in Burundi

Frontiers in Pediatrics

article

Marianna Gortan¹  Mwajuma Nshimirimana²  Costanza Tognon³  Piergiorgio Gamba¹  Gian Battista Parigi⁴  Daniela Dalla Gasperina⁵  Paola Caravaggi²  Giulia Brooks¹  Jean Marie Vianney Butoyi²  Sylvestre Bambara²  Joel Nkurunziza²  Mimico Mulemangabo²  Gordien Nzeyimana²  Protais Harakaneza² 

[1] Pediatric Surgery Unit, Women's and Children's Health Department, University of Padua;Mutoyi Hospital;Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, University Hospital;Department of Pediatric Surgery, University of Pavia;Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Insubria

关键词: pediatric surgery;    global health;    epidemiology;    low-and middle-income countries;    Sub-Saharan Africa;    non-communicable diseases;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fped.2021.681478

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Background: Little is known about the surgical conditions affecting the pediatric population in low-income countries. In this article we describe the epidemiology of pediatric surgical diseases observed in Mutoyi hospital, a first-level hospital in Burundi. Methods and Findings: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all children (0–14 years) admitted to the Surgery ward from January 2017 to December 2017. We also reviewed the records of all the patients admitted to the Neonatology ward in 2017 and among them we selected the ones in which a surgical diagnosis was present. Five hundred twenty-eight children were admitted to the surgical ward during the study period. The most common conditions requiring hospitalization were abscesses (29.09%), fractures (13.59%), osteomyelitis (9.76%), burns (5.40%) and head injuries (4.36%). The average length of stay was 16 days. Fifty-six newborns were admitted to the Neonatology ward for a surgical condition; 29% of them had an abscess. Conclusions: Conditions requiring surgical care are frequent in Burundian children and have a completely different spectrum from the western ones. This is due on one side to an under-diagnosis of certain conditions caused by the lack of diagnostic tools and on the other to the living conditions of the population. This difference should lead to intervention plans tailored on the actual necessities of the country and not on the western ones.

【 授权许可】

CC BY