Background

morbidity and mortality are very sensitive health indicators; they show the populations’ reality, including the economic, cultural, and social spheres, by visualizing the death dimension in the population and its life quality.

Objective

to determine the morbidity and mortality’s main causes in the Cienfuegos provincial hospital.

Methods

descriptive and cross-sectional study, which included 151,670 patients treated at the Cienfuegos Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Provincial Hospital, in the clinical, surgical, emergency and maternal-infant specialties, from 2018 to 2022. Variables such as specialty, calendar year, hospital stay, and causes of morbidity and mortality were studied. A database was created for the statistical processing of information, obtained through the institution's statistical reports.

Results

48.7% of admissions corresponded to clinical specialties. The main morbidity causes were fever of unknown origin and spontaneous single birth, both with 7.5%. The 37.2% of the deceased had pneumonia as the cause of death. In 2021, 2,879 patients died; for a mortality rate of 8 per 1000 inhabitants.

Conclusions

most patients who come to hospital services are admitted by clinical specialties with a stay. Fever of unknown origin and proximity to the end of the pregnancy are the main reasons for doctor's appointment; while pneumonic inflammatory processes and stroke are frequent causes of mortality, with a higher rate in intensive care units.

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