Approximately one in eight patients, or 12.5% of all in-hospital patients on the continent, are seriously ill. Furthermore, 21% of these patients pass away within seven days of being admitted to the hospital.
An alarming number of patients admitted to hospitals throughout Africa are critically ill and pass away before receiving the necessary treatment, according to a recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in cooperation with international partners.
The percentage of critically ill in-hospital patients on the continent is about 12.5%. This figure represents approximately one in eight people. Furthermore, compared to 2.7% of patients who are not critically ill, 21% of these patients pass away within seven days of admission.
The African Perioperative Research Group (APORG) carried out the study, which was published in The Lancet, a prestigious peer-reviewed journal, under the title “The African critical illness outcome study: a point prevalence study of critical illness in 22 nations in Africa (ACIOS).” The Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) Network, Queen Mary University of London, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania, and UCT collaborated on the study.
High death rate among patients in critical condition
The ACIOS is the first epidemiological study of critical care illness conducted throughout Africa, and it was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Group in Perioperative and Critical Care.
In conclusion, the study discovered that hospitals throughout the continent had a startlingly high percentage of critically ill patients. Additionally, hospital patients’ burden of critical illness was about 25% greater than that of a comparable study conducted in a high-income nation.
Researchers used data from nearly 20,000 patients across 180 hospitals in 22 countries on the continent to make the required deductions. If a patient’s vital signs were significantly unstable, they were considered critically ill and monitored for seven days in a row to evaluate their condition.
According to Professor Bruce Biccard of UCT’s Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, who is also the co-principal lead of the Global Health Group in Perioperative and Critical Care, “a state of ill health with vital organ dysfunction [with] a high risk of imminent death if care is not provided” is what is meant by “critical illness.”
Insufficient resources
Additionally, 69% of critically ill patients are treated in general hospital wards rather than intensive care units or high-dependency units, according to the study, according to Professor Biccard. Additionally, over half of the critically ill patients polled did not receive life-saving, urgent critical care, such as oxygen, intravenous fluids, and proper positioning.
In order to effectively treat critically ill patients, hospitals throughout Africa face severe resource shortages, he said, including infrastructure, equipment, staff, training, treatment guidelines, consumables, and medications.
Our research points to a high rate of avoidable critical illness-related deaths in Africa. These avoidable patient deaths may often be significantly reduced by providing basic critical care through the equitable and systems-based delivery of necessary emergency and critical care, he said.
