Aetiology and Short-term Outcome of Altered Level of Consciousness among Patients in Medicine Department of a Tertiary Hospital

Authors

  • Partha Sarathi Sarker Indoor Medical Officer, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Md Saidur Rahman Assistant Registrar, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Palash Kumar Biswas Registrar, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Md Monjurul Kader Chowdhury Indoor Medical Officer, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Md Muntasir Islam Chowdhury Indoor Medical Officer, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Madhabi Karmaker Indoor Medical Officer, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka
  • Khan Abul Kalam Azad Professor & Head, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3329/jom.v18i2.33685

Keywords:

Altered level of consciousness, Stroke, ADEM

Abstract

Background: Altered level of consciousness is a very common medical emergency resulting in considerable mortality & morbidity. Accurate diagnosis & prompt management can reduce the complications to a great extent. There are various aetiologies of impaired consciousness including infective & metabolic causes as well as cerebrovascular accidents. This study described clinical outcomes of the patients relating to specific aetiologies of the illness.

Objectives: To explore the common aetiologies of altered consciousness & to determine the clinical outcomes of the patients after one month in a tertiary level hospital of Bangladesh.

Methods: This hospital based prospective observational study was conducted in Medicine department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) from December 2013 to May 2014. Sample size was 100 & the data was collected by structured questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was applied using inclusion & exclusion criteria. Statistical analysis of the result was obtained by using SPSS-16.

Results: The mean age of the study patients was found 48.7 years with range from 19-92 years. Majority (58%) of the patients were male. Stroke was identified as the commonest (39%) aetiology of impaired consciousness followed by meningo-encephalitis (19%), septicemia (10%) & poisoning (10%). Among metabolic encephalopathy diabetic ketoacidosis was 3%, hypoglycemia 1% and hepatic, uremic & hypertensive encephalopathy was 3%, 4% & 1% respectively. Overall death rate was higher among patients with stroke (26%), ICSOL (50%), ADEM (50%) than those with meningoencephalitis (5.3%), septicemia (20%) & poisoning (10%).

Conclusion: Infective & metabolic causes of impaired consciousness showed better outcome than structural & vascular aetiologies of brain.

J MEDICINE July 2017; 18 (2) : 80-85

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Author Biography

Partha Sarathi Sarker, Indoor Medical Officer, Dept. of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka



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Published

2017-08-24

How to Cite

Sarker, P. S., Rahman, M. S., Biswas, P. K., Chowdhury, M. M. K., Chowdhury, M. M. I., Karmaker, M., & Azad, K. A. K. (2017). Aetiology and Short-term Outcome of Altered Level of Consciousness among Patients in Medicine Department of a Tertiary Hospital. Journal of Medicine, 18(2), 80–85. https://doi.org/10.3329/jom.v18i2.33685

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2017)

Section

Original Articles

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