SynthesisGlobal health action2013
Medical causes of admissions to hospital among adults in Africa: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Global health action, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Measles Without Rash During Acute Febrile Illness Surveillance in Tanzania, 2023-2024.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- Hidden crisis of undiagnosed hypertension among women of reproductive age with elevated blood pressure: a regional disparities and determinants using Tanzania nation survey.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Article
- Patterns of Morbidity in Ambatoboeny District, Northern Madagascar: A 12-Month Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- End-of-Life Care Training for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury in Ghana: A Novel Curriculum and Its Initial Implementation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Implementation strategies to improve outcomes in patients with established cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Identifying the Factors That Drive Health Service Utilization Among Healthy and Non-Healthy Agers in a Sample of Older Ethiopians: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- A 5-year retrospective outlook of cardiovascular risk(s), outcome and survival peculiarities among patients in medical confinement; a tropical perspective.Ghana medical journal · 2024Article
- Sub-Saharan Africa's Contribution to Clinical Trials in International Acute Coronary Syndromes and Heart Failure Guidelines.JACC. Advances · 2024Article
- Evaluation of hospital quality of care outcomes in a teaching hospital in Ethiopia: a retrospective database study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Medication errors by caregivers in the homes of children discharged from a pediatric department in Ghana.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2024Article
- Patterns of Medical Admissions and Predictors of Mortality in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northern Ethiopia: A Prospective Observational Study.International journal of general medicine · 2023Article
- Disease patterns and clinical outcomes of medical admissions at a tertiary hospital in Northern Tanzania: A retrospective observational study.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Pattern and Trends in Adult Hospitalization/Admission and Mortality Among Medical Ward Inpatients at Gadarif Hospital in Eastern Sudan: A Four-Year Retrospective Study.International journal of general medicine · 2022Article
- Foodscapes, finance, and faith: Multi-sectoral stakeholder perspectives on the local population health and wellbeing in an urbanizing area in Kenya.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Multilevel modeling, prevalence, and predictors of hypertension in Ghana: Evidence from Wave 2 of the World Health Organization's Study on global AGEing and adult health.Health science reports · 2021Article
- Pellagra in South Africa from 1897 to 2019: a scoping review.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Mortality in rural coastal Kenya measured using the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System: a 16-year descriptive analysis.Wellcome open research · 2021Article
- Severe community-acquired pneumonia in general medical wards: outcomes and impact of initial antibiotic selection.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDespite the publication of several studies on the subject, there is significant uncertainty regarding the burden of disease among adults in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA).
objectivesTo describe the breadth of available data regarding causes of admission to hospital, to systematically analyze the methodological quality of these studies, and to provide recommendations for future research.
designWe performed a systematic online and hand-based search for articles describing patterns of medical illnesses in patients admitted to hospitals in sSA between 1950 and 2010. Diseases were grouped into bodily systems using International Classification of Disease (ICD) guidelines. We compared the proportions of admissions and deaths by diagnostic category using χ2.
resultsThirty articles, describing 86,307 admissions and 9,695 deaths, met the inclusion criteria. The leading causes of admission were infectious and parasitic diseases (19.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 19.6-20.1), respiratory (16.2%, 95% CI 16.0-16.5) and circulatory (11.3%, 95% CI 11.1-11.5) illnesses. The leading causes of death were infectious and parasitic (17.1%, 95% CI 16.4-17.9), circulatory (16%, 95% CI 15.3-16.8) and digestive (16.2%, 95% CI 15.4-16.9). Circulatory diseases increased from 3.9% of all admissions in 1950-59 to 19.9% in 2000-2010 (RR 5.1, 95% CI 4.5-5.8, test for trend p<0.00005). The most prevalent methodological deficiencies, present in two-thirds of studies, were failures to use standardized case definitions and ICD guidelines for classifying illnesses.
conclusionsCardiovascular and infectious diseases are currently the leading causes of admissions and in-hospital deaths in sSA. Methodological deficiencies have limited the usefulness of previous studies in defining national patterns of disease in adults. As African countries pass through demographic and health transition, they need to significantly invest in clinical research capacity to provide an accurate description of the disease burden among adults for public health policy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.