Cases of Brought in Dead Patients in the Accident and Emergency Unit of a Referral Hospital in the Western Region of Ghana

The objective of this study was to evaluate cases of brought in dead (BID) patients in the accident and emergency unit of Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital through a retrospective study of a period of 3 years. A retrospective descriptive study of BID cases from the death register and patients’ records of the accident and emergency unit of the hospital was carried out from January 2011 to December 2013. 31% (180/574) of BID cases were recorded over the study period with the age range from below 1 year to over 70 years. They were 58.5% male and 41.5% female with a ratio of 1.4:1. The majority of the BID cases (20.7%) were patients above 70 years and most cases (40.8%) have no known clinical condition associated with the death. The majority of the unexplained deaths were highest among young adults between the ages 30 and 40 years (22.6%). The highest cases of BID (20%) were seen in the month of December and majority of the cases (72.5%) lived within the metropolis. This study showed a concerning trend of BID cases in the hospital with a high prevalence among the elderly and unexplained death among the young adults. Hence there is an urgent need to upgrade hospitals in the area with the hope of relieving the burden off Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital and also a need to increase health promotion strategies among the people of the area so as to instill health seeking behavior in order to prevent avoidable deaths.