Outpatient burden of adult respiratory diseases in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Background: Respiratory diseases constitute a significant cause of morbidity globally. There is limited information on the epidemiology of respiratory diseases in North Central Nigeria particularly with the changing trend in risk factors. Aim: This study aimed at evaluating the pattern and morbidity related to respiratory diseases among adult outpatients attending a chest clinic in a tertiary healthcare facility, especially with increasing environmental pollution and biomass exposure globally. Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective review of the case records of 338 newly referred patients seen in the chest clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) with respiratory illnesses over a 2-year period (January 2017-December 2018). Results: The mean age of the recruited patients was 47.6 ± 19.8 years with a male to female ratio of 1.1:1. Microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis (30.2%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (24.3%), and bronchial asthma (17.8%) were the commonest conditions managed in the clinic. Overall, noncommunicable respiratory diseases (61.2%) constituted a larger proportion of cases when compared to infective respiratory conditions. Almost 90% of the patients were never smokers. Systemic hypertension (15.1%) and human immunodeficiency virus infection (3.6%) were the commonest comorbid illnesses. Conclusion: Although tuberculosis constituted the most observed single condition, noncommunicable respiratory diseases predominated cumulatively among the new cases seen in the chest clinic of UITH, Ilorin. This raises the need for significant attention in terms of prevention and management of noncommunicable respiratory diseases, which appear to be on the uprising.