Increase in hospital mortality from non-communicable disease and HIV-related conditions in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, between 1992 and 2000

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is creating a strain on health care services in the developing world, with knock-on consequences for HIV negative patients. We looked for possible changes over time in the patterns of illness and outcomes of admission to an adult medical unit in Zimbabwe. We performed a prospective descriptive study of discharge diagnoses and causes of in-hospital;mortality for all medical patients under the care of one consultant at Mpilo Central Hospital, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Two similar 7-month periods were compared in 1992 and 2000. Data recorded included: initials, sex, alive or dead status, diagnosis and HIV/AIDS status. Similar numbers of patients were admitted in 1992 and 2000 (1305 and 1369), but in-hospital mortality increased from 13.3% to 28.6% (P < 0.001), especially in male patients (13.1% to 33.9% P < 0.001). Mortality rates increased for both infectious and non-communicable diseases such as cardiac failure, stroke and diabetes. The 10 most common diagnoses were similar, apart from Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) cases, which increased from 18 to 90. The proportion of patients clinically or serologically positive for HIV/AIDS rose from 13.9% to 51.1% (P < 0.001), but the number of cases of the HIV wasting syndrome (SLIM)/chronic gastroenteritis did not change significantly. In 1992 there happened to be a large number of cases of malaria transmission. Mortality related to both communicable and non-communicable diseases increased, confirming that HIV negative patients are also being affected by the strain on health services. Although based on clinical and radiological diagnosis, PCP pneumonia appears to be increasingly common in this area.