DEMOGRAPHICAL, CLINICAL AND ETIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF PATIENTS WITH NON TRAUMATIC COMA AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To study the demographical, clinical and etiological profile of patients with non traumatic coma (NTC) at tertiary care hospital. Patients and Methods: This study of cross sectional type was conducted at tertiary care hospital and included patients of ≥11 years of age, either gender with history of or presentation with non traumatic coma were further explored and evaluate for its etiology. After detail history and clinical examination the relevant and specific examination were advised includes blood complete picture, sugar level, liver function test, thyroid profile, malaria parasite test / ICT malaria, drug / intoxication screening, electrolytes, urea and creatinine, CT and MRI scan, CSF analysis, EEG, electroencephalography, viral hepatitis profile and blood, urine culture and sensitivity while the data was collected on pre-designed proforma and analyzed in SPSS 16. The frequency and percentages was calculated while the numerical statistics were used to compute mean ±SD. Results: In this study fifty consecutive patients of non traumatic coma were recruited and studied. The mean ±SD for age (years) and duration of illness (days) for whole population was 25.98±8.85 and 15.83 ± 4.63 with male gender predominance 32 (64%). The cerebro-vascular accidents was the commonest causes of non-traumatic coma 17 (34%), other etiological factor found were cerebral malaria 10 (20%), hepatic coma 4 (8%) and diabetic ketoacidosis 4(8%). Conclusion: The cerebro-vascular accidents were the commonest causes of non-traumatic coma, thus the adequate knowledge for common causes of NTC and proper work-up for the evaluation of NTC may improve the outcome. Key words: Non traumatic coma, COMA, Cerebrovascular accident, Malaria and Glasgow coma scale.