Non-traumatic Comas at the Emergency Reception Service of Aristide Ledantec Hospital(ALDH): Epidemiological, Clinical, Paraclinical and Evolutive Aspects

Introduction Non-traumatic comas were studied emergency reception service with the objective to describe the epidemiological, clinical, etiologic and prognosis in Dakar. Patients and methods It was a descriptive cross-sectional study from June 2011 to June 2012 meaning a 12-month period on non-traumatic coma at emergency reception service of ALDH. Results They were 39 patients (11.20 % of admissions). The patients came to the emergency in urban taxis (over 60 %) and 24 hours after installation of the coma (more than 80 % of patients). Approximately one third of our patients run high blood pressure and neurological deficit was found in 15 % of our patients. The etiologies were dominated by the uremic encephalopathy and cerebral malaria followed by diabetic coma, stroke and hepatic encephalopathy. Comatose patients without etiological diagnosis accounted for the largest proportion. Mortality was high (77 % of patients) with a 100 % mortality in patients with no etiological diagnosis and depth of the coma was a poor prognostic factor in our study. Conclusion It is necessary to improve the technical facilities for pre-hospital and at the emergency reception service to improve diagnoses and mortality in comatose patients.