Trends in Hospital Mortality at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya: A 15-Year Retrospective Analysis (2000–2014)

Background Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is the second largest national hospital in western part of Kenya, serving a population of approximately 20 million people. It is a 1,200-bed hospital with a 24-hour workload of approximately 2,000 inpatients and 1,500 outpatients. As of 2019, Kenya’s national mortality rate was 7.8 per 1,000, and life expectancy was 66.1 years. Mortality rate reported was 31.87/1000 and 419.4/1000 for women and men correspondingly in 2021. Currently, infant mortality rate (IMR) stands at 32/1000 live births with under-five mortality rate at 41/1000 live births. Only 39% of all deaths in Kenya are reported and registered as at 2018. Methods All mortality case files at MTRH between 2000 and 2014 retrievable from the hospital Records Department archives, were included in the study. Ethical approval was sought from the Institutional Review and Ethical Committee (IREC) of Moi University/ MTRH with approval number 001127. The search strategy was developed starting with the latest deaths for ease of retrieval. Data retrieval process started in January 2014 and ended in December 2016. Data set of all the mortalities’ information was de-identified, decoded and entered into the SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics were employed to describe each cause of mortality, demographic information and time of mortality occurrence. Results A total of 32759 deaths occurred, with only 25,420 (77.60%) records retrievable; Over 72.28% were self-referral; More male deaths occurred at 54.04% than females at 45.96%, p < 0.001. Conclusions Patient care information retrievability and accessibility remains a challenge hindering care continuum with gaps existing in referral systems with more men at higher risk of dying die than women.