A 13-year review of cases of limb amputation managed in obafemi awolowo university teaching hospitals’ complex, ile-ife

Limb amputation is a life-changing event that signifies long-term physical, social, psychological, and environmental changes. Various studies have described different indications as the leading cause of amputation in different parts of this country but there is paucity of literature revealing the incidence and pattern of limb amputation in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife especially in the last thirteen years, hence the impetus for this study. Case notes of patients who had undergone limb amputation and hospitalized at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals’ Complex between January 2002 and December 2014 were reviewed and relevant data such as age, sex, occupation, type of amputation, level of amputation, indication for amputation, date of admission, date of discharge, status at the time of discharge, referral for physiotherapy on the ward and physiotherapy treatment on ward were retrieved. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and summarized using descriptive statistics. A total of 132 patients had limb amputation. The prevalence of amputation among all orthopaedic surgeries within the period was 6.4%. The age range of patients who underwent amputation was between 1 month to 90 years with a mean of 39.87 ± 20.82years and a mean duration of hospitalization of 54.12 ± 38.41 days while the mortality rate was 14.4%. The male to female ratio was 2.3:1. Road traffic accident was the most common indication for amputation with 50 (37.9%) cases followed by diabetes with 31.1% cases. Below knee amputation was the most common level of amputation (41.7%). Fifty-nine (44.7%) patients were referred for physiotherapy on the ward although, they were all lower limb amputees. In conclusion, there was a low prevalence of limb amputation in this study with road traffic accident/trauma being a leading cause.