[Emergencies at a hospital center and university in a tropical area. An anesthesiologist's point of view].

The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the profile of medical emergencies and their management in a university hospital center in a tropical area. Between July 1 and December 31, 2001, all patients examined in a medical and surgical emergency room were included. Obstetrical emergencies, pediatric emergencies, emergencies admitted directly to the cardiology, ORL emergencies and urologic emergencies were not included. A total of 6740 patients were examined for medical/surgical emergencies during the 6-month study period. Mean patient age was 23 +/- 7 years. Most patients were male with a sex ratio of 3.4. Patients were from the city of Dakar in 50% of cases, suburbs of Dakar in 35% and other regions in 15%. The mean delay between the onset of emergency and admission was 17 +/- 9 hours. Patients were transferred to the hospital in 78% of cases by private transportation. Gastrointestinal events accounted for 20.23% of cases, cardiovascular events for 9.12%, respiratory events of 8.56%, metabolic events for 1.78%, trauma for 48.20% and infectious disease for 12.09%. Surgical mortality was 2.41%. Most problems facing the intensivist treating medical emergencies in a tropical setting involved resuscitation.