Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2023; 11(6): 1310-1317
Published online Feb 26, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i6.1310
Survey study of the etiology of non-traumatic altered consciousness in the Emergency Department at Suez Canal University Hospital in Egypt
Bassant S Moussa, Zeinab M Abd Elatiff, Ghada M Kamal Eldin Elhadary
Bassant S Moussa, Zeinab M Abd Elatiff, Ghada M Kamal Eldin Elhadary, Emergency Medicine Department, Suez Canal University, Faculty of Medicine, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
Author contributions: Moussa BS and Abd Elatiff ZM collected the data; Moussa BS assessed the results; Kamal Eldin Elhadary GM and Abd Elatiff ZM wrote and revised the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: Ethics approval and consent to participate were obtained from the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of Suez Canal University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare having no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and supplementary materials section.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bassant S Moussa, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Emergency Medicine Department, Suez Canal University, Faculty of Medicine, Ring Road, Ismailia 41522, Egypt. bassant_sayed@med.suez.edu.eg
Received: October 14, 2022
Peer-review started: October 14, 2022
First decision: December 13, 2022
Revised: January 6, 2022
Accepted: February 3, 2023
Article in press: February 3, 2023
Published online: February 26, 2023
Processing time: 132 Days and 13.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Disorders of consciousness including coma in non-trauma patients can be caused by a wide variety of pathologies affecting the central nervous system. They represent a frequent challenge in emergency medicine and are combined with a very high in-hospital mortality. Hence, early treatment of these patients is vital and increases the likelihood of a good outcome.

AIM

To identify the causes of altered consciousness presentation to the Emergency Department at Suez Canal University Hospital.

METHODS

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 87 patients with acute non-traumatic disturbed level of consciousness (DLOC) at the Emergency Department.

RESULTS

The mean age of the studied patients was 60.5 ± 13.6 years. Among them, 60% were males and 40% were females. The most common cause of acute non-traumatic DLOC was systemic infection, such as sepsis and septic shock (25.3%), followed by respiratory causes (24.1%) and neurological causes (18.4%).

CONCLUSION

The most common cause of acute non-traumatic DLOC was systemic infections followed by respiratory and neurological causes.

Keywords: Disturbed level of consciousness; Non-traumatic; Emergency department

Core Tip: Disorders of consciousness including coma in non-trauma patients can be caused by a wide variety of pathologies affecting the central nervous system. This includes life-threatening medical, neurological or neurosurgical emergencies where timely medical intervention is vital. The aim of this cross-sectional observational study was to identify the causes of acute non-traumatic altered consciousness in the Emergency Department at Suez Canal University Hospital. Our study concluded that the most common cause of acute non-traumatic disturbed level of consciousness was systemic infections followed by respiratory and neurological causes.