Justification:

in-hospital mortality is part of the quality indicators in health care. Its analysis allows the development of projects for the improvement of services.

Materials and Methods:

a retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out, evaluating the internal medicine hospital discharges of the year 2015 in the Hospital Universitario Clinica San Rafael (HUCSR). The mortality rate and its causes were established. A descriptive analysis of the main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the population was also carried out. The statistical significance was established at p = 0.05.

Results:

of 1817 hospital discharges, there were 152 deaths, for a mortality rate of 8.3%. 54.7% were men; median age was 71 years, the range was 18-106 years. The most frequent comorbidities were 67% arterial hypertension, 39% cancer, 32% COPD. There were no statistically significant differences between men and women. The main causes of death were infectious diseases in 43%, followed by solid neoplasia in 27% and of cardiovascular origin in 17%. The frequency of nosocomial infection in the population was 21%.

Conclusions:

mortality in adult patients hospitalized by internal medicine in the HUCSR is 8.3% and is within the range reported by the literature. In these patients, the frequency of comorbidities such as high blood pressure 67%, cancer (39%) and heart failure (30%) is high. (Acta Med Colomb 2019; 44: 11-16).