Abstract:

Background: Epistaxis, or bleeding from the nose, is a common complaint. It is rarely life threatening but may cause significant concern, However, when multiple sources are reviewed, the lifelong incidence of epistaxis in the general population is about 60%, which fewer than 10 seeking medical attention.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of epistaxis and its associated factors among patients admitted and attending ENT clinic at BMC from January 2014 – September 2015.

Material and Method: This was a hospital-based retrospective study to the patients who were admitted, readmitted and those who attended in ENT Department from January 2014 – September 2015, in order to determine prevalence and associated factors for epistaxis. Data was collected using some patient’s file in Medical Records.

Results: The total number of 85 patients were seen with epistaxis out of 1920 seen at ENT clinic. The prevalence of epistaxis among ENT patients was 44/1000. There were 53 males (62.4%) and 32 females (37.6%) with male to female ratio of 1. 7: 1. Their ages ranged between 1 and 72 years with 0-12 age range being the highest number (34.11%) followed by 45-72 (30.5%). The epistaxis patients reviewed had associated with Trauma 39(45.9%), Idiopathic 20(23.5%), infections 17(20%), nasopharynx tumor 5(0.06%), other 2(0.025%) and HTN 2 (0.025%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of epistaxis in our setting is commonly associated with trauma in young are probably because they are more prone.