Background: Osteomyelitis, which is commonly caused by micro-organisms, is one of the common pathological condition in the orthopedic practice worldwide. It has been reported that different factors like open fractures, systematic illness like sickle cell disease and immunocompromised contribute to the increase in the prevalence of osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is a major problem among patients admitted in the orthopedic ward and those attending the outpatient clinic at BMC. Records from BMC register book indicate that annually approximately 100 patients are admitted in the orthopedic ward and 120 were seen at the outpatient orthopedic clinic annually. This may be contributed by many factors like sickle cell disease, HIV, and open fractures. This trend has also been observed in other studies elsewhere. Despite the high prevalence of osteomyelitis at BMC, local information on the risk factors of osteomyelitis is scarce. Although many studies have been done of osteomyelitis worldwide, little local data is there in the literature regarding the risk factors of osteomyelitis. This study was intended to fill the knowledge gap and provide data regarding the risk factors of osteomyelitis as seen at BMC. It also provides basis for providing health education to communities on the risk factors of osteomyelitis.
Methodology: This was a prospective cross-sectional hospital study. Data was collected using an open-ended questionnaire among patients admitted to the orthopedic surgical wards and those attending the orthopedic outpatient clinic. Random sampling was used to select participants and only patients with osteomyelitis were selected from the orthopedic ward and out-patients orthopedic clinic.
Results: From the finding in the present study involving 138 patients with osteomyelitis, the leading risk factors were found to be open fractures in 54 patients (39.1%) and orthopedic surgeries with implants insertions in 43 patients (31.1%). The apparently high incidence of osteomyelitis in the operated patients with implant insertion is not a reflection of an increase in the rate of post-operative infection at the cancer. This could be explained by the increase in the number of surgeons (from 2 in 2007 to the present 10) performing an increased number of operations and more complex operations. This study has also demonstrated the male predominance of 100 patients (72.5%) as compared to 38 females (27.5%). HIV infection was present in 17 patients (12.3%) in this study. From the study, out of 138 participants, only 4 (2.9%) participants had sickle cell disease.