Traditionally, biomedical research endeavors in low to middle resources countries have focused on communicable diseases. However, data collected over the past 20 years by the World Health Organization (WHO) show a significant increase in the number of people suffering from non-communicable diseases (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer and pulmonary diseases). Within the coming years, WHO predi...

OBJECTIVE To determine the pattern of non-communicable diseases in the medical wards of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), over four consecutive years (June 2000 to June 2004). METHODS The study was retrospective and data were obtained from the medical registers in the medical wards and the records department of the UPTH. Medical admissions due to non-communicable disea...