Results are presented of a retrospective audit of admissions to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of
Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, which is a tertiary referral facility. The audit was
conducted for a period of one year spanning from January to December, 2012. The objectives of
the audit were to: describe the profile of admissions and treatment outcomes of the admissions
and identify main causes of mortality in ICU of the facility. The admission book and patients’ records
were reviewed retrospectively guided by a data extraction form which was specifically designed
for this study. The extracted data included age, sex, referring unit, diagnosis, treatment
outcome and length of stay. The data were analyzed using STATA version 10.0. A total of 253 patients
were admitted to the ICU over the one year period of study. About a third of the patients
(33.6% n = 85) were admitted due to postoperative surgery. There were 154 deaths representing
an overall mortality of 60.9%. Sepsis was the commonest cause of death and accounted for 39.6%,
n = 61 of the deaths. Younger age of less than 40 years and increased patients’ length of stay in the
unit were significantly and positively associated with mortality (P < 0.05). The high mortality
rates among patients admitted to ICU reflects numerous challenges at various levels of critical
care service delivery in the country. There is therefore a need to strengthen critical care services
to improve treatment outcomes for patients admitted to ICU of the facility