The Routine Pre-Admission Chest Radiograph. How Relevant? An Audit of 7056 Radiographs from a Tertiary University in South-South Nigeria

The medical screening of new students into the Nigerian universities includes a routine chest radiograph which aims at identifying infectious processes mainly and other abnormalities. The important question -is how relevant is this practice?. This study aims at evaluating the relevance of the routine chest radiography as a part of the pre admission medical screening examination. A retrospective review of 7056 chest radiographs taken in the x ray unit of the Health centre of the University of Port Harcourt for the 2014/2015 session was done. All abnormalities noted were recorded. A total of 7056 radiographs were analysed. 74 (1.05%) had features of pulmonary tuberculosis, 39 (0.55%) had cardiomegaly and 30(0.43%) had Idiopathic scoliosis. 20(0.28%) had various congenital bony abnormalities such as cervical bifida 15(0.21%) while 1 (.014%) had dextrocardia. The use of routine chest radiographs as a part of the medical screening examination for new students in Nigerian universities has a low positive .It is recommended that the chest radiograph should be done when necessary after proper history and clinical examination has been carried out.

Key Words: Undergraduates, Routine chest radiographs, tertiary university, south south Nigeria