title: Smoking-related disease in a VA hospital.
abstract: An inpatient population was studied to assess the contribution of smoking to the cause of their hospitalization. We established a new methodology to assess a patient population for smoking-related disease, and found that, during a 24-hr period, 32% of all medical and surgical patients studied were hospitalized with smoking-related disease. Moreover, 17% of all medical and surgical patients were hospitalized for diseases that were very highly related to smoking (with risk-ratios greater than 5). On certain services these percentages were much higher. Smoking-related diseases account for a significant proportion of the hospitalizations at the Kansas City Veterans Administration Hospital.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66103.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*