title: Estimating the cost of hospital treatment for injuries using linked morbidity data.
abstract: This paper describes the analysis of injury-related linked hospital morbidity data by admissions and by individual patients in Western Australia (WA) from 1990 to 1994. Over this five-year period, there were an average of 35,385 admissions and 30,524 people admitted each year for injuries in WA. The age-standardised rates for injury-related hospital admissions and persons admitted for injuries increased significantly, by 2.4% and 1.5% per year respectively, over the five-year period. The number of admissions and the number of persons admitted peaked in the 20-24 years age group but the highest rates were among those aged 75 years and above. Injuries accounted for nearly 10% of all hospital bed day costs and cost about $50 per head of population per year. The cost of hospitalisation rose steadily from $85.2 million in 1990 to $113.6 million in 1994, the average cost being nearly $100 million per year. The average cost per injury related hospital episode was $2,748. Generally, the cost per hospital episode was higher for males and increased with age, following a similar pattern to that for the average length of stay.
authors.affiliation: Health Information Centre, Health Department of Western Australia. Elizabeth.Unwin@health.wa.gov.au
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Unwin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Codde
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity / Q000639:trends; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology