Burden of acute stroke and hospital resources in the Campania region of Italy.
We examined all the official hospital records referring to admissions for acute stroke (AS) (DRG 14) from January 1 to December 31, 1996 in Campania (Italy), a large region with 10% of the Italian population. Related healthcare burden and available resources were evaluated. During the study period, a total of 9,003 discharges were reported. We counted 11 neurological care units (NCU) committed to emergency in the region, with 230 hospital beds. The 4,890 admissions in NCU represented 54.3% of the total AS hospitalizations per year. A large number of strokes (45.7%) had no access to specialist assistance and were hospitalized mainly in general wards with a mean hospital stay of 12.7 days, compared with 9.5 days in NCU (p < 0.01). In our region, the number of hospital beds available for neurological emergencies do not meet the demand.
Department of Neurological Science, Loreto Nuovo Hospital, Naples, Italy. defalco@tin.it
Fabrizio A
FA
de Falco
Roberto
R
Santangelo
Luigi
L
Majello
Giuseppe
G
Marasco
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009462:Neurology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012008:Recurrence; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014600:Utilization Review