[Characteristics of avoidable hospitalization in Spain].
OBJECTIVE
Hospitalizations that could have been prevented with a timely and effective ambulatory care are known as avoidable hospitalizations (AH). The measure of AH is an indicator of the quality of primary health care centers. The objective of this study was to determine the factors that influence the level of AH at the Spanish public hospitals.


METHODS
We identified the characteristics of hospitalised patient as AH. We studied the total hospitalizations in public hospitals of Spain in 2000 related to AH.


RESULTS
AH admissions were the 15.8% of total in Spanish hospitals and the 16.6% of hospital stays. Patients' mean age was high, 54 years, males (age-adjusted OR = 1.54) with a large length of stay and presurgery stay, higher comorbidity (0.63 [0.8]), public financing, and admission was basically emergency-caused and in high complexity hospitals. There is a direct relationship between frequency of AH and hospital complexity.


CONCLUSIONS
The control of AH is very important because its repercussion on the total hospitalary case-mix. We observe an inducing effect of the hospital offer because the hospital capacity increase the number of AH admissions.
Alfonso Sánchez
José Luis
JL
Servicio de Medicina Preventiva y Calidad Asistencial, Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia, Avenida Blasco Ibáñez 17, 46010 Valencia, Spain. jose.l.alfonso@uv.es
Sentís Vilalta
Joan
J
Blasco Perepérez
Sergio
S
Martínez Martínez
Isabel
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013030:Spain