[Hospital morbidity of elderly population in Andalusia (Spain)].
BACKGROUND
In recent years we have seen in Spain a significant increase in the number of old people. The aim of this work was to determine hospital morbidity among the elderly.


METHODS
We studied the morbidity among patients older than 65 years admitted at the hospitals of our Andalusian public health system that belongs to the Spanish National Health System. We analysed the minimal basic data set at discharge (MBDSD) over a period from January 1998 to December 1999, both inclusive.


RESULTS
In the 32 hospitals studied, a total of 25,255 hospital discharges of patients older than 65 years were recorded. This means an annual hospitalization rate in this age group of 15.2% (95 % CI: 15.1-15.3). The most frequent causes of hospitalisation are: diseases of the circulatory system (20.7%), diseases of the respiratory system (14.0%), diseases of the digestive system (11.6%).


CONCLUSIONS
The old population of Andalusia (Spain) has a high rate of hospital morbidity, specially for people older than 75 years, and significant variations are seen between the different provinces of the Andalusian Region. Their hospitalization is due mainly to chronic diseases of developed countries.
García Ortega
C
C
Servicio de Admisión y Documentación, Hospital del Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Algeciras, Cádiz. garcia.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es
Almenara Barrios
J
J
González Caballero
J L
JL
Peralta Sáenz
J L
JL
D000368:Aged; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology