Predictors associated with the place of death in a country with increasing hospital deaths.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the contribution of type of illness, socio-demographic factors, and area of residence to the place of death in a country with increasing hospital deaths.


METHODS
Descriptive study of hospital deaths using a 10-year death registration database from the Korean National Statistical Office.


METHODS
Through the National Vital Statistics System, 2,402,259 deaths were registered in Korea from 1992 to 2001.


RESULTS
There was a significant trend toward an increase in the proportion of hospital deaths, from 16.6% in 1992 to 39.9% in 2001. The proportion of deaths at home decreased over that period, from 72.9 to 49.2%. The risk of hospital death versus home death was lower for those aged 75 years and over (adjusted odds ratio: 0.212; 95% confidence interval: 0.210-0.214) compared with those <55 years, and for people who were highly educated (2.04; 2.02-2.06), had white-collar jobs (1.55; 1.54-1.57), and resided in areas with more available hospital beds (2.46; 2.42-2.51). Compared with other causes of death, the risk of dying in hospital was higher for patients with ischaemic heart disease (1.83; 1.79-1.86), cancer (1.25; 1.23-1.26) and chronic lower respiratory disease (1.21; 1.18-1.23).


CONCLUSIONS
Trends in place of death are influenced by available hospital beds, socio-demographic factors and the nature of the terminal disease, in a country with increasing hospital deaths. These associations should be viewed within the context of culture and local health care systems.
Yun
Young Ho
YH
Quality of Cancer Care Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center 809, Madu-dong, Ilsan-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 411-769, Korea. lawyun08@ncc.re.kr
Lim
Min Kyoung
MK
Choi
Kui-Son
KS
Rhee
Young Sun
YS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019452:Terminally Ill