title: Predictors associated with the place of death in a country with increasing hospital deaths.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: Young Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Min Kyoung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Kui-Son
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Young Sun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Rhee
mesh_terms: 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