Centre for Policy on Ageing



Hospital discharges for pneumonia in Finland between 1972 and 1993 in the population aged 65 years or over
Author(s)	Pirjo Säynäjäkangas, Timo Keistinen, Pekka O Honkanen
Journal title	Age and Ageing, vol 26, no 4, July 1997
Pages	pp 269-273
Keywords	Pneumonia ; Admission [hospitals] ; Discharge ; Time duration ; Finland.
Annotation	In this Finnish study based on hospital discharge records, annual hospital treatment periods for pneumonia increased from 15.5 to 23.9 per 1000 of population aged 65 and over between 1972 and 1993. The increase was highest for males aged 85 and over. In 1972, the number of hospitalisation days recorded was 126,690 (277 per 1000) and in 1993 it was 242,638 (343 per 1000), implying an absolute increase of 91.5%. However, the average annual change in the age-adjusted rate of hospitalisation showed a decrease of 0.62%. Greater effectiveness in hospital care has contributed to the shortening of treatment times, but has not succeeded in compensating for the increase in the absolute number of hospitalisation days. Health care systems must be prepared for increased demands for hospital care, either by preventing pneumonia, or increasing the numbers of hospital beds.
Accession Number	CPA-970829217 A
Classmark	CNP: LD:QKH: QKJ: 4N: 76L
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.