Age Distribution of Patients treated in Hospital for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

A discharge register maintained by the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health was employed to study the use of hospital services, attributable to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in Finland. From a total population of 5 million COPD caused 113016 hospital treatm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Age and ageing 1996-03, Vol.25 (2), p.109-112
Main Authors: VILKMAN, SIRKKU, KEISTINEN, TIMO, TUUPONEN, TUILI, KIVELÄ, SIRKKA-LIISA
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Care and treatment
Chronic obstructive lung disease
Cross-Sectional Studies
Elderly
Female
Finland - epidemiology
Geriatric Assessment
Health aspects
Health care
Hospitals
Humans
Incidence
Lung diseases, Obstructive
Lung Diseases, Obstructive - epidemiology
Lung Diseases, Obstructive - rehabilitation
Male
Middle Aged
Older people
Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data
Patient Discharge - statistics & numerical data
Patients
Population Growth
Respiratory diseases
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Summary:A discharge register maintained by the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health was employed to study the use of hospital services, attributable to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in Finland. From a total population of 5 million COPD caused 113016 hospital treatment periods during 1983–92 of persons aged 35 years or over. In men the need of hospital treatment for COPD started to rise sharply after the age of 50. Men aged 73 had the highest amount of admissions (3962 admissions per 10-year period). Women aged 68 had the highest amount of admissions (802 admissions per 10-year period). The highest admission rate per 1000 inhabitants was found for men at the age of 82 (37.0 admissions per 1000 population/year) and for women at the age of 77 (3.8 admissions per 1000 population/year). During the 10-year period a total of 27008 new COPD patients aged 35 or over received hospital care. The highest number of new admissions occurred among both sexes at the age of 71 (750 admissions per 10-year period in men and 233 admissions per 10-year period in women). This means that most of admissions are due to elderly COPD patients seeking treatment repeatedly. As the populations in the developed countries are ageing, the significance of COPD for the health care system is growing.
ISSN:0002-0729
1468-2834
DOI:10.1093/ageing/25.2.109