Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (11)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by VILKMAN, S.
Right arrow Articles by KIVELÄ, S.-L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by VILKMAN, S.
Right arrow Articles by KIVELÄ, S.-L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1996 Oxford University Press

research-article

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

SIRKKU VILKMAN*, TIMO KEISTINEN, TUILI TUUPONEN and SIRKKA-LIISA KIVELÄ

Department of Public Health Science and General Practice, University of Oulu, Aapistie 1, FIN-90220 OULU, Finland
Department of Internal Medicine, Oulu University Hospital

*Address correspondence to Dr S. Vilkman, Kiviaidankuja 1 B 16, FIN-06100 Porvoo, Finland

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.

Received August 2, 1995;
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.