The Use of Hospital Medical Records for Epidemiologic Research. I. Differences in Hospital Utilization and In-Hospital Mortality by Age-Race-Sex-Place of Residence and Socioeconomic Status in a Defined Community Population

One of the major problems in attempting to use information collected in the medical care system for epidemiologic research, e.g., information from hospital medical records, is the problem of identifying the population at risk for admission to hospital. In this study, the population at risk has been identified as all residents of Charleston County, South Carolina in 1963. This population numbered some 215,000 individuals with 16,903 residents of the county being admitted to hospital during the year. Hospital admission rates by age, race, and sex were computed for the entire population while additional rates were computed for a subgroup of the population, ags 35-64 years, by place of residence, socioeconomic status, selected diagnostic categories, hospital services utilized, and status at discharge, i.e., alive or dead. Substantial differences were observed between admission rates for blacks compared to whites with whites having an admission rate 1.8 times that for blacks. The highest admission rates were for residents of urban areas while the lowest admission rates were for blacks from rural areas. Middle-income whites and low-income blacks show the highest admission rates. Overall, blacks experience an inhospital mortality rate eight times that experienced by whites

Environmental health · Geography · Hospital admission · Household income · Medical record · Mortality rate · Population · Race (biology) · Residence · Socioeconomic status · Demography · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Gerontology

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