Abstract
Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the hospital episode rates in cardiovascular disease by sex and across age groups in order to understand whether and how the use of health services for cardiovascular disease might have changed in recent years in the north-east of England.
Methods: Hospital episode data in 2010–2014 covering 5 full calendar years was extracted from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which is serving a population of nearly half a million. Hospital episode rates were calculated from all admissions divided by annual and areaspecific population size for each sex and age group, presented per 100 000 person-years using Microsoft Excel.
Results: The overall use for each subtype of cardiovascular disease seemed to decrease from 2010 to 2013, but increase from 2013 to 2014. This is particularly apparent in the very old, aged 80 and above, such as in the case of diagnoses owing to essential primary hypertension and angina. For atrial fibrillation and haemorrhagic strokes, a similar situation was observed in the oldest old-aged, 90 and above. For myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cerebral infarction, however, service use seemed to have remained constant over the last 5 years. Of note, there was a huge sex difference in health-service use for cerebral infarction in those aged 90 and above, where there were more women than men admitted.
Conclusion: Examining local health-service use owing to the burden of cardiovascular disease annually might help indicate which of its subtypes might require more attention.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 41-47 |
Journal | British Journal of Cardiac Nursing |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 15 Feb 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |