Relationship between age and in-hospital mortality during 15,345,025 non-surgical hospitalizations

Introduction: Mortality, whether in or out of hospital, increases with age. However, studies evaluating in-hospital mortality in large populations did not distinguish between surgical and non-surgical causes of death, either in young or in elderly patients. The aim of the study was to assess in-hospital non-surgical mortality in a large group of patients, with a special focus on the elderly. Material and methods: Data from the database of the Polish National Health Fund (NHF) regarding hospitalizations of adult (>= 18 years) patients not re- lated to surgical procedures in the years 2009-2013 were used to assess in-hospital mortality. Results: 15,345,025 hospitalizations were assessed. The mean in-hospital non-surgery-related mortality rate was 3.96 +/- 0.17%, and increased from 3.79% to 4.2% between 2009 and 2013. The mean odds ratio for in-hospital death increased with the age of patients, reaching a 229-fold higher rate in the >= 95 years age group as compared to the 18-24 age group. The highest mean mortality was associated with respiratory diseases (6.91 +/- 0.20%), followed by heart and vascular diseases, nervous system diseases, as well as combined gastrointestinal tract, liver, biliary tract, pancreas and spleen diseases (5.65 +/- 0.27%, 5.46 +/- 0.05% and 4.01 +/- 0.13%, respectively). Conclusions: The in-hospital non-surgery-related mortality rate was approximately 4%. It significantly increased with age and, regardless of age, was highest in patients suffering from respiratory diseases.

Automated summary

This study assessed in-hospital non-surgical mortality rate in a large group of patients, finding that the rate was approximately 4% and significantly increased with age, with patients suffering from respiratory diseases having the highest mortality regardless of age.