Analysis of deaths during hospitalization and after discharge from hospital

INTRODUCTION: Analysis of deaths during and up to one month after discharge from hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For 2006, all deaths during and up to one month after discharge were identified for patients admitted to hospital in Roskilde or Koge. Age, acute or planned hospitalisation, duration of in-hospital stay, department of discharge and main diagnose were registered. RESULTS: Out of 50,302 hospitalisations, 2.2% had a fatal outcome during hospitalisation, whereas 2.1% died within the following month. During hospitalisation, the proportion of deaths among patients with either planned or acute admission was 1.1% and 2.6%, respectively. For several diagnose groups the risk of death during the first month after discharge was higher than that of fatal outcome during hospitalisation. The diagnose groups most frequently related to fatal outcome were cancers, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. Pneumonia was the most prevalent benign diagnosis for fatal cases during hospitalisation. Data are provided for mortality related to diagnose and age group. The incidence of fatal outcome increased with the length of in-patient stay. CONCLUSION: Analysis of fatality rates also during planned hospitalisations and within the first month after acute as well as planned hospitalisations should be in focus when planning quality improvement projects.