[Preventable mortality in Andalusian hospitals, 1982-1985].

BACKGROUND: The hospital mortality has been proposed as an indicator of the quality of care, particularly the mortality defined as premature, which is considered as preventable with health care. METHODS: In the hospitals from Andalusia 2.364.934 disease episodes were cared for 1982 to 1985, with a death rate of 2.27%, as estimated in the Hospital Morbidity Survey published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. RESULTS: 2.8% of these deaths were caused by some of the diseases considered as preventable. Of these, hypertension and cerebrovascular disease accounted for 60% and tuberculosis for 16%. Lethality due to these conditions has increased from 0.25 in 1982 to 0.46. In addition, in the Malaga and Huelva provinces the lethality rates (0.63 and 0.61, respectively) and the standardized mortality ratios (225.6 and 174.2, respectively) corresponding to the above mentioned conditions were significantly higher than the mean values in Andalusia. CONCLUSIONS: The preventable mortality in hospitals could be used to evaluate the quality of hospital care from a double standpoint: a) the occurrence of one of these deaths could warrant an inquiry of its reasons; b) the comparison of the preventable mortality rates could identify hospital areas where health care may be provided with some inefficiencies.