Hospitalization

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Personal Finances and Welfare, Social Statistics
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Hospitalization 2024

The purpose of the Hospital Utilisation Statistics is to shed light on the connection between hospitals stays and social and demographic conditions. The statistics have been compiled since 1990, but are comparable in their current form only from 2017 onwards.

Statistical presentation

The statistics are an annual inventory of stays at public and private somatic and psychiatric hospital wards within one calendar year. The statistics show how hospital stays vary with demographic and social factors, such as residence, sex, age, educational level, labour market affiliation and relatives. The statistics are published in News from Statistics Denmark and in the StatBank.

Statistical processing

The statistics are based on data retrieved from the National Patient Registry, which is shared with Statistics Denmark by the Danish Health Data Authority. Background data from Statistics Denmark are linked to the registry, and summaries and counts are produced — for example, the number of hospital stays and patients in public and private somatic and psychiatric hospital departments during the calendar year.

Relevance

Public and private stakeholders, as well as the general population, can use the statistics to extract data on the population’s hospital utilisation for various analyses, research, public debate, etc. The statistics make it possible to produce figures for specific diagnosis groups and to link information on hospital utilisation with sociodemographic factors such as place of residence, education, labour market attachment, and origin. This is made possible by linking data from the National Patient Register with population register data from Statistics Denmark.

Accuracy and reliability

The National Patient Register is validated by the Danish Health Data Agency and the accuracy of the register data must be considered to be high because the registration has a long tradition and a high priority for administrative purposes. Accordingly, the overall accuracy of the Hospital Utilisation Statistics is high.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics are published within approximately nine months after the end of the reference period.

Comparability

The statistics have been developed since 1990, but are only comparable in their current form from 2017 onwards.

Eurostat and the OECD make comparable statistics in this field. There are a number of organizational and institutional conditions that we must keep in mind when comparing countries.

Accessibility and clarity

The statistics are released in the newsletter Nyt from Statistics Denmark (in Danish only) and the Statbank, Statbank tables on hospitalisation utilisation (https://www.Statbank.dk/20050). Statistical Yearbook and Statistical Ten-Year Review contain selected sections about hospitalisation rates. For further information, go to the subject page.