Hospital admissions for pneumonia in Spain

Abstract

Background: Hospital-based surveillance study to estimate the burden of hospitalizations due to pneumonia in Spain.

Patients and methods: The national surveillance system for hospital data (Conjunto Mínimo de Datos, CMBD) maintained by the Ministry of Health was used to obtain information concerning hospital discharges for pneumonia for the period January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1996.

Results: There were 109,644 hospitalizations for pneumonia during this period. For the years 1995 and 1996 the incidence of hospitalizations for pneumonia was 162 and 189 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. Persons > or = 65 years accounted for 49.5% of cases. The average length of stay in hospital was 11.2 days and the case-fatality rate was 7.4%.

Conclusion: Each year more than 50,000 persons were hospitalized for pneumonia and approximately 4,000 died.