SPA 6 Statistics -
VI. Hospitalization Back to Table of Contents
Leading Causes of Hospitalization
During 1999, the number of SPA 6 residents who were hospitalized was 141,562. Table 17 reports the top 30 principal discharge diagnoses of hospitalized persons in the entire SPA, representing approximately 25% of all hospital discharges. The top five illness-related causes of hospitalization for area residents were Pneumonia with 3,704 hospitalizations, congestive heart failure with 3,337, chronic lung disease with 1,840, coronary heart artery disease with 1,417, and urinary tract infection with 1,295 hospitalizations during 1999. These causes of hospitalization were followed by dehydration with 1,203, cerebral artery blockage with 1,149, chest pain with 936, acute pancreatitis with 888, and chronic paranoid schizophrenia with 838 hospitalizations among SPA 6 residents during 1999.
Table 18 presents the 123,146 illness- and injury-related hospital discharges in 1999 by communities of SPA 6. Hospitalizations for obstetrical reasons (the delivery of babies) were excluded from this table. The highest number of hospitalizations was among residents of the City of Compton with 15,735 hospital discharges during 1999. The city was followed by Hyde Park with 12,622, South Central Los Angeles with 11,568, Exposition Park with 10,597, and South Vermont with 10,591 hospital discharges during 1999.
Rates of hospital discharges by 100,000 population during 1999 were highest in the community of Adams with a rate of 17,522. The community was followed by Leimert Park with a rate of 16,610, Hyde Park with a rate of 15,861, West Compton/Los Angeles County with a rate of 14,476, and Humphry with a rate of 14,308 hospital discharges per 100,000 population.
Scheduled Versus Unscheduled Hospital Admissions
Illness- and injury-related causes of hospitalization are presented by admission type in Table 19. Scheduled admissions represented 23% of all illness- and injury-related admissions, while unscheduled admissions accounted for 77%. Emergency (unscheduled) admissions constituted over 90% of admissions for chest pain, acute pancreatitis, asthma, and acute appendicitis. Emergency admissions comprised over 80% of admissions for pneumonia, congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, urinary tract infection, dehydration, cerebral artery blockage, chronic paranoid schizophrenia, heart attack, blood poisoning, pneumonia for food inhalation or vomit, syncope and collapse, irregular rapid heart rate, transient cerebral ischemia, acute ill fated cerebrovascular disease, and calculus of gallbladder.
Table 20 presents the racial/ethnic distribution of illness- and injury-related hospital discharges by admission type. Emergency admissions constituted high proportions of hospital discharges with 81% among Latinos, 78% among Asians/Pacific Islanders, 77% among African Americans as well as American Indians and those from other racial/ethnic groups, and 73% among Whites.
The age distribution of hospital discharges by admission type (Table 21) shows that proportions of emergency admissions were highest among children less than fifteen years of age (87%). This group was followed by young adults 15 to 24 years old (79%), residents 25 to 64 years of age (77%), and seniors 65 years and over (75%).
Asthma-Related Hospitalization
Table 22 presents asthma-related hospitalizations in SPA 6 during 1999. It includes hospital discharges when asthma was mentioned as the major diagnosis or as other diagnosis. (Hospital discharge files include a principal diagnosis and four other diagnoses). There were 5,436 asthma-related hospital discharges in SPA 6 during 1999. Thirty-five percent of the asthma-related hospitalizations were among persons less than 15 years old, and 8% were 15 to 24 years of age. Persons 25 to 64 years old constituted slightly over 41% of asthma-related hospitalizations, while seniors 65 years and over, made up about 16% of asthma-related hospitalizations in SPA 6 during 1999.
Payors for Hospitalization
Racial/ethnic distribution of hospitalized SPA 6 residents during 1999 including deliveries is presented by payor in Table 23. Slightly over 60% of Latino residents had hospital costs paid by Medi-Cal, about 20% by private insurance, 8% by Medicare, and 12% were paid by other payment sources. For African American residents of SPA 6 who were hospitalized, about 36% had their hospital costs paid by Medicare, 32% by Medi-Cal, over 21% by private insurance, and the remaining 11% were paid by other payment sources. For White residents hospitalized during 1999, 44% were paid for by Medicare, 25% by private insurance, 24% by Medi-Cal, and 7% were paid for by other payment sources. Medicare was the payor for 40% of Asian/Pacific Islander residents hospitalized in 1999, private insurance paid 27%, Medi-Cal paid 25%, and the remaining 8% of hospitalized Asians/Pacific Islanders were paid for by other payment sources. For American Indians and persons from other racial/ethnic groups, 36% were paid for by private insurance, 31% by Medi-Cal, 25% by Medicare, and the remaining 8% were paid for by other payment sources.
