Trends in hip fracture hospitalizations and associated health outcomes in Alberta, 1994-1997 : Hip fracture hospitalizations and associated outcomes

The Alberta Centre for Health Services Utilization Research Page 4 Hip Fracture Hospitalization and Associated Outcomes Measures Demographic and Health Characteristics In addition to patients’ demographic characteristics (age, sex, health region of residence), information on the length of stay of the index hospitalization and the presence of selected comorbid conditions was collected from the Albe [...] Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to investigate the statistical significance of time trends in the age- and sex-specific hip fracture hospitalization rates and to examine patients’ characteristics associated with the length of stay for the index hospitalization. [...] With the exception of the model predicting length of stay during the index hospitalization, the health region variable was not retained in the final models because it was not found to be an important predictor of the main outcomes. [...] The results of the regression analysis examining the demographic and health characteristics associated with length of stay during the index hospitalization are presented in Table 6. The direction and magnitude of the association is reflected by the beta estimate. [...] Across the three years examined, the The Alberta Centre for Health Services Utilization Research Page 12 Hip Fracture Hospitalization and Associated Outcomes reduction in mean length of stay for the index hospitalization was most evident for patients from the Capital region, particularly during the 1995/96 fiscal year.