[Proximal femur fractures in the elderly in The Netherlands during the period 1991-2004: incidence, mortality, length of hospital stay and an estimate of the care capacity needed in the future]. / Proximale femurfracturen bij ouderen in Nederland in de periode 1991-2004: incidentie, sterfte, opnameduur en schatting van de in de toekomst benodigde zorgcapaciteit.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the incidence of operations for neck and pertrochanteric femur fractures during the last 15 years and to estimate the future demand for such operations in The Netherlands. DESIGN: Retrospective. METHOD: For the years 1991, 1995, 2000 and 2004, the following anonymised data were collected in the National Medical Registry of Prismant for all patients admitted to Dutch hospitals for a hip fracture: age-group, gender, length of pre- and postoperative hospital stay, destination after discharge and hospital mortality. These data were related to demographic data for the Dutch population from Statistics Netherlands (CBCS) and to estimates for the Dutch population in the future from Primos Prognostic Data. RESULTS: The average absolute increase in the period 1991-2004 was linear, with 230 fractures per year. Women were operated for a hip fracture 1.5-2 times as often as men in the same age range. The age-specific incidence remained constant over the years but the absolute number of elderly persons per age group increased. The average length of pre- and postoperative hospital stay was reduced by half during the period under investigation. The postoperative hospital mortality decreased from 8.1% in 1991 to 5.6% in 2004, and was 1.5 times as high for men aged 70 years or over as for women of the same age group. In 2004 as compared to 1991, 2.5 times as many patients were discharged to a nursing home. In view of the increasing age of the population, the total number of operated hip fractures can be expected to be 20,200 in the year 2010 and 23,900 in the year 2020. CONCLUSION: In the period 1991-2004 there was an annual increase of 230 operations for proximal femur fractures that was closely related to the ageing of the Dutch population. During the years under investigation, the incidence in the same age range was higher in women, but men had a higher hospital mortality. It is estimated that the decreasing hospital mortality and the decrease in the length of hospital stay will increase the need for nursing-home care for this category of patients.

[Increase of surgical day treatment in the Netherlands]. / Toename van chirurgische dagverpleging in Nederland.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quantitative development of day surgery in the Netherlands. DESIGN: Descriptive. SETTING: St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. METHOD: Numbers of admissions in the period 1984-1995 were obtained from Dutch data bases of the National Hospital Institution (NZi). From SIG Health Care Information numbers were obtained with regard to seven specified interventions in the years 1991 to 1995, i.e. breast tumour excision, inguinal hernia repair, varicose vein operation, laparoscopic sterilisation, knee arthroscopy, cataract operation and tonsillectomy. The increase if any of the number of interventions in day care was determined by placing the hospitals in the order of decreasing proportions of day care, and subsequently applying the proportions of the 5th and 10th hospitals, respectively, to the whole group. RESULTS: The number of day care admissions rose from 172,000 (9.9% of all admissions) to 649,000 (29.1%). Of all interventions studied, the percentage carried out in day care increased; the percentages varied greatly from one hospital to another. In 1995, the mean number of interventions in daytime was 115,000 (57% of all 201,000 interventions). The shift from interventions during hospitalization to day care would be 42,000 and 51,000 (21% and 25% respectively, of 201,000), respectively; operations performed in day care would then amount to 166,000 (83% of the total number of interventions) and 157,000 (78%). CONCLUSION: Of the interventions studied, the proportion carried out in day care increased to 57%. In view of the intra- and interhospital differences, a considerable increase of day care in the near future is possible.