Knee Hospitalization Rates Soar (Bilione Young @ OTW)
Women and men between the ages of 45 and 64 were two-and-a-half times more likely to be hospitalized for knee replacement surgery in 2009 than they were in 1997, according to a November Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) press release, and reported by Health News Digest.
AHRQ’s analysis of hospital stays for knee replacement surgery from 1997 to 2009 found that the rate for women ages 45 to 64 jumped from 16 to 42 stays per 10,000 individuals, while for men the same age, the rate climbed from 11 to 28 stays per 10,000.
For women and men 65 to 84, the hospital stay rates rose by 69% and 55%, respectively, from 72 to 122 stays and from 58 to 90 stays per 10,000 people. Among those individuals age 85 years and older, rates increased by 23% for women (from about 27 to 33 stays per 10,000 people) and to 36% for men (from about 27 to 36 stays per 10,000 people).
The AHRQ data is based on Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2009, which provides highlights of the latest data from the 2009 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a part of AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. The report provides data on leading reasons for hospitalization, on procedures performed on hospital patients, and other related topics.