Abstract
In a study of variations in use of inpatient care for nonspecific enteritis in six pediatric departments in the Uppsala region of Sweden considerable differences in both admission rate and length of stay were revealed. The department with the highest use of hospital days for enteritis devoted nine times as many days per unit of population than did the department with the lowest use. It was concluded that differences in admission rate were only partly explained by differences in incidence of disease in the various catchment areas. A high admission rate was linked with relatively liberal indications for admission. This did not result in shorter mean stay, however. Differences in disease characteristics, and geographic, social, departmental, and other factors were investigated in determining causes for variation in length of stay, and the simultaneous effect of these variables on length of stay was studied by multiple regression analysis. A significant proportion of the individual variation in length of stay proved to depend on admitting department policy. In fact, local policy differences seemed to have had a greater effect on length of stay than did combined demographic, geographic, social, and disease characteristics.
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