Hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses examining length of stay and admission rates across Victorian Local Government Areas

Respiratory diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide and represent a significant health burden. The aim of this study was to analyse trends in hospital rates of admission and average length of stay for Victorian regional Local Government Areas with high risk of respiratory illnesses, associated with low socio-economic level and coal-fired power stations. Information about hospital admissions were extracted from the POLAR database and then weighted by the age/gender distribution for Victoria. A Generalised Linear Mixed Model was used to analyse the effect of year, gender, and age group on proportions of hospital admission and average Length of Stay by Local Government Area. Latrobe recorded the highest proportion of hospital admissions with a mean proportion of 0.424 per 10,000 population) but had the second lowest Length Of Stay (mean 3.612 days). A diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease was associated with highest rates of admission (with a proportion of 0.520 per 10,000 population) and the second longest average Length Of Stay (mean 4.082 days). There were 4347 records in this study. The high risk for respiratory illness in the Latrobe LGA may explain why this LGA had the highest of the LGA admission rates. However, the low average LOS may be attributed to an increased access to a range of services in this LGA. A better understanding of respiratory disease admissions in LGA’s with higher risk allows fairer comparisons of hospital management of respiratory disease.