Variations in hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in rural and urban Victoria, Australia

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Effective and timely management of COPD should reduce the risk of hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to describe variations in COPD hospital admission rates as an indicator of the adequacy of primary care services. METHODS: Age- and gender-standardized hospital admission rates of COPD (2003-04) were computed using the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset. Potential predictors of COPD admission rates were identified from various sources of data. These included degree of remoteness, socio-economic status, number of general practitioners per population, percentage of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, percentage of smokers, and co-morbidities. Thes..