Ten-year trend: surgeries up, hospitalizations down

Laparoscopic surgery and other advances in medical technology are associated with a decline in the number of patients admitted to hospital over the last decade, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reports.

When adjusted for both the growth and aging of the Canadian population, inpatient hospitalizations declined by 25% between 1995–1996 and 2005–2006, states the CIHI report, Trends in Acute Inpatient Hospitalizations and Day Surgery Visits in Canada (Table 1).

Approximately 8 in 100 Canadians were hospitalized in 2005–2006, compared with 11 in 100 Canadians in 1995–1996. Over the same period, day surgery visits to hospital increased 31%.

The total number of days spent in acute care hospitals across Canada has also decreased to 20.3 million days in 2005–2006, a 13% decline from the 23.3 million days reported in 1995–1996. The average length of stay for patients has remained consistent at 7.2 days.

The figures suggest “a continuing shift in where health care is being provided to Canadians,” says CIHI senior consultant Kinga David. More Canadians are being treated on an outpatient basis in ambulatory care settings than there were 10 years ago.

Although the majority of hospitalizations (48%) are not related to conditions that require surgery, just over 30% of the overall decrease in hospitalizations is related to surgical patients, David says.

During their analysis, CIHI researchers observed an increase in technologies used in day surgeries, such as laparoscopies to remove gallbladders, and arthroscopic procedures for surgeries in orthopedics, David says. Those procedures are associated with the decreasing number of inpatient hospitalizations.

“No one likes to be admitted to hospital, and if there's an opportunity to receive this type of care on a day-surgery basis, I think that's welcome news for both patients and the health care system,” she added.