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Ranking of the most relevant hospital inpatient diagnoses by age and diagnostic group based on DRG statistics in Germany

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Abstract

Background

Inpatient healthcare demand is influenced by demographic changes; however, existing research mainly focuses on age-related conditions among older age groups and lacks empirical evidence. We aimed to identify important indicator diagnoses by group, which best characterise age-specific conditions and their demand of inpatient services in Germany.

Methods

Data stem from the general hospital diagnosis-related group (DRG) statistics in Germany from 2005 to 2010. To identify the indicator diagnosis groups, we used frequency analyses of individual diagnoses and combined them into common diagnosis groups, stratified by age and gender. We identified indicator diagnoses by the highest number of cases of inpatient hospital treatments in 2010 or the largest change in cases between 2005 and 2010. The most common diagnosis groups were then ranked using different weights. Changes were quantified using linear regression.

Results

Across all ages, 13 diagnosis groups were identified as frequently reported hospitalisations such as injuries to the head (S00-S09) among patients aged 0 to 17 years, and ischemic heart diseases (I20-I25) among patients aged 18 to 64 years. As the number of hospitals decreased, the demand in inpatient services increased. From 75 years and above, males were more frequently inpatients than females, and overall length of stay in hospitals appeared to decrease.

Conclusion

We empirically identified 13 diagnosis groups, which best describe the inpatient services utilised among various age groups in a ranked order. Findings from this study can provide a platform for determining future demand of inpatient services as well as the demographic-specific diagnoses that need attention.

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Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Research Data Centres (RDC) of the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical Offices of the Laender, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the RDC.

Abbreviations

DIMDI:

German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information

DRG:

Diagnosis-related group

ICD-10:

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision

ICD-10-GM:

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision German Modification

OECD:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OPS:

German adaption of the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI)

RDC:

Research Data Centres of the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical Offices of the Laender

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Funding

The Roland Ernst Foundation of Public Health provided financial support.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Olaf Schoffer and Andrea Gottschalk contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology, Faculty for Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Georg-Brauchle-Ring 56, 80992, Munich, Germany

    Olaf Schoffer, Linda A. Liang, Dirk Schriefer & Stefanie J. Klug

  2. Center for Evidence-based Healthcare, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Olaf Schoffer

  3. Institute for Medical Informatics and Biometry, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Andrea Gottschalk

  4. Health Economics Centre, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Andreas Werblow & Alexander Karmann

  5. Center of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany

    Dirk Schriefer

  6. Health Sciences and Public Health, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Peter Peschel & Joachim Kugler

Authors
  1. Olaf Schoffer
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  2. Andrea Gottschalk
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  3. Linda A. Liang
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Contributions

OS planned, guided, analysed, and wrote the manuscript. AG analysed and wrote the manuscript. LL conducted the literature search and wrote the manuscript. AW, DS, PP supported and advised analyses. AK and JK contributed to the discussion. SK advised analyses, contributed to the discussion, and provided supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olaf Schoffer.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Schoffer, O., Gottschalk, A., Liang, L.A. et al. Ranking of the most relevant hospital inpatient diagnoses by age and diagnostic group based on DRG statistics in Germany. J Public Health (Berl.) 29, 541–551 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01155-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01155-4

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