Objectives: To analyze duration of hospitalization of patients with musculoskeletal diseases in the Silesia Province in 1999-2003 and to compare the current analysis with the former study for Poland from 1980-1993 as well as with data from other European countries.
Material and methods: Data on all patients who were hospitalized with musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases in the Silesia Province were obtained from the National Institute of Hygiene database. Musculoskeletal diseases were defined using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (XIII chapter, codes: M00-M99).
Results: Median duration of hospitalization within the study period (1999-2003) for patients with inflammatory joint diseases was 20 days and 8 days for adults and children, for patients with non-inflammatory joint diseases was: 18 days for adults and 7 days for children, for patients with soft tissue rheumatism was 4 and 3 days for adults and children, respectively. The average length of hospital stay of patients with musculoskeletal system diseases during 5 years decreased from 17 days in 1999 to 12 days in 2003.
Conclusion: A number of hospital admissions caused by arthritis does not sufficiently reflect hospital care utilization or health needs in rheumatology. Analysis of admissions to hospital stay covers multiple admissions of the same person. It is recommended for future studies to analyze length of hospital stay of individual patient calculated in number of days per year(s).