Volume 15, Number 9—September 2009
Dispatch
Trends in US Hospital Admissions for Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
John Edelsberg, Charu Taneja, Marcus Zervos, Nadia Haque, Carol Moore, Katherine Reyes, James Spalding, Jenny Jiang, and Gerry Oster
Table 2
Number of hospital admissions with principal diagnosis of SSTI, by patient and infection characteristics and year*
| Characteristics | Year |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 (N = 674,939) | 2001 (N = 701,672) | 2002 (N = 757,858) | 2003 (N = 801,768) | 2004 (N = 869,777) | |
| Age, y† | |||||
| <15 | 38,420 (5.7) | 38,741 (5.5) | 44,559 (5.9) | 49,902 (6.2) | 56,909 (6.5) |
| 15–44 | 176,574 (26.2) | 175,921 (25.1) | 197,142 (26.0) | 214,606 (26.5) | 240,971 (27.7) |
| 45–64 | 212,367 (31.5) | 219,222 (31.2) | 247,079 (32.6) | 267,556 (33.0) | 289,715 (33.3) |
| >65 |
247,544 (36.7) |
267,768 (38.2) |
269,048 (35.5) |
277,828 (34.3) |
281,288 (32.3) |
| Sex† | |||||
| Male | 341,040 (50.5) | 347,784 (49.6) | 381,763 (50.4) | 406,525 (50.1) | 443,325 (51.0) |
| Female |
333,771 (49.5) |
353,849 (50.4) |
376,075 (49.6) |
400,737 (49.4) |
423,255 (48.7) |
| Race† | |||||
| White | 364,634 (54.0) | 368,901 (52.6) | 372,013 (49.1) | 409,037 (50.5) | 439,295 (50.5) |
| Black | 81,654 (12.1) | 81,299 (11.6) | 94,307 (12.4) | 99,892 (12.3) | 111,416 (12.8) |
| Hispanic/Latino | 57,217 (8.5) | 59,345 (8.5) | 63,657 (8.4) | 78,091 (9.6) | 75,142 (8.6) |
| Asian or Pacific Islander | 6,457 (1.0) | 7,219 (1.0) | 8,496 (1.1) | 9,366 (1.2) | 10,053 (1.2) |
| Native American | 2,082 (0.3) | 2,375 (0.3) | 2,211 (0.3) | 1,595 (0.2) | 3,890 (0.5) |
| Other |
11,873 (1.8) |
11,233 (1.6) |
16,304 (2.2) |
14,135 (1.7) |
13,937 (1.6) |
| Infection type (ICD-9-CM diagnosis code[s]) | |||||
| Superficial infections | 390,158 (57.8) | 404,536 (57.7) | 440,501 (58.1) | 479,222 (59.1) | 520,099 (59.8) |
| Acute lymphadenitis (683.XX) | 4,570 (0.7) | 4,341 (0.6) | 4,230 (0.6) | 4,324 (0.5) | 4,291 (0.5) |
| Carbuncle and furuncle (680.XX) | 1,001 (0.2) | 1,182 (0.2) | 1,349 (0.2) | 1,900 (0.2) | 2,298 (0.3) |
| Cellulitis and abscess of finger and toe (681.XX) | 20,060 (3.0) | 20,868 (3.0) | 22,731 (3.0) | 25,174 (3.1) | 27,833 (3.2) |
| Impetigo (684.XX) | 1,221 (0.2) | 1,084 (0.2) | 1,250 (0.2) | 1,337 (0.2) | 1,481 (0.2) |
| Infection (chronic) of amputation stump (997.62) | 13,431 (2.0) | 14,874 (2.1) | 15,100 (2.0) | 14,459 (1.8) | 16,014 (1.8) |
| Other cellulitis and abscess (682.XX) | 346,270 (51.3) | 358,884 (51.2) | 392,422 (51.8) | 428,274 (52.8) | 464,016 (53.4) |
| Other local infections of skin (686.XX) | 3,605 (0.5) | 3,302 (0.5) | 3,419 (0.5) | 3,755 (0.5) | 4,167 (0.5) |
| Deeper and/or healthcare-associated infections | 274,549 (40.7) | 287,736 (41.0) | 307,300 (40.6) | 320,580 (39.5) | 339,337 (39.0) |
| Abscess of anal and rectal region (566) | 20,511 (3.0) | 20,273 (2.9) | 22,772 (3.0) | 23,892 (3.0) | 24,655 (2.8) |
| Chronic ulcer of other specified sites (707.8) | 132 (0.0) | 75 (0.0) | 73 (0.0) | 68 (0.0) | 62 (0.0) |
| Chronic ulcer of unspecified site (707.9) | 2,136 (0.3) | 2,191 (0.3) | 2,389 (0.3) | 2,666 (0.3) | 2,465 (0.3) |
| Decubitis ulcer (707.0) | 37,116 (5.5) | 38,637 (5.5) | 36,816 (4.9) | 38,167 (4.7) | 39,706 (4.6) |
| Infection due to vascular device (996.62) | 64,262 (9.5) | 73,051 (10.4) | 78,289 (10.3) | 81,970 (10.1) | 91,804 (10.6) |
| Pilonidal cyst with abscess (685.0) | 2,262 (0.3) | 2,167 (0.3) | 2,447 (0.3) | 2,496 (0.3) | 2,604 (0.3) |
| Postoperative wound infection (998.5X) | 115,694 (17.1) | 120,344 (17.2) | 134,783 (17.8) | 138,393 (17.1) | 144,768 (16.6) |
| Posttraumatic wound infection, NEC (958.3) | 2,748 (0.4) | 2,239 (0.3) | 1,664 (0.2) | 2,326 (0.3) | 2,843 (0.3) |
| Ulcers of lower limbs, except decubitis (707.1X) | 29,688 (4.4) | 28,759 (4.1) | 28,067 (3.7) | 30,602 (3.8) | 30,431 (3.5) |
| Often fatal infections | 10,232 (1.5) | 9,400 (1.3) | 10,057 (1.3) | 10,965 (1.4) | 10,341 (1.2) |
| Gangrene (785.4) | 5,628 (0.8) | 4,814 (0.7) | 5,155 (0.7) | 5,546 (0.7) | 4,331 (0.5) |
| Necrotizing fasciitis (728.86) |
4,604 (0.7) |
4,586 (0.7) |
4,902 (0.7) |
5,419 (0.7) |
6,010 (0.7) |
| Hospital region | |||||
| Northeast | 142,316 (21.1) | 155,948 (22.2) | 158,649 (20.9) | 174,481 (21.5) | 171,399 (19.7) |
| Midwest | 152,132 (22.5) | 159,442 (22.7) | 173,353 (22.9) | 175,144 (21.6) | 193,602 (22.3) |
| South | 253,388 (37.5) | 269,323 (38.4) | 297,122 (39.2) | 316,028 (39.0) | 351,721 (40.4) |
| West |
127,102 (18.8) |
116,958 (16.7) |
128,734 (17.0) |
145,115 (17.9) |
153,056 (17.6) |
| Hospital location† | |||||
| Urban | 570,554 (84.5) | 592,908 (84.5) | 645,261 (85.1) | 691,795 (85.3) | 755,095 (86.8) |
| Rural | 103,664 (15.4) | 108,763 (15.5) | 112,597 (14.9) | 118,563 (14.6) | 114,682 (13.2) |
*SSTI, skin and soft tissue infection; ICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification; NEC, not elsewhere classified. Numbers are given as no. (%) admissions; N values for each year are provided. Source: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample, 2000–2004.
†Percentages may not add up to 100% due to missing data.
Page created: December 07, 2010
Page updated: December 07, 2010
Page reviewed: December 07, 2010
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