Hospitalisation Trends for Choroid and Retina Diseases in the Past 20 Years: An Ecological Study in Australia

Abstract

Background

Choroidal and retinal disorders significantly contribute to vision impairment, often necessitating hospitalization for the purposes of diagnosis, treatment, and continued care. The aim of this study was to examine hospitalisation trends of choroid and retina diseases in the past 20 years in Australia.

Methods

This was an ecological study that used publically available data in Australia from 1998 to 2021. The National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) is an online database that was used to collect the data for this study. We used the chi-squared test to assess the difference between the hospitalisation rates between 1998 and 2021.

Results

During the study period, hospital admission rate for choroid and retina diseases increased by 13.21-fold [from 29.54 (95% CI 28.77–30.32) in 1998 to 419.70 (95% CI 417.21–422.20) in 2021 per 100,000 persons, p<0.001]. Same-day hospital admission patients accounted for 90.3% of the total number of episodes. Rates of same-day hospital admission increased by 37.70-fold [from 9.24 (95% CI 8.81–9.68) in 1998 to 357.78 (95% CI 355.48–360.09) in 2021 per 100,000 persons]. Rates of overnight-stay hospital admission decreased by 19.3% [from 20.34 (95% CI 19.69–20.98) in 1998 to 16.41 (95% CI 15.91–16.90) in 2021 per 100,000 persons]. Females contributed to 54.6% of the total number of hospital admission. Admission rate among females increased by 16.01-fold [from 23.68 (95% CI 22.70–24.66) in 1998 to 402.78 (95% CI 399.33–406.22) in 2021 per 100,000 persons]. Admission rate among males increased by 8.69-fold [from 35.57 (95% CI 34.36–36.78) in 1998 to 344.80 (95% CI 341.58–348.02) in 2021 per 100,000 persons].

Conclusion

In this ecological investigation, we found that the admission rate for choroid and retina disorders increased dramatically. The preponderance of these admissions were made up of females and elderly patients. Future research is required to identify additional risk factors for disorders of this type.

Keywords:

• admission
• Australia
• choroid haemorrhage
• choroid disease
• hospitalisation
• retina

Data Sharing Statement

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: https://www.aihw.gov.au/about-our-data/our-data-collections/national-hospitals.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

The research ethics committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Isra University approved the study protocol (SREC/22/08/49). Hospital admissions, mortality, and population data are publicly available as de-identified data. Therefore, it was considered an exempt category.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

No fund was received for this study.