Background: Hospital utilization represents a significant part of all the health services offered to the population. Previous studies have demonstrated considerable variability in hospital utilization among the pediatric population.
Objective: To describe hospitalization rates in infants aged less than 1 year in the municipal districts of the city of Madrid and to analyze their association with socioeconomic indicators and infant mortality.
Methods: Ecological study with the health district of the city of Madrid as the unit of analysis. The following variables were included: overall hospital discharge rates, ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC) discharge rates and infant mortality rates, as well as the percentages of university graduates, without primary education, unemployed, without telephone and without tap water. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were performed.
Results: The mean overall and ACSC discharge rates were 280.10 94.09 and 52.65 29.29. Their coefficient of variation was 32.47 and 55.63. Discharge rates showed significant correlation with the percentage of unemployed (0.71), university graduates (-0.66) and those without primary education (0.88). ACSC rates were correlated with the percentage of unemployed (0.51) and of university graduates (-0.48). The variables included in the multiple lineal regression models were the percentage without primary education for discharge rates (R2 0.78; p < 0.0000) and the percentage of unemployed for ACSC rates (R2 0.26; p < 0.032).
Conclusions: Overall and ACSC discharge rates in infants showed significant variation across the health district of the city of Madrid. These rates were significantly associated with socioeconomic indicators, but not with infant mortality.