Utilization of a Hospital Emergency Department in Stockholm

Utilization of hospital emergency departments in Stockholm increased by 30% between 1973 and 1977. One of the five health districts, the southwest (SW) district had the highest visiting rates, 40% above average. The Huddinge Hospital, a new university hospital, was opened in the SW district in 1972. Utilization of the Huddinge emergency department was studied over 15 months for a representative sample (17004 people) from the population. By record linkage, information from Stockholm County's Medical Information System was used together with specially collected data from the emergency department. The demographic profile of the catchment area for the Huddinge hospital differs in several respects from the average for Stockholm County. The present work is an attempt to evaluate the influence of three predisposing factors: age, sex and marital status, on the utilization of the emergency department. Compared with non-users the following groups were found to be overrepresented at the emergency department: women aged 15–34, children to unmarried parents, and divorced and widowed men and women.