Causes of Patients’ Hospitalization in Guilan University Hospitals

Increasing the standard of living and life span has resulted in a notable growth of the elderly population in human societies. World health Organization has reported that 590 million populations of the elderly in 2000 will be increased to 1,100,000,000 by 2025. The present descriptive study aimed to investigate the causes of hospitalization in the elderly people in Rasht. The data showed that from 7499 elderly patients (>65 years) 52.6% and 47.4% were men and women respectively. Young old people (65-74 years) constitute 70.3% of the study population. Our findings indicated that chest pain (13.9%) dyspnea (11.2%) and abdominal pain (10.4%) were the most common complains of the subjects respectively. We also found that cardiovascular disease was the most leading cause of hospitalization in this population (37%) and then trauma and orthopedic disabilities (10.8%), respiratory disease (7.4%), sight problems (5.2%), cancer (4.6%) and the vessel disease of brain (4%). The hospital records showed that 12.5% of hospitalized elderly patients had died during hospitalization. The results clearly showed that non-communicable diseases were the most common causes of hospitalization in the elderly in Rasht. So younger training and expending centers and elderly unity are needed.