[Hospitalization of children in cities and rural areas. 1. Comparative analysis between hospital admission rate and living conditions based on registered data].

In order to describe differences in hospital admission of children in urban and rural areas, a data account of all discharges in 1988 of children aged 0-14 was made from the Danish patient register. The account includes children living in Copenhagen city and the counties of Copenhagen, Vestsjaelland and Sønderjylland. Healthy liveborn children born in hospital were excluded. The hospital admission rate is compared with statistical data about living conditions for families with children, as described by family size, rate of single parent families, number of persons per room in the household, families living from cash public assistance, and the rate of day care center attendance. The highest admission rate is found in Copenhagen city, where there are 155 discharges per 1,000 children aged 0-14. The lowest rate is 89 per 1,000 children in the county of Vestsjaelland. The difference in admission rate between the capital area and the two rural counties has increased since 1979, mainly because of a rise in admissions in Copenhagen county from 116 to 134 per 1,000 0-14 year old children. During the same period, a remarkable fall in Copenhagen city from 176 to 155 was observed. The age group 0-2 years in particular is admitted significantly more often in the urban areas, where the rate of day care center attendance for this age group also is much higher. As for the other data about living conditions, there seems to be no clear correlation to admission rate although Copenhagen city still has more families with socio-economic problems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)