Mortality experience, 30-days and 365-days after admission, for the 20 most frequent DRG groups among Medicare inpatients aged 65 or older in Connecticut hospitals, fiscal years 1991, 1992, and 1993.

This report presents mortality rates following inpatient admissions for the 20 most frequent DRG categories among Medicare inpatients aged > or = 65 years at Connecticut acute-care hospitals during the three-year period from fiscal year 1991 to fiscal year 1993. We provide frequency distributions of the 30-day and 365-day mortality rates among these 20 DRG categories. Among the 199,680 discharges of elderly Medicare beneficiaries within the 20 most frequent DRG categories in the three-year study period, the crude 30-day mortality rate was 9.51%; the crude 365-day mortality rate was 28.40%. By gender, the crude 30-day mortality rate for women was 8.78%; the corresponding rate for men was 10.48%. This gender mortality differential occurred despite a significant age differential; on average, the females were 2.5 years older than the males. By age group, the crude mortality rates were: age 65-74 years, 6.66%; age 75-84 years, 9.80%; age > or = 85 years, 15.25%. The crude mortality rates for the DRG categories were found to be stable over the three-year study period.