Hospital discharges and length of stay: short-stay hospitals United States - july 1963-june 1964.

An estimated 24.8 million discharges from short-stay hospitals, involving at least one night's stay, occurred among the civilian, noninstitutional population during an average 12-month period ending during July 1963-June 1964. This estimate was derived from two sources-the Health Interview Survey and the National Mortality Survey, National Center for Health Statistics. Data obtained in household interviews accounted for 23.8 million discharges, or 95.8 percent of the total volume. The data obtained for the population alive at the time of interview have been adjusted to include the hospital experience during the reference period of persons who died during that period prior to the time of interview. Among the civilian population not residing in institutions, the rate of discharge from shortstay hospitals during the average 12-month period was 133.7 per 1,000 persons. The average length of stay per discharge was 8.4 days. The discharge rate for females, 157.5 per 1,000 females, was considerably greater than that for males, 108.3 per 1,000 males. However, if hospitalizations for delivery of mothers are excluded, the sex difference in rate is reduced substantially, amounting to a rate for females of 117.7, or 8.7 percent greater than the rate for males. The average length of stay for males was 9.9 days per discharge, and for females, 7.4 days for all discharges and 8.5 days for discharges other than for delivery.