Reasons for hospital admission in New Zealand's oldest old

Objectives: To determine: the important causes of morbidity in New Zealand's oldest old, as measured by those conditions requiring hospital admission; the types of conditions which show continued increases in hospital admissio n or bed occupancy rates with age; the types of conditions which have lower admission or occupancy rates among the oldest-old group compared with the younger-old groups. Design: Descriptive survey of all hospital admissions within an entire coun try over 12 months. Results: Bed occupancy rates increase with age. Hospital admission rates in crease with age but decline for people aged 100 years and over. Admissions due to cognitive/mood disorders and ill-defined conditions increase with ag e to over 100 years. The age specific rate of hospital admission due to fra ctures or accidents peaks for people aged 90-99 years. Admissions due to ca ncer, ischaemic heart disease or eye disorders peak for people aged 80-89 y ears. Stroke and cognitive/mood disorders contribute significantly to bed o ccupancy at all age groups although bed occupancy rates decline for fractur es and stroke after the 90-99 year decade. Arthritis, stroke and cognitive/ mood disorders contribute to bed occupancy relatively more than to admissio n rates. Conclusions: Stroke, cognitive/mood disorders, fractures and arthritis are significant causes of morbidity in New Zealand's oldest old. The rate of ad mission to hospital with fractures, accidents and stroke peaks for people a ged 90-99 years and is less common in centenarians. Less specific presentat ions of disease occur in the older populations.