Case-mix: Clinical combinations

Using a database of hospital episodes in the UK from 1998 up to the present day, analysed as Finished Consultant Episodes (FCEs), we tabulated numbers of FCEs where a particular diagnosis or operation occurs on the same FCE as another diagnosis or operation. The purpose of the tables is to provide information relevant to understanding and studying case-mix.

Each FCE will have a main diagnosis field and has fields for up to 19 other diagnoses recorded for that patient during the FCE. Similarly, there will be a main operation field, and fields for up to 23 other operations performed and/or information such as the site or laterality of an operation.

So, for example, we can show the total number of episodes where asthma appears as a main diagnosis, and list the condtions most likely to occur in any other diagnosis field. Alternatively, we can look at the number of records where asthma appears in any field, or any field other than main. Then we can list the conditions that also appear elsewhere on these records. We can look at operation codes in a similar way. For example we can look at an operation of interest and see what other operations were undertaken in the same admission. Or we can see, for that operation, what diagnoses were recorded in association with it. Some of the associated diagnoses will be those for which the operation was undertaken; others will be those that represent comorbidity; and others may be those that arose as postoperative complications.

To begin, please select one of the following combinations: