OBJECTIVES To determine the proportion of avoidable deaths (due to acts of omission and commission) in acute hospital trusts in England and to determine the association with the trust's hospital-wide standardised mortality ratio assessed using the two commonly used methods--the hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR) and the summary hospital level mortality indicator (SHMI). DESIGN Retro...

INTRODUCTION Patients with hip fractures are usually frail and elderly with a 30-day mortality in excess of 10% in European series. Perioperative morbidity is often multifactorial in nature, and unimodal interventions will not necessarily decrease mortality. The purpose of this prospective study was to analyse causes of mortality, and thereby the potential and limitations to decrease mortality ...

OBJECTIVE To analyse trends of avoidable mortality in Europe, emphasising causes of death amenable to primary prevention through reduction of exposures, secondary prevention through early detection and treatment, and tertiary prevention through improved treatment and medical care. DESIGN Descriptive study of mortality from avoidable causes for the years 1955 through 1994, for ages 5-64 at tim...

The effect of avoidable mortality on the life expectancy of Maori and non-Maori New Zea-landers has been examined using a method similar to that of Benavides et al' for the Valencia region of Spain. Deaths that are avoidable by primary and secondary prevention are considered separately and the potential number of years of life gained by their prevention is compared. Methods: Sex specific abridg...

BACKGROUND Access to timely and effective medical services can reduce rates of premature mortality attributed to certain conditions. We investigate rates of total and avoidable mortality (AM) and the percentage of avoidable deaths in France, England and Wales and the United States, three wealthy nations with different health systems, and in the urban cores of their world cities, Paris, Inner Lo...

Background Post-communist health care reforms and the break-up of Czechoslovakia have been studied from various perspectives, but little research has addressed the impact on health system performance. This paper investigates the quality and performance of the Slovak and Czech health systems before and after 1989, including the year of separation in 1993, using the concept of ‘avoidable’ mortality.