The elderly and the unqualified are the most affected by hospitalizations that could have been avoided

The most concerned are the elderly and the unqualified. One in 40 hospitalizations could be avoided, underlines a study by Drees on Wednesday. In 2017, in France, “265,000 hospitalizations for chronic pathologies could have been avoided” in medicine (excluding surgery, obstetrics and odontology), according to the Department of Studies and Statistics of the Social Ministries, and “nearly half were due to heart failure”.

Potentially avoidable hospitalization (HPE) means that it might not have been necessary with better upstream management. It should not be confused with the irrelevant recourse to the hospital, according to the press release from the DREES.

Workers and farmers, the most exposed

The risk of HPE decreases with the level of diploma, notes the Drees, which is based on data collected between 2012 and 2017. Thus, people “without a diploma or having only a certificate of primary studies have a 25% higher risk of being hospitalized in an avoidable way”. According to the study, workers and farmers are the most exposed socio-professional categories. Their working conditions and exposure to hardship factors, “could influence their state of health and therefore the probability of having HPE”develops the Drees.

Among the populations most prone to potentially avoidable hospitalizations, the study also points to the oldest people. Four out of five people affected in 2017 were aged 65 or over, and one in three were over 85. Another criterion favoring HPE: the absence of follow-up with a medical doctor during the past year. “Consulting your doctor between once and twice a year divides the risk of HPE by five and a half”according to the DREES study, in particular because 51% of these hospitalizations are due to a chronic pathology.