Community income and surgical rates in the Netherlands

Background: The study describes variations in use of surgical procedures by community income in the Netherlands. From the literature it is known that surgical rates have a socioeconomic gradient. Both positive and negative associations of socioeconomic factors of patients (for example, income, education) with surgical rates have been reported. The question raised here is: how do (possible) socioeconomic variations in surgery in the Netherlands compare with variations observed elsewhere? Data and Methods: The data comprised Dutch hospital discharges and population estimates for 1999. Socioecono... Mehr ...