Hospitalizations
Females represented 59.9 percent of the 34.7 million short-stay hospital discharges in 2005. More than 19 percent of hospital stays for all females were due to childbirth, while 14.6 percent were due to diseases of the circulatory system. Other common reasons for hospitalization included diseases of the respiratory, digestive, and genitourinary systems; injury and poisoning; and mental disorders. Overall, females had a higher hospital discharge rate than males in 2005 (1,382.2 versus 959.0 per 10,000 population; data not shown).
Males and females also had different rates of procedures for discharges from short-stay hospitals. Overall procedure rates were 1,794.5 procedures per 10,000 females (this includes 456.5 obstetrical procedures per 10,000 females) and 1,241.1 procedures per 10,000 males. Several of the procedures for which females had a higher hospital discharge rate than males included operations on the digestive system (210.7 versus 166.5 per 10,000) and operations on the reproductive organs, including hysterectomy (130.9 versus 16.1 per 10,000). Males had a higher rate than females for operations on the cardiovascular system (280.2 versus 194.8 per 10,000). Among females, the highest rate of procedures for discharges from short-stay hospitals was obstetrical procedures (456.5 per 10,000).
