Trends in hospital utilization, 1965-86.

Short-stay hospitals in the United States provided 218.5 million days of care for inpatients in 1986. That was about 6 million fewer days of care than such hospitals had provided in 1965 (Figure The decrease occurred despite the addition of 47.8 million people to the US population, an increase of 3.6 years in the median age of the US population, and an increase in the median age of inpatients of almost 11 years-from 36.1 to 46.7 years. The decline in discharge rates in recent years (Figure If age-and sex-specific discharge rates and average length of stay had been the same in 1986 as they were in 1965, there would have been 308 million days of inpatient care in 1986 instead of 218.5 million days.