Requests for body computed tomography: increasing workload, increasing indications and increasing age

Toms, Andoni P., Cash, Charlotte J., Linton, Stephen J. and Dixon, Adrian K. (2001) Requests for body computed tomography: increasing workload, increasing indications and increasing age. European Radiology, 11 (12). pp. 2633-2637. ISSN 0938-7994

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Abstract

Increasing numbers of increasingly elderly patients were being examined in our Body CT department. At the same time, some of our clinical colleagues perceived that their patients might be discriminated against on the basis of their age when allocating CT time. We therefore studied the population trends in our department over a 10-year period. The ages of patients attending the Body CT department were collected from the hospital's computer information system from 1995 to 2000 and from handwritten logbooks for the months of September 1988 and 1998. Comparison was made with population trends within the hospital and local demographic data. There has been an average increase of 11% per annum in the number of examinations performed in the Body CT unit. The average age of patients examined increased from 52.7 years in 1988 to 58.9 years in 1998. The largest increase occurred in the over 75-year population (18% rise per annum). Hospital and local demographic population profiles changed little during the same period. We are performing increasing numbers of body CT examinations on increasingly elderly patients. This is probably due to an increased willingness to investigate and treat elderly patients, rather than changes in the local population. There is no evidence of a general discriminatory policy on the basis of age.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	adolescent,adult,aged,aged, 80 and over,child,health care rationing,health services accessibility,humans,middle aged,population dynamics,prejudice,tomography, x-ray computed,utilization review,workload,sdg 10 - reduced inequalities ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/reduced_inequalities
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 Sep 2014 13:18
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 00:08
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/50114
DOI:	10.1007/s003300101052

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