Identifying patterns of non-communicable diseases in developed eastern coastal China: a longitudinal study of electronic health records from 12 public hospitals

Objective: Few studies have examined the spectrum and trends of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in inpatients in eastern coastal China, which is transforming from an industrial economy to a service-oriented economy and is the most economically developed region in the country. This study aimed to dynamically elucidate the spectrum and characteristics of severe NCDs in eastern coastal China by analysing patients’ longitudinal electronic health records (EHRs).
Setting: To monitor the spectrum of NCDs dynamically, we extracted the EHR data from 12 general tertiary hospitals in eastern coastal China from 2003 to 2014. The rankings of and trends in the proportions of different NCDs presented by inpatients in different gender and age groups were calculated and analysed.
Participants: We obtained a total sample of 1,907,484 inpatients with NCDs from 2003 to 2014, 50.05% of whom were male and 81.53% were aged 50 years or older.
Results: There was an increase in the number of total NCD inpati...