[Importance of hepatology in the current Spanish health environment].

Objectives: To find out the impact of hepatic diseases on care activity at national and autonomous region level, and in a tertiary hospital with a Hepatology Department.

Material And Methods: An analysis was carried out on BMDS data (Basic Minimum Data Set) from 1999 to 2003. In the study of cases from the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, data bases from the years 2000-2004 were used, and indicators were calculated, such as the percentages of digestive diseases of the total hospital discharges, of digestive diseases that were admitted into the Digestive Diseases Department, and of the total discharges form this Department that originated from hepatic diseases.

Results: Hepatic diseases represented around 23% of the hospital discharges generated by gastroenterology at national level and about the same at autonomous regional level. Hepatocellular carcinoma shows a slow and sustained increase, reaching 22.7% of discharges, due to hepatic disease, in 2003. The mortality specifically due to hepatic disease was around 12% in the year 2003. In the study carried out in a tertiary hospital, 21.2% of the total hospital discharges were due to digestive diseases, in the last year analysed. Only 12.48% of these had been admitted to the Digestive Diseases Department and more than 50% were attributed to Hepatology.

Conclusions: Hepatology is a very important area of health care within Gastroenterology, showing a sustained growth in the last few years.