Cardiological ailments for men and illnesses related to the urinary tract and reproductive organs for men were the top reasons for hospital stays in Greece in 2023, according to a wide-ranging study by the statistical authority (EL.STAT) in the country.

The study, entitled “Inpatient Hospital Care Survey”, was conducted via census from data collected from public and private hospitals. It recorded every discharged patient who spent at least one night in the hospital or clinic, along their demographic characteristics and the diagnosis of the ailment/illness/disease for which they were hospitalized.

As expected, 55% of hospitalized patients recorded in the survey are above the age of 60. Overall, the largest number was observed in the age group 60 to 79 years — 507,237 (35.1%) patients — of whom 288,998 (57.0%) were males and 218,239 (43.0%) females.

The most common causes of illness were “diseases of the circulatory system”, which accounted for 187,666 (13.0%) incidents, followed by “diseases of the digestive system” with 161,223 (11.1%) and “neoplasms” (cancer) with 155,549 (10.8%).

“Diseases of the circulatory system” was the main cause of morbidity for male patients with 117,100 (16.2%) incidents, followed by “diseases of the digestive system” with 92,552 (12.8%) and “Neoplasms” with 82,578 (11.4%) incidents. Female patients were hospitalized due to “Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium” with 84,819 (11.7%) incidents, “Diseases of the genitourinary system” with 74,992 (10.4%) and “Neoplasms” with 72,971 (10.1%) incidents.

In 2023, the last year for which complete figures are available, a total of 480,294 operations were performed on 1,446,040 hospitalized patients. According to the survey, most of these were performed for “diseases of the digestive system”, representing 19.1% of the total number of operations, followed by “diseases of the genitourinary system” with 13.7%, “Neoplasms” with 12.7%, “Injuries, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes” with 12.0% and “Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium” with 11.0%.