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The purpose of this study was to illuminate trends in the incidence and duration of hospital courses in Denmark in 1994-2002 for patients with non-traumatic brain injury of sudden onset, due to spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage, revival after cardiac arrest, near-drowning, near-suffocation or electric shock and to compare to corresponding data from a contemporary investigation of head injuries. Materials and methods: The national hospital register was searched for hospital courses starting between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 2002, including rehabilitation and corresponding to ICD10 diagnoses covering the abovementioned causes of non-traumatic brain injuries. Results and conclusion: After direct age-standardization to the European Standard population, the incidence of hospital courses after SAH decreased slightly to 12.3 per 100,000 of the population in 2002. Mean age at injury increased by 3.6 years to 56.2. In particular for men, the maximum age-specific incidence increased considerably. Hospital lethality increased slightly to 29.2%. The age-standardized incidence of hospital courses after revival following cardiac arrest increased from 3.37 in 1994 to 4.49 per 100,000 in 2002. During the same period, hospital lethality decreased from 42.9% to 34.0%, and the number of courses of long duration increased correspondingly. All in all, bed occupancy beyond 3 months after SAH and cardiac arrest was half of the occupancy after traumatic injuries. A number of other less numerous causes of non-trauma-tic brain injury should also be taken into consideration. For equal treatment and rehabilitation of patients with hospital courses beyond three months, the number of hospital beds should be the same for traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries.

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