New report compares within-country variability in provision of surgical procedures in Sweden and 11 OECD countries

Comparison between Swedish counties was made for number of orthopedic, obstetrics and cardiovascular procedures. Data were also compared with 11 OECD countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain). Data for OECD countries were based on the OECD report “Geographic Variations in Health Care What Do We Know and What Can Be Done to Improve Health System Performance?” Issued in 2014.

Report found that Sweden has high regional variability in provision of cardiovascular procedures (PCI and CABG), but low to moderate variability in provision of orthopedic and obstetrics procedures compared with selected OECD countries.

Key findings of the report:

• Sweden has second smallest variability in non-surgical admissions (after Belgium)
• Sweden has one of the largest variability in provision of coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) (higher variations were detected only in Portugal and Spain)
• Sweden has one of the largest variability in provision of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) (higher variations were detected only in Finland and Spain)
• Sweden has moderate regional variability for provision of surgery for hip fracture
• Sweden has one of the lowest regional variability in provision of knee replacement (even lower variations were observed only in Belgium and Czech Republic)
• Sweden has moderate regional variability for provision of caesarian section
• Sweden has the lowest regional variability in provision of hysterectomy

Access the report in Swedish here.