Neighbourhood of domicile and hospital admissions in Auckland: is there a relationship?

The relationship between the health and equity index of socioeconomic status/need and hospital admission rates has been investigated. The index is based on an area's population characteristics, and has previously been used for determining service provision and to describe an area's health need. This study demonstrates a strong positive correlation (r = 0.88, 95% confidence intervals 0.75 to 0.94) between the index and standardised hospital admission rates in the Auckland urban area. This association validates the index as a proxy for morbidity, in as much as hospital admission rates measure morbidity, and supports suggestions for its use to alter interregional and intraregional resource allocation.