A cartographic study of hospital utilization in the county of Uppsala

In this study the question whether increased resources in community based primary care lead to decreased utilization of in-patient care has been analysed. Two alternative types of analysis were compared: a municipality-based analysis and a cartographic analysis based on non-administrative reference areas. The study material consisted of person-based data from Uppsala County in Sweden. The cartographic analyses revealed important characteristics of the utilization pattern, which would not have been possible to ascertain using traditional methods such as analyses based on administrative areas. Thus, the cartographic analysis gave some support to the hypothesis that increased resources to primary care will reduce the utilization of in-patient care.