Non-Attendance in Hospital Appointments Based on Data From the Entire Region of Southern Denmark: Descriptive...

We aimed to analyse the characteristics related to non-attendance at general outpatient hospital clinics in patients aged ≥18 years. An increased focus has been directed towards patient non-attendance at hospital appointments as it is related to patient risk and waste of resources in the healthcare system.

In this cohort study, we retrieved data from the entire Region of Southern Denmark on i) non-attendance from the electronic medical journals from January 1, 2021 until December 31, 2022, and ii) data on all attended appointments from Danish health registries in the same period. We analysed the overall proportion of non-attendance, and characteristics of patients with non-attendance, relative to those who attended an appointment. We examined hospital type and patient demographics (age, sex, comorbidity, socioeconomic factors).

Included were 614,157 patients, of which 12,244 were patients with a first non-attendance and 601,913 patients with a first attended appointment. The overall non-attendance proportion was 2.0%. The most prevalent type of underlying disease among non-attendant patients was musculoskeletal/connective tissue diseases (10%), which was also the most prevalent group of diseases among patients who attended hospital appointments (11%). In the regression model, compared to those who attended, the two strongest associations for non-attendance were patients aged 18-34 years, aOR=2.69 (95% CI 2.52-2.85), and patients diagnosed with mental/behavioral disorders, aOR=2.60 (95% CI 2.39-2.82). Other sociodemographic factors were associated with non-attendance including male sex (aOR=1.90 (95% CI 1.82-1.96)), patients aged 35-54 years (aOR=1.89 (95% CI 1.78-2.01)), living alone (aOR=1.72 (95% CI 1.65-1.79)), and not Danish nationality (aOR=1.65 (95% CI 1.57-1.74)).

Based on data from the Region of Southern Denmark (corresponding to 20% of the Danish population), the non-attendance proportion was low (2.0%). More research is needed, including other data-sets validating our findings, validation of registration practices, and qualitative research aspects of non-attendance.