Women accounted for nearly 60 percent of the 39.4 million admissions to U.S. hospitals in 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

According to the analysis by the federal agency, the leading reasons that women are admitted to the hospital are for pregnancy and childbirth. About 5 million of the 23.2 million hospital admissions for women were related to delivery.

Nearly 2 million hospital stays for women involved cardiovascular disease - the number one killer of women. They included treatment of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, atrial fibrillation and other types of irregular heart beat, and chest pain with no determined cause.

Other leading reasons why women were hospitalized in 2007 included:

Pneumonia 608,000 admissions
Osteoarthritis 498,000 admissions
Depression and bipolar disorder 442,000 admissions
Urinary tract infection 383,000 admissions
Blood infection (septicemia) 354,000 admissions
Skin infections 282,000 admissions

This AHRQ News and Numbers summary is based on Exhibit 2.3 in HCUP Facts and Figures 2007 (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/factsandfigures/2007/exhibit2_3.jsp) which provides highlights of the latest data from the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a part of AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

Source:  Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)