OBJECTIVES: A quarter of the Indian population falls into poverty each year due to medical expenses incurred from hospitalizations. Publicly Financed Health Insurance Programs offer coverage to poor individuals. However, the coverage for each state varies. This study aims to assess factors that could lead to higher rates of hospitalizations in India.

METHODS: Data from the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) Round 71 was obtained from the Ministry of Statistics and Implementation of the Government of India. STATA (version 14.1) was used to conduct a logistic regression to study the factors that may be associated with increased hospitalizations in India.

RESULTS: Among the 333,104 individuals studied, 49,823 (15.0%) were hospitalized in 2014. Majority of the hospitalized patients were women (64.05%) and uneducated (29.50%). With each year increase in age, the likelihood of hospitalization dropped by 1%. People who were not covered by any type of health insurance programs are 0.17 times (OR 0.83: CI 0.81-0.86) less likely to get hospitalized. Not suffering from any ailment in the past 15 days reduced the probability of hospitalizations by a factor of 0.42 (OR 0.58: CI 0.56 - 0.61). Compared to unmarried folks, divorced/separated people are 3.25 times (OR 3.25: CI 2.78 - 3.79) more likely to get hospitalized, followed by married people 4.05 (OR 4.05: CI 3.922 - 4.18) and widowed people 4.37 (OR 4.37: CI 4.13 - 4.63). Being women raised the likelihood of being hospitalized by 1.87 times (OR 1.87: CI 1.83-1.90) controlling for other factors.

CONCLUSIONS: Providing health education can lead to the utilization of health services earlier and fewer hospitalizations. Health insurance provision to cater to unmet health needs in India is vital. Further research is needed to examine the higher hospitalizations of women, and lower hospitalizations of never married people.