Hospital mortality statistics vary sharply by diagnosis, procedure, age, and patient group. The AHRQ Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI) Benchmark Data Tables, v2022 report deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges, allowing conditions to be compared using a consistent national benchmark. These figures describe the relevant inpatient groups in Version 2022 data; they are not individual-patient predictions or universal mortality rates.
Contents
- National benchmarks by condition
- Acute myocardial infarction and heart failure
- Overall acute stroke mortality
- Stroke type and patient group
- Procedure-related mortality
- Gastrointestinal bleeding, hip fracture, and pneumonia
- How to interpret the benchmarks
National benchmarks by condition
The national inpatient benchmark data show a wide spread among common conditions. AHRQ reports the following deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for the relevant groups:
| Condition | Deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges |
|---|---|
| Acute stroke | 66.56 |
| Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) | 49.31 |
| Pneumonia | 42.73 |
| Heart failure | 24.97 |
| CABG | 23.27 |
| GI hemorrhage | 22.67 |
| Hip fracture | 18.59 |
These benchmarks place acute stroke highest among the listed conditions, followed by AMI and pneumonia. CABG, GI hemorrhage, and hip fracture have lower overall benchmark values in this particular table. The figures should be read as condition-specific inpatient mortality measures, not as the chance that any person with the condition will die in every setting. AHRQ, Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI) Benchmark Data Tables, v2022
The denominator is important: each number is expressed per 1,000 inpatient discharges in the relevant group. A discharge-based benchmark can be affected by the mix of patients admitted, clinical severity, comorbidities, transfer patterns, and the way diagnoses and procedures are coded. It should therefore be used for benchmarking and context, not as a bedside estimate for a particular patient.
Acute myocardial infarction and heart failure
The AHRQ AMI benchmark is 49.31 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. Within the reported sex groups, AMI mortality is 54.97 for females and 46.03 for males. The age-group figures rise across the older groups: 16.36 for ages 18–39, 28.11 for ages 40–64, 48.05 for ages 65–74, and 81.72 for ages 75 and older.
The same AMI table reports 27.51 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for the private-payer group, 63.24 for Medicare, and 34.33 for Medicaid. These are payer-group benchmarks, not direct measures of insurance-caused risk. Payer categories may correspond to different age distributions, health status, admission circumstances, and eligibility patterns.
Heart failure has an overall benchmark of 24.97 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. The reported sex values are close: 24.46 for females and 25.43 for males. By age group, the benchmark is 11.05 for ages 18–39, 13.21 for ages 40–64, 21.73 for ages 65–74, and 34.14 for ages 75 and older.
For heart failure, AHRQ reports 22.41 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for the private-payer group and 27.31 for Medicare. The supplied benchmark does not include a Medicaid value for heart failure, so no Medicaid comparison is made here. The AMI and heart-failure figures also should not be combined: they describe separate diagnosis groups and separate benchmark entries.
Overall acute stroke mortality
AHRQ reports 66.56 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for acute stroke overall. The sex-specific figures are 69.10 for females and 64.11 for males. The age figures are not a simple monotonic sequence in the supplied table: 63.15 for ages 18–39, 54.48 for ages 40–64, 58.74 for ages 65–74, and 81.08 for ages 75 and older.
The payer-group values also vary. Acute stroke mortality is 53.77 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for the private-payer group, 69.43 for Medicare, 60.94 for Medicaid, and 100.94 for the Other payer group. The “Other” category is a reported group label; it should not be treated as a homogeneous clinical population.
Because these are overall acute-stroke figures, they combine different stroke types. The overall value can therefore conceal substantial differences between ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Stroke type, age, sex, and other clinical characteristics should be kept separate when interpreting the more detailed figures below.
Stroke type and patient group
The stroke-type benchmarks show the largest variation in this article. AHRQ reports 195.71 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for subarachnoid hemorrhage and 185.59 for intracerebral hemorrhage. The ischemic-stroke benchmark is 38.14. These entries are not interchangeable: they represent distinct stroke diagnoses.
For subarachnoid hemorrhage, the sex-specific benchmarks are 197.06 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for females and 193.57 for males. The age values supplied for this diagnosis are 152.50 for ages 18–39, 216.71 for ages 65–74, and 269.16 for ages 75 and older.
For intracerebral hemorrhage, the female benchmark is 197.19 and the male benchmark is 176.29 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. The reported values are 144.79 for ages 18–39 and 213.04 for ages 75 and older.
For ischemic stroke, AHRQ reports 40.04 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for females and 36.28 for males. The supplied age-specific figure is 53.01 for patients aged 75 and older. The table does not provide a complete set of age groups for every stroke type in the supplied figures, so missing age categories should not be inferred.
| Stroke category | Overall deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges |
|---|---|
| Subarachnoid hemorrhage | 195.71 |
| Intracerebral hemorrhage | 185.59 |
| Ischemic stroke | 38.14 |
The contrast among these three benchmarks is a reminder that “stroke mortality” is not one uniform measure. A hospital, researcher, or reader comparing results should identify the stroke subtype and the measurement period before drawing a comparison. All values in this section are from AHRQ Version 2022 national inpatient benchmark data. AHRQ, Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI) Benchmark Data Tables, v2022
Procedure-related mortality
Procedure benchmarks also differ substantially by operation and clinical circumstance. For esophageal resection, AHRQ reports 44.06 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for females and 29.97 for males. The age-specific values supplied are 38.56 for ages 65–74 and 46.15 for ages 75 and older.
Pancreatic resection has reported values of 19.11 for females and 32.23 for males. Its supplied age benchmarks are 17.46 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for ages 40–64 and 35.47 for ages 75 and older. These figures describe the relevant procedure group in the AHRQ table; they do not establish that one operation is safer for every patient or hospital.
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair has a female benchmark of 47.87 and a male benchmark of 29.85 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. The distinction between ruptured and unruptured AAA repair is especially important. AHRQ reports 377.99 for open ruptured AAA repair, 178.88 for endovascular ruptured AAA repair, and 7.10 for endovascular unruptured AAA repair.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has an overall benchmark of 23.27 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. The reported sex values are 35.88 for females and 19.28 for males. The supplied age values are 15.89 for ages 40–64 and 38.74 for ages 75 and older.
The procedure figures should be interpreted with the procedure type and rupture status attached. In particular, the ruptured and unruptured AAA entries represent different clinical circumstances, so comparing them without that distinction would be misleading.
Gastrointestinal bleeding, hip fracture, and pneumonia
The overall GI hemorrhage benchmark is 22.67 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. AHRQ reports 19.97 for females and 25.07 for males. The supplied age values are 11.23 for ages 18–39 and 25.69 for ages 75 and older.
Hip fracture has an overall benchmark of 18.59 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. The sex-specific values are 15.50 for females and 25.88 for males. By age, the supplied benchmarks are 9.70 for ages 65–74 and 21.03 for ages 75 and older.
Pneumonia has an overall benchmark of 42.73 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges. AHRQ reports 40.24 deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for females and 45.25 for males. The age-group figures supplied are 11.69 for ages 18–39 and 59.15 for ages 75 and older. The payer-group figures are 31.48 for private insurance and 47.99 for Medicare.
Taken together, these entries show why a single “hospital mortality rate” can be difficult to interpret. GI hemorrhage, hip fracture, and pneumonia each have their own overall benchmark, while their sex, age, and payer-group values vary within the diagnosis. A comparison is most informative when it keeps the condition, subgroup, denominator, and Version 2022 measurement context together.
How to interpret the benchmarks
The AHRQ figures are national inpatient benchmarks from Version 2022. They are reported as deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges for the relevant groups, and the supplied data do not identify them as forecasts or estimates of future mortality. They also do not provide a universal hospital ranking or a current-year result.
When reading a benchmark, first identify whether it describes a condition, a stroke subtype, or a procedure. Next check the subgroup: age, sex, or payer. Finally, retain the unit and period—deaths per 1,000 inpatient discharges in the Version 2022 national benchmark data. These steps help prevent an overall acute-stroke value from being compared with a subtype value, or a ruptured-AAA procedure value from being read as an unruptured-AAA result.
The figures are useful for describing differences in reported inpatient mortality across diagnoses and groups. They cannot, on their own, explain why the differences occur, adjust for every clinical factor, or predict an individual outcome. For patient-specific questions, interpretation requires the treating clinical team and the patient’s actual medical circumstances.